Executive Director, Independent National Board for Grief Coaching
Rita Suzanne
Ten years in the coaching industry taught me what happens without standards. Eight years in corporate operations taught me how to build something that holds.
Twenty years in, the two halves of my career turned out to be the same job. Corporate management taught me how to take a messy operation and make it run consistently. A decade working with the coaching industry showed me what happens when an industry grows faster than anything holding it accountable. The last two years with local businesses reminded me that trust still travels one relationship at a time.
Today I serve as Executive Director of the Independent National Board for Grief Coaching, where all three matter every week.
Growth is easy. Credibility is the hard part.
Eight years in corporate management
My job was streamlining operations, which is a polite way of saying I spent almost a decade finding out why things break and building the process that keeps them from breaking again. Unglamorous work. It is also the entire difference between a standard that holds and a standard that is just a nice document.
More than ten years with the coaching industry
Long enough to say something out loud: it is easier to sell a certification than to earn one. Programs multiply, titles get invented, and the person paying for help has no way to tell the difference.
That is not a complaint about coaching. Coaching changes lives and I have watched it happen. It is a structural problem, and structural problems get fixed with standards, not opinions.
The last two years with local businesses
Which taught me the other half. Reputation moves through people. A business gets chosen because someone credible vouched for it, and no amount of advertising substitutes for that.
Put the three together and you get what I care about now:
making good work verifiable, and making the people doing it findable.
Where that goes now
I serve as Executive Director of the Independent National Board for Grief Coaching, leading Program Administration, the function that applies the standard the Advisory Board sets. Eligibility review, credentialing, operations, and the systems that keep decisions consistent rather than arbitrary.
That last part is not a side detail. A credential is only worth what the process behind it is worth, and processes are built, not declared. It is the same work I did in corporate, with considerably more riding on it.
The other half of the job is making sure the standard is known at all. A standard nobody knows about protects nobody, and that has been my work for twenty years.
Connecting with professionals in central Ohio
I am the chapter leader of CONNECTED Easton, a professional networking group in central Ohio that meets twice a month. We structure events around relationships instead of exchanging business cards, because the thirty second commercial and a business card has never once made anyone want to work with anyone.
Referrals come from people who actually know your work. That takes time, repetition, and showing up on the weeks when there is nothing in it for you. It is slower than advertising and it lasts considerably longer.
If you are a professional in the Columbus area, come visit.
The short version
Eight years in corporate management, then twelve running my own business, most of it as a single mom. That combination meant nothing I built could depend on unlimited time or a perfect week. Everything had to work under real conditions, which is still how I evaluate anything.
I am practical to a fault. I would rather hand you one thing you will actually do than five things you will nod at and forget.
Speaking and media
I speak to associations, conferences, podcasts, and professional groups. One clear idea per talk, and something the audience can use before the week is out.
When "Certified" Means Nothing
What happens to buyers and referral partners when an industry grows faster than its standards.
Referrals Are Not a Networking Tactic
Why relationships beat advertising for service businesses, and how to actually build them.
Building a Standard From Zero
What it takes operationally to establish credibility in an industry with no reference point.
Building Authority Without Burning Out
Sustainable visibility for people already at capacity.
Available for interviews on the coaching industry, professional credentialing, and local business growth.
Common questions
What does Rita Suzanne do?
Rita Suzanne has twenty years of experience in business operations and growth, including eight years in corporate management and more than a decade working with the coaching industry. She serves as Executive Director of the Independent National Board for Grief Coaching and leads the CONNECTED Easton professional networking group in central Ohio.
What is the Independent National Board for Grief Coaching?
INBGC is an independent credentialing board, not a training program. It reviews a candidate's grief specific education and verified practice hours, administers a proctored Board Examination, and holds certificants to published ethics and annual renewal. You can read the full certification standards on the board's site.
Why does Rita focus on standards?
More than ten years inside the coaching industry showed her how quickly titles and certifications get created without anything behind them. Standards give buyers and referral partners a way to tell the difference.
Does Rita speak at events?
Yes. Topics cover professional standards, credibility, referrals, and business growth. She also hosts a professional networking group in the Columbus area. Check availability for speaking and interview requests.
Where is Rita based?
Westerville, Ohio, in the Columbus metro area.
Let's talk
Speaking inquiries, media requests, or a question about the board. All of it starts the same way.