Women To Watch 2025 honoree Shelly Heath-Watson

“Never despise humble beginnings.” A product of a small town in upstate New York, Shelly Heath-Watson was raised in a family where faith, gratitude, and service to others were a way of life. She learned early that true leadership begins with service.

Over the course of her career, Shelly has worked across academic, nonprofit, corporate, and federal arenas—supporting both emerging leaders and seasoned executives while mentoring new and experienced coaches. As the first Director of Disability Support Services at American University, she advanced access and inclusion for students with disabilities, enhancing the University’s capacity to serve its community. At the American Diabetes Association, she launched grassroots initiatives that reached BIPOC communities nationwide, including Project Power, a church-based program that continues raising awareness about diabetes more than two decades later. At ICF International, she directed a $30M federal health communications portfolio, leading national campaigns with the CDC and National Eye Institute that raised disease visibility in under-resourced communities and deepened community impact.

In this season of her career, Shelly’s coaching journey began unexpectedly at a leadership retreat. While discussing her 360 results, an executive coach recognized and named her gift for coaching. In that moment, something shifted—and everything changed. Shelly went on to earn an Executive Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University, where she later joined the faculty and contributed to one of the country’s most respected coach training programs for more than a decade.

Shelly expanded her focus from individual coaching to building coaching systems and communities. As Director of Coaching Programs at CI International, she established the firm’s first coaching division—designing vision, infrastructure, and programs that scaled to a network of more than 60 vetted coaches. She also developed International Coaching Federation–accredited training programs for coaches and leaders across agencies including the Forest Service, HUD, IRS, and OPM. This work allowed her to extend the ripple effect of coaching from individuals to entire organizations, advancing leadership capacity across the federal government.

Shelly brings both depth of study and breadth of practice to her work. She holds a master’s degree in social psychology from American University and has earned the prestigious Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential—the highest designation awarded by the International Coaching Federation and held by fewer than 4% of coaches worldwide.

Today, as founder of Simplexity Coaching & Consulting, Shelly partners with senior executives and leadership teams to expand their capacity to lead with clarity in an increasingly complex world. Her clients emerge with greater awareness of self and others, an expanded worldview that sparks new possibilities, and the agility to meet the shifting demands of leadership. In this work, they learn to see the systems and interconnections around them, foster strategic collaborations, and move with precision—zooming in and out, simplifying the complex, and bringing nuance and depth to what first appears simple.

Shelly’s work with coaches is founded on the principle that transformational, presence-based coaching begins within—the inner work that enables them to show up fully for the outer work.

She co-creates psychologically safe spaces where coaches can examine how their identities shape their voice, the impact they have on others, and the learning that can drive meaningful change. Maya Angelou’s words, “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty,” anchor Shelly’s philosophy. She partners with clients in the essential space before the beauty—the courageous, vulnerable place where identities are questioned, perspectives are expanded, and awareness of self, others, and systems deepens. Faith and family ground Shelly’s life, with gratitude woven through each chapter of her journey.

From the classroom to national health campaigns to large-scale leadership development, Shelly’s work reflects one throughline: service for the betterment of communities, ensuring that people have the conditions they need to flourish. She knows the work she offers in the world is not just what she does, but what she is called to do. Outside of coaching and training, she delights in traveling with her husband, working on 1,000-piece puzzles gifted by her two adult children, and watching or playing tennis. Her life and work embody her guiding belief: “There is only one who views the world as you do. So, there is only one who can contribute in the way that you can. Lean in. Someone is waiting for your gift.”