Founder

{Jen is audaciously optimistic, voraciously curious, deeply sensitive (or as she has been told, too sensitive), quirky & joyously loving.

A lover of books, science, iterative thinking and boundless imagination – her hoped for legacy is simple,

for the world to have been a better place because she was in it…}

Dr. Jennifer Messina



With 25+ years of clinical, consulting & training experience, Jennifer Messina, Ph.D. has collaborated with leaders and their teams across a range of industries to actualize their potential, enhance communication, and promote positive change across their organizations.

Dr. Messina’s competence-based approach is highly interpersonal – striving to harness and build health and positivity in individuals and systems. She brings a strong understanding of organizational dynamics and a flexible, collaborative style that drives meaningful change. With warmth and humor, Dr. Messina integrates wisdom from research and practice to help her clients flourish.

A graduate of Dartmouth College (’93) & UVA (masters ’94, doctorate ’99 in Clinical  Psychology), Dr. Messina is the founder of Messina Leadership Advising, a Manhattan-based consulting firm, and FORTE, a platform designed to modernize Corporate America, empower women to meet their potential and to change the world for the better.

FORTE is founded in the belief that:

…the human mind is a source of extraordinary power and potential for good.

…when actualized, individuals will share their gifts to drive innovation, genius and joy.

…people will step into whatever space we create for them and if we let them, they will often delight us.

…with power comes responsibility and those with privilege and power must operate with great kindness and intentionality.

…diverse experiences, backgrounds and perspectives add wisdom and enrich all we do.

…the world will be transformed when we build ecosystems designed to remove all unnecessary obstacles to actualizing human potential.

…rather than any one person or approach holding all the answers - it is collective wisdom, disciplined inquiry, and creativity that will truly transform the world.

…when we have full agency, operate with intentionality, humility and self-awareness we can actualize our potential and astound ourselves

…the world can be better, and we currently in it, so let’s do this thing.

xo Jen