Kari Russo
Kari Russo is a career strategist and leadership coach on a mission to change how mid to senior level ambitious women build their careers. She’s known for helping women go from “Lost + Burned Out” to Hired + Inspired™ in a hyper-competitive job market that wasn’t built for them. Her work is for women who want more money, more growth, and more balance - without sacrificing their health, families, or values to get there. Whether they’re navigating a job search, claiming their next promotion, or breaking an internal glass ceiling, Kari helps them step into roles that reflect their real impact and potential.
Before coaching, Kari built her career inside the tech world at LinkedIn and Facebook. From managing large-scale talent acquisition and career development programs, to sourcing, recruiting and leading her own team - she didn’t just sit in on hiring decisions - she built interviewing and hiring programs, sourced top talent, and trained hundreds of hiring managers on exactly what to look for.
Over the course of her own career, she pivoted roles and was promoted more than 11 times in just as many years, ultimately earning a multi-6-figure salary - experience she now uses to help her clients do the same on their own terms. That insider vantage point now powers her coaching: she knows precisely how candidates stand out, get leveled, and get paid.
Inspired by motherhood and a deep desire for a more human, sustainable approach to work, Kari started her coaching business to help women stop settling for roles that drain them. She blends proven hiring strategy with nervous system regulation so her clients can make bold moves without burning out.
As a top graduate of the University of Hawai'i with a degree in Business and Economics, and as a certified Nuerofit nervous system practitioner, she coaches both the career and the human behind it - strategy, mindset, and nervous system, stress management and emotional resilience. Through her signature H.I.R.E. Method™ (Hone, Ignite, Refine, Elevate), Kari helps women get radically clear on what they want next, reignite their personal brand, and design focused, high-signal job searches, so they walk into interviews, promotion conversations, and negotiations as the in-demand candidate and leader who gets offers and opportunities. Her clients don’t just update their résumés - they walk away with clarity, confidence, rebranded assets, interview mastery, and real negotiation power.
Recognized as one of Austin’s Top 15 Career Coaches in 2025, Kari has influenced more than 10,000 professionals globally through her coaching, content, job search and leadership strategy. Her proudest moments aren’t the fancy titles or big-name companies - it’s the messages from women who say, “I didn’t just get a better job. I got my energy, my confidence, and my life back.”
When she’s not coaching, she’s reading, traveling, and spending time with her family - living the same blend of ambition and grounded, real life she helps her clients create.
• Coaching Employees through Difficult Situations
• Neurofit Certified
• University of Hawai‘i System - BBA
• Betta Gamma Sigma
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to a mix of intentional risk-taking, regulation, and self-honesty. I’ve reinvented my career multiple times, said yes to stretch roles before I felt “ready,” and done a lot of inner work so I could handle the rooms I was stepping into. I didn't do it alone - mentors, coaches, sponsors, and my family have all been part of the story.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I’ve ever received is: “If you don't advocate for yourself, no one will.” Promotions, opportunities, and dream roles rarely go to the most deserving person by default - they go to the person whose impact is visible, whose name is in the room, and who isn’t afraid to say, “Here’s what I want next.”
It also led to a second piece of advice that became my philosophy: have a career to live, not live for your career. Your work should fund your life, not consume it. You can be wildly ambitious and still have energy left for the people and moments that matter most. If your career costs you your health, your relationships, and your sense of self, it’s too expensive.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
First, treat yourself like your most important asset, not an afterthought - your career is a marathon, not a sprint. Stress management and emotional resilience are so important to your sustainable growth.
Second, don’t wait to be “discovered.” Track your impact, speak about your work in clear, concrete terms, and build relationships before you need them.
Finally, remember that burnout is not a badge of honor; you do not have to destroy yourself to prove your value. Take care of yourself and do things that fill your cup so you can live from overflow.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges is that we’re navigating a hyper-competitive, noisy job market while still clinging to outdated career advice that doesn’t work anymore - especially for mid–senior women.
At the same time, that’s the opportunity: we’re in a moment where people are more open than ever to more authentic, sustainable, and strategic approaches to work. Coaching, when it’s done with ethics and depth, can help women write a very different story than “climb, burn out, repeat.”
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that anchor me are integrity, courage, and sustainability. This gives us the foundation for building careers, families, and lives that are ambitious and livable, where your success doesn’t require abandoning yourself in the process.
Curiosity and growth are also non-negotiables for me in both my work and my life. Always learning, experimenting, and expanding.
At the core of it all is this belief: you should have a career to live, not live for your career. Your job is allowed to matter - but not more than your health, your relationships, and your sense of who you are.
Being a mom and staying truly present in my children's lives is the most important part of that: I don’t just want a big career, I want a life where my ambition and my motherhood can coexist and actually strengthen each other.
Locations
Klarity & Success Coaching LLC
Austin, TX 78701