Authentic Front Origin Story
About Gillian
I’m a certified coach, learning designer and facilitator, lawyer, artist, entrepreneur and mother. I’ve long been fascinated with leadership development, neuroscience, and the ways we create and perceive our realities and I’m passionate about moving us all toward fully celebrating of the unique gifts that neurodivergent minds offer.
My journey into this work is deeply personal: I have a neurodivergent family member whose brilliance has often been overlooked – and sometimes crushed – by the systems, assumptions, and implicit values around us. Despite these barriers, that brilliant mind continues to shine in its own remarkable way, with a resilience that inspires me and raises a powerful question: What do neurodivergent perspectives reveal that the rest of us are missing – and how could those insights strengthen and serve us all right now?
Why Authentic Front?
I believe that those neurodivergent perspectives play a vital complementary role alongside co-called “typical” ones, and that it’s time to centre them. When we put down our masks and invest our energy in sharing our unique gifts, we not only honor individual brilliance, we create a more authentic and connected society, deepen wisdom and insight, and maybe even find a way to tackle some of our intractable challenges.
As I studied leadership, I discovered something striking: that many of the core skills in leadership – emotional intelligence, nervous system regulation, active listening, and more – were the very same skills that could also support my neurodivergent loved ones and peers.
I also saw that neurodivergent perspectives bring something unique to leadership theory itself. Many neurodivergent people experience heightened attunement – making connections and perceiving patterns and emotions that others often miss. Leadership concepts like emergence and unfoldment come alive differently through their lens. And I’m excited about the ways in which those perceptions, and that lens, might help us all.
These insights led me to create Authentic Front: a space where all neurotypes can learn together, grow together, and value each other. When we build systems rooted in openness, attunement and inclusion, we make it safer for everyone to live authentically – and to bring forward their true gifts for the benefit of all.