Loann Phoenix is a Career and Business Coach and founder of Gifted Impact™, helping professionals in transition and early-stage entrepreneurs to build and lead from what comes natural for them to create value, and not just from learned skills.

Her path started in international business development and management consulting, where she spent over a decade helping companies expand into new territories across North America, Asia, and Europe. She later became Head of Sales and Consulting for a startup, where she used her innate abilities to guide hiring and leadership through a scale from 8 to 50 people within two years during the pandemic, resulting in a successful acquisition. The milestone mattered, but her biggest reward was watching the team grow into confident and capable leaders in the process. Her background spans market entry strategy, personal development and team building, and advising entrepreneurs and investors across multiple markets.

As a child of immigrants raised on a script of achievement, Loann understands the pressure to perform success to fulfill others’ expectations and external validation. Her own turning point, walking away from a version of success that left her disconnected from herself, shaped the core of her work: the distinction between skills (what you’ve learned to do) and Gifts (the innate natural abilities that make your work resonate and set you apart). Through her proprietary Gifted Impact™ methodology, she’s guided over 250 clients to uncover 3-8 of their innate Gifts and translate them into aligned strategy, offers, and workflows.

Loann’s point of view is simple: in a world where tactics are easily replicated, a founder’s natural presence and intuitive ability to serve is their true competitive advantage. She has delivered talks and facilitated workshops at entrepreneur support organizations, universities, career centres, and community organizations.
At the Vanguard Impact Summit, Loann will lead a workshop on low-risk testing, showing attendees how to validate an idea before overinvesting, and how to make sure what they’re testing is genuinely aligned with what they do best and positioned to succeed.