About

Dian Killian – Lead Trainer, Executive & Personal Coach

Dian Killian, Ph.D., is the founder and director of Work Collaboratively and shares Collaborative Communication (as she calls Nonviolent Communication) with organizations, groups, and individuals around the world.

She designs and leads transformative communication trainings for diverse organizations including large NGOs, multinationals, non-profits, startups, and Fortune 500 companies. Her clients have included the U.N. Development Program, New York University, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Americorps, and the Camphill Foundation, among many others.

Dian is also a certified executive/life coach (graduate of the Coaching for Transformation program), and founder and former director of the Center for Collaborative Communication. She is the co-author of two books, Connecting Across Differences: A Guide to Compassionate, Nonviolent Communication (in English, German, and now Chinese), and Urban Empathy: True Life Adventures of Compassion on the Streets of NY.  She also publishes a blog and podcast and is currently working on a new book for PuddleDancer Press on empathy-hacking. 

Via coaching, training and facilitation, Dian helps teams and organizations create transformative and sustainable culture change empowered around collaboration, compassionate (servant) leadership, authenticity, accountability, and trust. 

In addition to her work with organizations, Dian designs and leads workshops and retreats for the general public, including the International NVC Women’s Retreat, which she founded, as well as programs at the New York Open Center, Kripalu, Life Labs, the Omega Institute, and the 92nd Street Y, among many others. She is also on the faculty of the NVC Academy.  In 2022, she is the lead trainer and organizer for the first International Intensive Training in Dublin, Ireland.

Uma Lo – Associate Trainer

Uma advocates for full empowerment for everyone and practical interdependence everywhere. Through coaching, training, facilitation and consulting, she helps leaders build skills for dialogue, feedback/learning, and authentic collaboration. She helps teams, organizations and communities build cultures and systems that generate flows of trust, learning, and vision-aligned action. 

Uma has practiced Nonviolent Communication (NVC) intensively since 2012 and is a graduate of the BayNVC Leadership Program. She is a supporting co-founder of POC4NVC, a mutual-support network of practitioners applying NVC to transform the impacts of privilege/oppression, and a founding member of the Nonviolent Global Liberation community where we innovate experiments in self-organizing and distributed leadership, feedback integration and systemic change, maternal gift economy and risk-sharing, and more. Most recently, Uma has been experimenting with community-scale conflict engagement systems, and needs-an- resource-based approaches to power and privilege/oppression literacy. In addition to her NVC training and experience, Uma also trained as a coach with Leadership that Works’ Coaching for Transformation program and has partnered with Work Collaboratively since 2016. 

Martha Lasley – Associate Trainer

Martha Lasley, M.B.A.,  works with leaders to develop compelling visions, improve their communication, bring spirit into team building, and develop a feedback culture. She has authored three books: Coaching for Transformation; Facilitating with Heart; and Courageous Visions. A certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication, with whom she has facilitated many international intensives, and a certified life coach, she coaches visionary leaders to develop a culture of collaboration and mutual support. As a founder of Leadership that Works, she trained thousands of coaches and facilitators to support social change. She is also a founding partner at AuthenticCommunicationGroup.com where she works with movers, shakers and changemakers.  Through all her work, she helps people find their authentic voice, heal, love, and lead.

Milo Wissig – Graphic Design, Digital & Social Media & Admin Support

Milo supports Work Collaboratively with social and digital media, graphic design, and administrative support. He is a graduate of the Pratt Institute and a professional painter, a blogger and coder, and lives in Brooklyn, NY.