Our Story

Our instructors first crossed paths at Harvard University, where Lila was an undergraduate and Voop a graduate student. They connected in a graduate-level course on facilitating and enabling leadership, which Voop co-taught. United by a shared passion for transformative team experiences, they quickly became friends.

Fifteen years later—after deepening their facilitation expertise across the U.S. and internationally—they launched Facilitation Academy. Their mission: to deliver dynamic, hands-on facilitation training and certification for those ready to elevate their impact.

Meet Your Instructors

Voop with a microphone smiling in a conference setting with attendees seated at tables.

  • Voop is a seasoned professional facilitator at Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the nation’s premier consulting firms. In this role, Voop leads facilitation contracts for the U.S. Armed Services, guiding senior military leaders through high-stakes engagements such as:

    • Strategy development on complex and mission-critical topics

    • Branding and identity alignment

    • Defining team roles and responsibilities

    • Addressing organizational and interpersonal challenges

    • Crafting team vision and mission statements

    • Driving team development and cohesion

    Voop’s work has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including:

    • BEST Award – Association for Talent Development

    • Most Influential Course Award – Harvard Kennedy School

    • Dean’s Award for Excellence in Student Teaching – Harvard Kennedy School

    Certifications:

    • Certified Facilitator, LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® – LEGO Education

    • Certified Facilitator, Human-Centered Design – LUMA Institute

    • Executive Coaching Certification – International Coaching Federation

    • Certified Professional in Talent Development – Association for Talent Development

Lila smiling in front of vibrant garden with red and yellow flowers.

  • Lila is an expert facilitator who thrives in dynamic settings where individuals come together to achieve outcomes greater than their constituent parts. She runs her own strategic consulting practice, where she facilitates complex conversations, trainings, and retreats. Lila specializes in facilitating difficult conversations, with experience leading teams through:

    • Conflict resolution

    • Culture norming, storming, and forming

    • Strategic planning

    • Power-mapping and campaign analysis

    • Coalition building, team dynamics, and feedback trainings

    Some of the organizations she has worked with include:

    • The Wildlife Conservation Society

    • The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

    • Community Health Impact Coalition

    • Spotify

    • Collective Impact

    • The Peregrine Fund

    • National, state, and local political campaigns

  • "Voop is a virtuoso in the art of enabling group learning. I have admired her masterfully synthesize insights from participants, creating powerful light bulb moments for everyone. In those remarkably resonant moments of clarity, I could practically hear participants say 'a-ha.'"

    — Erica Dhawan, CEO of Cotential

  • "Lila is a natural listener and guide…. She has an energetic and positive spirit that enables people to think creatively and contribute as individuals and as teams in ways that are empowering and productive. As a facilitator, Lila has the skills and experience that create a seamless and effective program, but it is her authentic self that she brings to the effort which makes it work beyond expectations! Beyond the typical qualities of listening, patience and other facilitation skills, Lila is someone you always remember for her positivity, intelligence, creativity and kindness."

    — Kathi Schaeffer, Executive Director of Public Affairs and Partnerships at the Wildlife Conservation Society

  • "Voop is one of the most gifted and thoughtful facilitators I have ever worked with. She gives her all to the participants and inspires everyone with her engaging personality and stories."

    — Holly Chang, Golden Bridges Foundation

  • "Lila is a phenomenal trainer that has executed dozens of virtual trainings. She is fantastic at designing concise, easy-to-understand concepts built with pedagogical best practices in mind. Her academic background in mind-brain-behavior makes her uniquely qualified to build and deliver trainings that help people to retain information and apply it in real-time. She brings energy to all of her facilitation, working to keep trainings highly engaging and communal."

    — Sarah Stern, Founder at Cultivate