Meet Kathy 2025 - Kathy Varol

Hi, I’m
Kathy Varol

I’ve outgrown identities, burned down blueprints, and rebuilt a life that feels like mine.
I guide others through that same liberation—to stop performing and start living.

I straddle two worlds that seem separate—inner work and external impact—but are deeply connected.
I believe business can be a force for good—
as long as we stop pretending it has to look the way it always has.

Hi, I’m
Kathy Varol

I’ve outgrown identities, burned down blueprints, and rebuilt a life that feels like mine.
I guide others through that same liberation—to stop performing and start living.

I straddle two worlds that seem separate—inner work and external impact—but are deeply connected.
I believe business can be a force for good—
as long as we stop pretending it has to look the way it always has.

I’ve lived a wildly unconventional life

I’ve gutted fish in an Alaskan fish cannery,  cleaned hotel rooms, developed new beers in middle America, served coffee in the UK, poured pints in Australia, developed sportswear strategy in Germany, and taught kickboxing in Morocco.

I’ve solo-backpacked across continents, living out of hostels or sleeping under the stars in tents.
Along the way, I’ve turned strangers into soul friends—some for a lifetime, some for a beautifully bright moment.

I’ve stood in high heels on global keynote stages, and barefoot in ceremony.
I straddle two worlds that seem separate—inner work and external impact—but are deeply connected.

If credentials matter to you, I also speak business. Fluently.

I spent 2 decades inside the corporate world—leading global strategy, shaping brand purpose, and sitting in the rooms where decisions that move billions are made.

I helped architect the Global Purpose Strategy for adidas, a $22 billion company – covering sustainability, DEI, and social impact.
This Global Purpose Strategy wasn’t just optics—it was impact.
In 2021, S&P Global awarded adidas an ESG score of 85, placing it among the top 10% of all companies rated.

I’ve also interviewed 100+ business leaders on my podcast Purpose and Profit (top 2.5% globally), pulling back the curtain on how real change actually happens—when heart and metrics stop being treated like enemies.
And, I have an MBA from Georgetown University, graduating with honors.

Through it all, I’ve been tracking one question:
What makes a life feel true?

The truth is,
Even when the metrics are perfect, the soul can still be starving.

So I stopped performing the life I had built.
Stopped trying to optimize a version of me that was slowly going numb.

I unraveled.
Not as a failure.
As a reclamation.

🔥 What I Do

(Now That I’m Not Pretending)

Now, I help others unravel, unfold, and reclaim something deeper. Something true.
From giving keynotes on Fortune 500 stages to intimate coaching circles, my work is rooted in one belief:
The next evolution of leadership, of life itself, starts with stripping away everything that isn’t real.

You may not know what comes next.
You don’t need to.
You just need to stop calling the status quo “fine.”

Transformation isn’t a tidy process.
It’s a messy, reconfiguration—
Where old identities dissolve, and something real begins to take shape.

I don’t offer formulas.
I offer fire.
Presence that pierces. Frameworks that hold the weight of transformation.
And the kind of listening that hears what you haven’t said yet.

This isn’t personal development.
This is personal truth.
This isn’t green-washed window covering.
This is a business revolution.

If you want someone to help you play nicer inside the system that’s exhausting you, I’m not your coach.
If you’re ready to burn the blueprint and build what’s true, impactful, and real—
I’m in.

I’m a coach for high-performing professionals who’ve done everything right—
and feel totally wrong inside.

They followed the roadmap.
Checked the boxes. Hit the milestones. Climbed the ladder.
Only to look around from the top and think: “Wait…this is it?”

They don’t need help being successful.
They need help being alive.

I work with people who are ready to stop performing a life that looks good,
and start living one that feels good.

As a coach, I’m here to help you remember who you are—
and build from that place.

I’m also a keynote speaker for companies that are ready to do things differently.
Companies with courage. 
Companies that want to leave the world better off.
And leaders with backbone.

If you want a beautiful mission statement without changing how your business actually operates, I’m not your speaker.

As a speaker, I’m not here to help you play nicer in broken systems.
I’m here to light a match under “business as usual” and create something better.
If you’re ready to walk towards it, I’ll meet you at the edge.

 

 

🌀 Want To Dig Deeper?

Ready to stop performing and start transforming? Explore Coaching →

Looking for a keynote that stirs the soul and shifts the system? Explore Speaking →


🐾 The Rest of Me

I live in Portland, Oregon, with my incredible husband (Ozan Varol) and our two wildly lovable dogs – Einstein and Sputnik. We live surrounded by trees, bird song, rain & cozy fireplaces, and sunshine & hikes. The perfect backdrop for a life of becoming.

Side note? I never thought I’d be someone who writes a weekly newsletter.

I’m dyslexic.

Grammar is an elusive concept written in swirling fog. Spelling bees give me hives. And typing notes in a live meeting with a screen projector? A recurring nightmare.

While the effects of dyslexia on reading, language processing, and memory are common knowledge – what’s less talked about are the gifts of dyslexia.
Big-picture thinking.
Seeing patterns others miss.
Approaching problems from angles that don’t exist on maps.

Because I don’t remember how things are supposed to be, the status quo doesn’t have the same chokehold on my imagination—or my (seemingly) radical optimism.

My brain might scramble language, but it also decodes complexity. It’s part of what makes me exceptional at what I do. It helps me see the parts of you that you haven’t yet met.

And I’m here to help you bring them home.

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