Leading to build what's next.
Visionary. Connector. Driver. Archietect.
Founder + Chief
Ricka' Berry, MBA, is a strategist, former COO, Vice President, and Director of Program Evaluation and Research with more than two decades of experience guiding leaders, teams, and organizations across business, social impact, behavioral health, prevention systems, and national brands. Her work blends strategy, human capital, culture, innovation, and whole-person leadership—bridging the realities of organizational life with the systems and decisions that shape it.
As the Founder of Genius Grace Leadership and Strategy Development Firm, she partners with executives, leaders, founders, corporations, and mission-driven organizations to design strategy, strengthen culture, architect programs, and lead teams through complexity with expertise that honors both results and people.
Cross Sector Strategist
Ricka’s career spans C-suite operations, strategic advisory, business model development, program design, and system-level transformation. She has led multi-million-dollar portfolios, built national and evidence-based programs—including CDC-recognized models—and guided organizations through growth, strategic shifts, leadership transitions, and cultural change.
Her background includes designing business plans and financial models for founders, aligning human capital and organizational design for executives, and advising national brands navigating culture, wellbeing, workforce performance, and leadership identity.
As a scholar-practitioner in leadership and systems design, she brings a research-informed lens grounded in real-life leadership, leading teams while parenting, operating across sectors, advancing equity in historically conservative systems, and building cultures that support both performance and people.
The genius grace firm was created from this integrated perspective: strategy built on humanity, leadership grounded in truth, and systems designed for the realities of today’s work.
The approach
Ricka’s approach is shaped by the belief that leadership is human work; that organizations are living systems; and that strategy, culture, and people need to be aligned for meaningful impact. Her work brings together:
Strategic clarity rooted in data and systems thinking
Human-centered leadership and whole-person wellbeing
Operational discipline strengthened by Lean Six Sigma rigor
Equity as a leadership practice, not a statement
Innovation grounded in evidence, implementation, and community
Cultures built through accountability, behavior, and intention
This is the foundation from which she helps leaders build what’s next.
Executive, Evaluator, Innovator
Ricka has served as a Chief Operations Officer, Vice President, and Director of Program Evaluation & Research, leading high-performing teams and programs serving more than 20,000 children and families annually. She has designed evaluation systems, CQI models, financial structures, workforce strategies, and program innovations that have shaped outcomes across public, private, and social impact sectors.
Her experience includes work with national brands in mental health and wellbeing, workforce analytics, and leadership systems, along with advisory partnerships across education, healthcare, philanthropy, and public-sector agencies.
Human, Real, Lived
Her work is grounded in lived experience: leading while parenting, navigating the realities of being a woman of color in executive spaces, and carrying responsibility for teams, communities, and systems. This lens allows her to see leadership not as theory, but as the daily work of decisions, influence, relationships, and consequences.
She brings the steadiness of an operator, the curiosity of a researcher, the perspective of a strategist, and the truth-telling of someone who has actually sat in the seat.