Meet Carol Kim

We recently connected with Carol Kim and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Carol, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

At the core of my professional and personal pursuits is being a champion for communities, causes, and change.
The 1992 LA Riots—Sa-I-Gu in Korean—changed everything for me. I was there. I saw my streets torn apart, watched neighbors turn against each other, and witnessed the complete breakdown of communities. And I watched the news media reducing the riots as a racial conflict, ignoring the deeper roots of underrepresentation, systemic inequality, and economic injustice.

That’s when I knew I had to be a voice. I thought I would go into broadcast journalism, determined to give voice to the voiceless and shine a light on some of our most intractable problems. But during college, I realized I did not want to simply highlight problems but work towards solutions. That’s when I pivoted my educational and career pursuits toward public policy where real change can happen.

Whether leading transformation or building and executing strategies inside Fortune 100 companies, working at the highest levels of government, or now advising startup founders and CEOs, I continue to be driven by helping values-aligned leaders build what’s possible where business, policy, and impact intersect.

Lasting change requires more than good intentions or pronouncements. It demands long-term strategy, deep commitment, and active engagement across every industry and sector.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

As the Founder & Principal of Shasta Advisory, I am a strategic advisor and fractional executive to startup founders, CEOs, and mission-driven organizations—especially those navigating the complex areas of healthcare, government, and social impact. Drawing on experience across Fortune 500 companies, government, and philanthropy, I now partner with early-stage and growth-stage leaders in need of executive leadership without the full-time overhead.

What excites me most is helping leaders go from ideation to execution. It’s not simply about big ideas, but rolling up my sleeves to craft a strategy, build a roadmap, map out and align stakeholders, and drive operational excellence. Whether designing organizational structures, leading cross-functional initiatives, or shaping pilot partnerships, I focus on creating lasting impact that continues well beyond my engagement.

I work with various organizations and teams ranging from healthcare startups to consultancy and technical assistance firms to social impact ventures. In addition to advising clients, I’m also hired to speak to healthcare leaders and executive teams about the evolving healthcare landscape and what it takes to move from idea to execution. These speaking engagements extend to the strategic work I do with public and private sector leaders every day.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

In the last few years, I’ve embraced my perceptiveness as one of my greatest gifts not just a skill. I never thought about it in those terms until recently. I’ve honed in on this intuitive radar to quickly pick up on people, personalities, priorities, and pain points.
It’s something that shows up consistently in my work. Executives and board members I’ve worked with have shared how I have a rare ability to craft strategy, manage to a vision, and approach complex work like a campaign requiring focus, consensus-building, and outcomes-driven. I’m known for executing effectively while meeting expectations within rigid parameters.
Reflecting on my career journey up until this point, three things stand out:

Being perceptive: To be able to read a room and spot power dynamics, you have to listen deeply, ask questions, and pay attention to what is being said and not being said.

Embracing ambiguity: Innovation and transformation require you to learn how to operate confidently even when the path isn’t clear. You build the muscle in making decisions with incomplete information and adjusting quickly based on what’s working and not working.

Leveraging cross-sector experiences: Working across government, corporate, philanthropy, and startups taught me how to align unlikely allies and navigate complexity, I weave seamlessly between these worlds. What may seem like disparate networks and relationships actually helps forge new connections, align unlikely collaborators, and build public-private partnerships that drive real impact.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I collaborate with bold, mission-driven CEOs and founders leading through transformation or building something from the ground up.

I’m a strategic leader who’s scaled initiatives across Fortune 100 healthcare companies, government, and philanthropy. I’ve led enterprise-wide transformations, built high-performing teams from scratch, and stood up a startup-style division to deploy $170M in community and impact investments. Earlier in my career, I advised on a $4B healthcare system serving 10 million residents.

The common thread? I’ve always been the trusted advisor and builder. Leaders turn to me when they need strategy and execution. I help pressure-test the vision, shape the strategy, build stakeholder mapping for right engagements, and execute on a roadmap to make it real.

I work with forward-thinking leaders who blend big-picture thinking, rooted in core values, and ready to roll- up our sleeves together to get the actual work done.

If you’re ready to make systemic change and helping people see what is possible, let’s connect on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ckmk1 or reach out by email: carol@shastaadvisory.com.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ckmk1