Joanna Li

Leadership Coach, Canada

Joanna is a leadership development consultant, coach and mother of two. She is passionate about helping professionals navigate career growth, leadership challenges and the identity shifts that often accompany parenthood.

Joanna is particularly focused on working parents, women leaders and professionals balancing career ambition, family responsibilities and cultural expectations. As an Asian-Canadian coach, Joanna brings strong cross-cultural fluency and a nuanced understanding of how identity, family systems and culture shape leadership and decision-making.

Background

Joanna began her career in business, working across project management, marketing and operations before transitioning into leadership development and coaching in tech.

She has designed and delivered coaching and leadership programmes for organisations ranging from high-growth technology companies to global enterprises.

As an internal coach and leadership development professional, Joanna partnered with leaders at all levels to strengthen performance, develop talent and build coaching cultures. Through this work, she observed that many high-achieving professionals – particularly working parents – were grappling with questions that extended beyond career progression: Who am I now? What does success mean at this stage of life? How do I honour both my ambitions and my family?

These experiences inspired Joanna to focus her coaching on supporting professionals through career transitions, leadership
challenges, burnout prevention and the evolving identities that emerge during parenthood.

Experience and qualifications

Joanna brings over 15 years of corporate experience spanning project management, marketing, operations, human resources and leadership development. This breadth of experience enables her to understand the realities leaders face and to support clients
with both strategic business acumen and deep empathy.

She has partnered with organisations including Google, Meta, Hilton, etc. Through her work, she has designed leadership development programmes and internal coaching initiatives that have supported hundreds of leaders and professionals throughout their careers.

Joanna holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation.

Approach to coaching

Joanna combines Co-Active coaching principles with practical leadership development experience.

Her work is reflective and action-oriented, helping clients gain clarity, reconnect with their values and move forward with confidence. She is particularly skilled at supporting clients through the often-unspoken cultural dynamics that influence confidence, leadership and definitions of success.

“In partnering with Joanna, I’ve been able to find my confidence and grow myself professionally and personally in ways I truly never thought possible. Joanna is encouraging, motivating and gentle. She was able to identify exactly how to help me work through eliminating my negative thinking patterns and instead focus my energy on cultivating my strengths.” Coachee

“Joanna is a keen listener and I always appreciated when she would point out patterns that were incredibly eye-opening to me. I now feel more confident, calm and grounded in myself and well-equipped with a toolbox full of learnings as I continue on my growth journey.” Coachee

“Joanna is truly one of a kind and I would recommend her to anyone looking for an effective, results-orientated and deeply passionate coach.” Coachee