Mitzi Benavides

I build organizations, teams, and systems that can carry real growth without breaking. That work starts with relationships, not org charts, because the trust to move a team in one direction has to exist before any plan does. It is also strategic by necessity: deciding which direction is worth that trust in the first place. I have built that combination at four very different companies, a shoe company built on a giving model, a fast-scaling consumer brand, enterprise software, and one of the largest platforms in the world, and I also run Clear Coast Consulting, where the same instincts get tested against an owner’s own P&L. Underneath all of it is an entrepreneurial streak: given a gap, I would rather build what is missing than wait for someone else to.

Outside of work I am usually moving: training for the next half marathon, on a pilates mat, or on a tennis court trying to fix my backhand. I have lived on two continents and traveled to twenty-five countries, and I will take a conversation about global economics or politics over small talk any day. I care about the same thing at a dinner table that I care about in a strategy meeting: understanding how the pieces actually connect, and what happens when people discover ways to collaborate together.