We didn’t plan on climbing into the C-suite, but our shared vision and determination kept pulling us toward bigger impact. Together, we built a blueprint for what equity, leadership, and courage could look like inside powerful institutions.
Over the years, we helped re-imagine how a global nonprofit worked—from hiring and compensation to how equity showed up in every decision. The shift was real: representation of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color grew from 13 percent to 57 percent. More importantly, trust deepened and people finally had room to thrive.
We didn’t wait for permission to lead—we created the conditions for progress.
Along the way, we coached women (long before we called it coaching), mentored rising leaders, and helped men learn to share power. We learned what it takes to navigate—and transform—systems not built with us in mind.
Today, through The Inside Edge Collective, we bring more than thirty years of combined leadership and coaching experience to women who are ready to do more than just survive their careers. We know what it feels like to lead through transition, hold big responsibilities while protecting your peace, and build influence when your impact isn’t always seen or rewarded.
Our coaching is where clarity meets care. Whether you’re preparing for a high-stakes conversation, managing complex dynamics, or discerning your next move, we help you pause, process, and plan with intention.
Because thriving isn’t a luxury—it’s a leadership strategy.
Your Power. Your Purpose. Your Inside Edge.
About the Founders
About Ebony Twilley-Martin
Ebony Twilley-Martin is a strategist, truth-teller, and culture shifter who has spent her career creating space for women to lead, rise, and breathe. As the founder of The Inside Edge Collective, she brings more than 15 years of executive leadership experience—and a lifetime of navigating rooms where women are expected to perform without being supported, shine without taking up too much space, and lead without ever losing balance.
Ebony made history as the first Black woman to lead Greenpeace USA. In that role, she drove a major financial turnaround, advanced racial and gender equity, and insisted that leadership must center the people most impacted by injustice. Her tenure was defined by courage, clarity, and a commitment to building cultures where Black and Brown leaders don’t just survive—they thrive.
Her path into environmental justice began with a health crisis in her own family, a moment that revealed the painful truth Black women know all too well: the systems meant to protect us often fail us first. That experience ignited a calling that now threads through everything she does—fighting for justice, building power, and ensuring Black women’s voices are centered in the work of creating a more livable world.
Today, Ebony partners with mission-driven women leaders—those navigating demanding roles, complex dynamics, heavy expectations, and the quiet exhaustion that comes with being “the one they depend on.” Through her coaching and consulting practice, she supports women in reclaiming their confidence, setting boundaries, leading with authenticity, and building the kind of professional lives that honor their brilliance rather than drain it.
Her work sits at the intersection of strategy, spirit, and sisterhood.
Ebony is a trusted advisor to executives, a coach to rising leaders, and a culture curator who knows how to transform teams from the inside out. She blends lived experience with strategic expertise to help women lead with power, clarity, and purpose—without sacrificing their health, joy, or identity.
Her insights have been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, MSNBC, Politico, and Reuters, and she has spoken on stages at Harvard’s School of Public Health, Yale School of the Environment, and other top institutions. She holds a Master’s in Management (Human Resources) from the University of Maryland, a Bachelor’s degree in Music from Immaculata University, and is an ICF-certified executive leadership coach.
In every space she enters, Ebony brings discipline, discernment, and a deep belief in the brilliance of women. Her work reminds us that we deserve support, we deserve community, and we deserve to lead in ways that feel like freedom.
This is the Inside Edge she’s building:
A place where women’s leadership is celebrated, protected, and fully expressed.
Where ambition is honored, not exploited.
Where we rise—together.
About Jerilyn Emerson
Jerilyn Emerson is a strategist, master coach, and organizational architect who has spent her career helping leaders and teams move from overwhelm to alignment, and from survival mode to sustainable impact. With more than 15 years of experience across the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, she is known for bringing systems thinking, emotional intelligence, and joyful discipline to some of the most complex organizational challenges.
As Founder and President of Progress Consulting and Coaching LLC, Jerilyn partners with mission-driven organizations to design people-centered strategies that unlock clarity, strengthen culture, and build pathways for growth. Her approach is rooted in a simple truth: when you center people—especially those pushed to the margins—progress becomes not only possible, but inevitable.
Before launching her firm, Jerilyn served as Chief of Staff, Chief Administrative Officer, and Chief People & Culture Officer at Greenpeace USA. She was known inside the organization as a solutionist—the leader who could take on messy, cross-functional challenges and redesign them into systems that were equitable, effective, and built to last. She led major organizational transformations, built justice-centered people practices, negotiated the organization’s first collective bargaining agreement, and shifted Greenpeace USA’s demographics from 13% to 52% BIPOC in just seven years.
Her leadership has shaped global systems as well. As one of eight members of Greenpeace’s Global People Committee, she helped guide the implementation of the global Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Safety strategy across 55 countries—advising international executives, building global working groups, and anchoring the movement’s commitment to justice at the systems level.
A Master Certified Coach with advanced training in organizational development and change leadership, Jerilyn coaches executives, boards, and leadership teams to lead with confidence, integrity, and purpose. She brings a blend of strategic clarity and calm presence that helps leaders stay grounded in the midst of uncertainty, make values-aligned decisions, and build organizational cultures where people can truly belong.
Jerilyn holds an MBA and a Master’s in Finance from the University of Maryland University College and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin. She is certified in DiSC, Birkman, and multiple leadership and talent tools, and she holds senior-level HR certifications (SPHR, SHRM-SCP). Her expertise includes strategic planning, organizational development, labor relations, crisis communications, change management, performance systems, and equity-centered talent strategy.
What sets Jerilyn apart is her belief that joy is not just a feeling—it’s a leadership strategy. She teaches leaders how to create structures that support well-being, communication, accountability, and collaboration. Her work consistently results in stronger teams, better decisions, and cultures where people feel seen, supported, and valued.
Across every room she enters—board meetings, coaching sessions, strategy retreats, or community gatherings—Jerilyn brings wisdom, steadiness, and a commitment to justice grounded in love. She is the person leaders call when they need clarity, courage, and a partner who can help them turn vision into reality without losing themselves in the process.
Jerilyn’s Inside Edge is this:
Systems built with care. Leadership rooted in joy.
Progress that honors people and creates space for everyone to rise.
