Canopy Strategies

Leadership isn’t a sprint.

It’s an endurance event with no finish line in sight.

At Canopy Strategies, we help leaders and organizations shift from reactive growth to sustainable endurance—by designing leadership practices, team structures, and strategies that hold up over time.

For founders and small‑organization leaders scaling fast—we blend people strategies and leadership endurance coaching to create sustainable performance and team alignment without you burning out.

We work with you above and under the canopy.

What we mean by
"the canopy":

In nature, a canopy offers protection, structure, and perspective.

We design the roles, rhythms, and leadership systems that turn your vision into scalable team structure—not just coaching for the individual leader.

  • Above the Canopy: Big-picture clarity, strategic thinking, long-term vision

  • Under the Canopy: Real-time execution, team leadership, organizational rhythm

If one of these describes you, I want to work with you.

  • Founders and CEOs of small but growing organizations (<100 people)

  • Leaders with big ambitions but under‑resourced in team capacity or capability

  • Small organization leaders ready to treat people strategy as core to their growth strategy — or risk burnout, turnover, or missed milestones

Our Core Offerings

Whether you're a founder, nonprofit leader, or someone who leads with heart and high expectations, our work is built to help you lead well and build wisely.

Through a mix of people strategy, leadership coaching, and real-world structure, we help you stay clear, energized, and equipped to grow your team—and your impact—without burning out in the process.

  • Essentials: Targeted strategy sessions & short resets

  • Core Experiences: 3–6 month coaching & advisory partnerships

  • Sustaining Rhythms: Quarterly reset opportunities and Monthly Leadership Endurance Round Tables

What Clients Say About Working Under the Canopy

  • "Melissa was engaged to conduct a talent and culture review for a medium-sized (< 50 people) global non-profit. She worked with leadership to develop a project approach, led the review process using a number of engagement techniques including surveys, focus group discussions, and 1:1 interviews, and analyzed the findings for leadership consideration. At the end of the project, she facilitated a Board-level workshop to develop recommendations for how to evolve the NPO’s talent and culture strategy."

    Read More Testimonials

  • "One of Melissa’s key strengths for this project was her ability to quickly take the pulse of the organization and adapt an approach that was appropriate to how the team had previously operated while respecting the mood of the team. In a matter of weeks, she emerged as a trusted advisor to NPO leadership on how to handle individual and group dynamics. Her insights into how to engage the Board were particularly helpful as we sought to bring the Board more directly into the conversation about how talent and culture strategy affect the future of the NPO."

    — Global Non-Profit Board Member

    Read More Testimonials

  • "Melissa Carson has been an invaluable resource for me and for our team. We are a small nonprofit with a tiny but dedicated staff, and the pandemic has made evident a number of challenges we face in trying to become the strongest organization we can be (and it has presented new ones as well, of course)."

    Read More Testimonials

  • "Melissa has helped me think through how our team can evolve and improve, has helped me adapt our policies and practices as situations have changed, and, importantly, has helped me be a stronger leader so as to ensure that the team is functioning together."

    Read More Testimonials

  • "She is a strategist, a coach, and a thought partner to me as executive director, a position in which the difficulties are usually lonely ones. I am so glad to be able to work with her!”

    — Carin Berkowitz, Executive Director, New Jersey Council for the Humanities

    Read More Testimonials

The Answers You Need:

  • A people strategy is a dynamic, business-aligned plan that defines how an organization attracts, develops, engages, and retains talent to achieve its goals.

    It serves as the foundation for all people-related decisions and is regularly reviewed to adapt to evolving needs and priorities.

  • Leadership endurance coaching helps high-performing leaders sustain focus, energy, and clarity over time—so they can lead through growth, pressure, and change without burning out.

  • We work with executives, HR leaders, founders, and teams—especially in small and midsize organizations—who want to lead with more strategy, confidence, and calm.

  • You can choose from quick, focused options like Strategy Sessions or Sprints—or deeper partnerships over several months. Everything is built around your goals and your reality.

  • Melissa brings 25+ years of HR and executive experience, blending strategic people leadership with coaching. Her clients value her ability to simplify complexity, ask the right questions, and help them show up as the leader they want to be.

  • The best first step is a free Discovery Call. We’ll explore your current leadership challenges and whether there’s a fit.

    Schedule here: https://calendly.com/canopystrategies/discoverycall

Founded by Melissa Carson

Melissa Carson is a Leadership Endurance Coach, Organizational Architect, and trusted advisor to high-performing leaders and teams. She helps experienced executives and growth-minded organizations build sustainable success—through clarity, structure, and energy that lasts.

With over 25 years of experience in strategic HR, talent development, and executive coaching, Melissa works with those leading in environments where the pace is high, the pressure is real, and the finish line keeps moving. She brings the rare ability to help leaders zoom out to see the system while supporting them as they execute under the weight of it.

Her proprietary frameworks—the FIRE Model (Focus, Intentionality, Resilience, Energy) and the I-CAN Cycle (Intention, Create the Plan, Act, Navigate)—equip clients to lead for the long game without sacrificing their people, priorities, or well-being.

Whether coaching a founder, guiding an executive team, or serving as a Fractional Chief People Officer, Melissa brings structure to complexity, calm to urgency, and clarity to what matters most.