Our Coaches

Sara Klute Behn, NBC-HWC, IAYT, DipACLM

Sara Klute Behn is a Certified Yoga Therapist (IAYT), Board-Certified Master’s-Level Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), and Certified Lifestyle Medicine Professional (DipACLM). She brings an integrative, compassionate approach to well-being that supports individuals navigating stress, life transitions, and mental and emotional challenges.  

Drawing on her experience in evidence-based coaching, yoga therapy, and lifestyle medicine, Sara creates a supportive, non-judgmental space where people feel safe, heard, and empowered. She specializes in helping people build nervous-system regulation skills, resilience, and sustainable lifestyle habits that support both mental and physical health. 

Sara has a particular passion for supporting women in midlife – a season of profound change that is too often marked by anxiety, overwhelm, and disconnection from self. She specializes in helping women break free from the mental and physical weight that holds them back, guiding them to uncover their innate strengths and build a foundation where they don’t just cope, but genuinely thrive – in mind, body, and spirit. 

Carrie Copley, AACC

Carrie holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Iowa State University and has more than 20 years of leadership experience in both non-profit and corporate organizations. She is a Board-Certified Mental Health Coach (AACC) and has trained at the Career Coaching Institute and earned the Elite Life Coaching Certification from the Coach Mindset Elite Life Coach Training Program. She also has a Master Diploma in Mental Health Coaching: Grief and Loss.

She has merged her extensive schooling and years of practical experience to develop faith-based understanding of how to inspire others to reach their life goals. She is a Certified Spiritual Director and Certified Stephen Ministry Leader who enjoys lake activities, attending Iowa State sporting events and hanging out with friends and family in her spare time.

Chelsie Engle

Chelsie Engle is a certified Enneagram coach and former educator who helps people understand the “why” behind their patterns. After years in the classroom, she traded lesson plans for transformation work, bringing a teacher’s gift for clarity and a deep belief in everyone’s capacity to grow.

Through the lens of the Enneagram, Chelsie guides clients toward a clear understanding of their core motivations, the hidden drivers that shape how they show up, get stuck, and move through the world. Her work is rooted in the idea that real change starts with self-awareness: when you understand why you do what you do, the path forward stops feeling so foggy. Chelsie helps you name what’s underneath the feeling of being stuck in the same patterns and then helps you in charting a clear way through.

Mia Escobar

Mia is an ICF-certified Life and Performance Coach with over 20 years of international experience across education, entrepreneurship, and organizational leadership in the United States, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Spain. Her past career experiences include founding and scaling an international ESL institute into a franchise system, teaching at the university level, and leading multi-cultural teams. This has led to giving her a structural, evidence-based approach to helping clients define what they want and build a realistic path to get there. She is currently the owner of Clarity Coaching.

Mia helps her clients realize they have the tools, but what they are missing is clarity and when they gain that she is able to help them build self-awareness, emotional regulation, and decision making skills. This gives her clients the ability to navigate change, uncertainty, and high pressure transitions with confidence. She offers her clients an accountability partner, an objective ear, and a judgment free space where they are understood, not directed, but also challenged and pushed past where they’d stop on their own helping them see real results and not just insight.

Mia is fluent in English and Spanish.

Scarlett Lunning

Scarlett is the owner of Lunning Coaching & Consulting, a business she began after fifteen years working for Iowa Mediation Service (IMS) as a mediator, facilitator, and trainer.

Prior to IMS, she served as a trainer, facilitator, prevention director, and grant writer for Employee and Family Resources (EFR), and a play therapist, premarital counselor for Lutheran Services. Scarlett has forty years of experience as an educator/trainer, mediator, facilitator, and counselor/coach.

Currently, through Lunning Coaching and Consulting, Scarlett mediates/coaches individuals and families. She also consults and provides conflict resolution coaching for individuals and families through West Des Moines Police Department’s Youth Justice Initiative. She also contracts with EFR, providing trainings, facilitations, coaching, and mediations for their member organizations.

Molly Mackey, CPTD

Molly is an author, speaker, and trainer of leaders. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Iowa and a Certified Professional of Talent Development (CPTD) from the Association of Talent Development. She is the founder of the LEAdeRNship Institute and works with a variety of associations, organizations, and teams all over the United States to provide leadership and teamwork education. She is also the author of several books including “52 Powerful Reflection Questions for Leaders” and “Leading after the Hurt – A Practical Guide to Trauma-Informed Leadership in Today’s Workplace.”

Molly believes that by intentionally intersecting the ongoing journeys of leadership and learning, we can create better leaders and “Better Leaders = Better Lives™.”

Emily Manternach, RYT

Emily graduated from Iowa State University as a Chemical Engineer and worked in the oil and gas and polymers industry for over 15 years. While working as an engineer, she became certified to teach various forms of yoga and is a Registered Prenatal Yoga Teacher (RPYT) and Registered Yoga Teacher 500 – Hour (RYT 500) and teaches through MBody Nmind. She has been a life coach since 2015 and was certified in Wellness Counseling using Ayurveda in 2022.

Emily uses her life experiences as an engineer, yoga guide, Ayurveda counselor, biohacker, longevity striver, and business owner to support her clients achieve their dreams and help them live a life they love. With the brain of an engineer to problem solve and the heart of a yogi for bringing peace to the world, she strives to help others self-actualize and transcend with spirit.

Ernest Phillips

Ernest earned his BA Psychology from Grand View College and is a certified coach through the International Coaching Federation (ICF). With more than 20 years of experience, he has worked with many companies and organizations, including small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, and nonprofit organizations. Throughout his career, Ernest has trained thousands of individuals, coached hundreds one-on-one, and delivered more than a hundred hours of professional and keynote presentations.

He is the owner of Relationship Wealth Enterprises, where he provides Emotional Intelligence training designed to address real-world business challenges. Drawing on decades of research and practical implementation, his work delivers tangible, reliable results that directly support organizational performance and bottom-line goals. In addition, Ernest is the host of the System Works YouTube channel and a published author.

Barb Ranck

Barb is a life-long learner and educator, holding an undergraduate degree in secondary English education and a Master’s degree from Drake University in Adult Learning and Performance Improvement. Her passion for helping people learn and grow led to an over 23 year-long career in corporate Learning and Development roles, employee training, and consulting with leaders in large companies (including a Fortune 500 financial services company). During this time she helped those she served become more professional and productive.

Barb now coaches and trains for EFR and helps individuals become more productive, collaborative, and self-aware of their individual strengths and stress points. She uses a variety of assessments in her work and specializes in the Enneagram, holding a practitioner certification through iEQ9 – Integrative Enneagram.

Meagan Requena, NBC-HWC

Meagan is a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), traditional naturopath, breathwork facilitator and peer recovery coach and the owner of SteadyHands, LLC. She brings a down to earth, authentic approach to coaching while providing a safe environment to process the emotional struggles and challenges kept inside.

She believes in the integration of spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional well-being. She is client -centered and recognizes that wellness is not a “one size fits all” scenario. She emphasizes mindfulness and incorporates mindset coaching in her sessions to encourage the shifting of limiting beliefs and unhealthy thought patterns while building self-trust, identity, and accountability.

Dan Solomon, PCC, MDiv

Dan is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation and an experienced Professional Executive and Leadership Coach. Prior to coaching full time, he provided 40 years of leadership to diverse organizations in Pennsylvania, Nebraska, and Iowa. Since 2022, he has effectively coached executives and leaders navigating career transitions in diverse fields including finance, healthcare, higher education, military, and nonprofit entities.

Dan partners with clients in a thought-provoking, creative, and effective process. He believes each person has the gifts and capacities necessary to engage in productive work and serve as an effective leader. He enjoys helping individuals achieve significant and sustainable results, improve effectiveness and productivity and increase clarity and focus as they pursue their career goals.

Kirk Trow

Kirk is an experienced leadership trainer and executive coach with more than 30 years of success helping leaders and organizations improve performance, accountability, and results. He partners with executives, managers, and high‑potential leaders to strengthen leadership capability, align people practices with business strategy, and translate expectations into sustained performance.

In addition to his extensive senior HR leadership and consulting background, Kirk is also a former high school and collegiate coach, bringing a true coach’s mindset to leadership development. His approach emphasizes skill development, clear feedback, discipline, and continuous improvement—helping leaders move from intention to execution.

Kirk has designed and facilitated leadership development programs, performance management systems, and executive coaching engagements across manufacturing, financial services, higher education, automotive retail, and professional services. Known for his practical, engaging, and results‑focused style, he helps leaders build confidence, improve team effectiveness, and lead with clarity and purpose.

Kristina Weggen, ACC

Kristina is a certified, professional coach through the International Coaching Federation (ICF) with over 20 years of experience partnering with clients and helping them gain clarity and confidence. She has a Bachelor’s Degree from Iowa State University in Child and Family Services and has earned her ACC coaching certification. She has worked exclusively as a coach since 2019 and started Kristina Weggen Coaching in 2022.

Kristina has worked with a wide variety of people, from Fortune 500 leaders to individual contributors, in a wide variety of fields. She partners with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process to create meaningful, sustainable change. She brings an empathetic, non-judgmental, results oriented approach to her sessions and believes all people have the courage, resourcefulness, creativity, and ability to create choice and change in their personal and professional lives.