The spark behind Lacuna Afore
Grounded in years of leading innovation inside real organizations, informed by deep experience in innovation strategy, human systems, and somatic-based leadership practice.
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Lacuna Afore names the space before strategy—where creativity and clarity emerge.
OUR PERSPECTIVE
An upstream perspective
Strategy reflects the conditions under which decisions are made, not just the intelligence behind them.
When the upstream conditions are right, leadership teams have the capacity to think clearly together, alignment holds and innovation follows naturally across the organization.
Lacuna Afore focuses on this upstream layer—where clarity, cohesion, and direction are established before innovation is asked to perform.
Professional grounding
This approach draws from extensive experience leading innovation strategy and product development within established organizations. Guiding ideas from early conception through execution and scale, while navigating real constraints, competing priorities, operational complexity, and the human dynamics that shape decision-making.
Alongside this professional background, our approach is informed by advanced study in human performance and wellbeing, and training in a somatic-based leadership model focused on nervous system awareness, embodied cognition, and decision-making under pressure.
Together, these perspectives form a foundation that is both practical and human, grounded in how leaders actually operate in complex environments.
Conditions-based Approach
You can’t outthink the conditions you’re in
We address the conditions that shape leadership effectiveness.
This framework is subtle, structural, and deeply practical.
MEET OUR FOUNDER
Carlee Kelly
Carlee Kelly is the founder and guiding intelligence behind Lacuna Afore.
For over a decade, she has worked with consumer packaged goods companies on product innovation and strategy, leading innovation pipelines from early concept through international scaling.
Her work required not just ideas, but discernment, alignment, and execution within real organizational systems. This is experience few leaders gain visibility into from both the strategic and operational side.
Alongside her innovation practice, Carlee holds a master’s degree in nutrition science and has deep experience in lifestyle medicine and human performance.
In addition to this industry background, she trained in a progressive somatic-based coaching model. This is a structural, body-informed approach to leadership presence and decision-making. Somatic methods intentionally integrate body awareness, nervous system regulation, and cognitive patterns so leaders can remain present, clear, and effective under pressure, not just efficient.
This combination of hard-earned innovation credibility and modern somatic practice is what makes Lacuna Afore distinct.
It is not a traditional coaching program, nor a strategy playbook.
We focus on the conditions that give rise to strategy and innovation, expanding capacity and restoring access to creative intelligence.
How this orientation shapes the work
Carlee’s experience is not a résumé. It is a lens.
Grounded in years of leading innovation inside real organizations, this perspective shapes how Lacuna Afore engagements are designed and held.
✓ Strategy is approached as an outcome, not a starting point
✓ Leaders are understood as the source of innovation
✓ Human capacity is treated as an organizational asset
✓ Space, clarity, and presence are prerequisites, not luxuries
Presence first,
strategy second
We do not teach strategy.
We support leaders in restoring the space where strategy and innovation emerge, with clarity, coherence, and steadiness.
This is the ground from which real innovation grows.
Begin a conversation
If this orientation resonates, we begin with a conversation to explore fit.