Karen Retardo, RN, MA, ICF-PCC, is a nurse leader, professional coach, and Gallup-Certified CliftonStrengths® Coach who specializes in helping quietly ambitious professionals step into confident, values-aligned leadership. With over two decades of nursing experience and a Master’s degree in Spiritual Psychology, she brings a unique blend of clinical insight, coaching psychology, and strengths-based leadership to her work with nurse leaders, entrepreneurs, and healthcare teams.

Karen’s leadership development approach integrates evidence-informed coaching, emotional regulation tools, and strengths-aligned frameworks to help leaders overcome identity-based barriers such as imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and visibility blocks. She is known for her warm, grounded teaching style and her ability to translate complex inner experiences into practical, actionable leadership strategies.

Karen serves as faculty at Coach Path Academy, where she teaches ICF coaching competencies to emerging coaches. She is also an experienced speaker who has presented on confidence, worthiness, mindset, and strengths-based leadership at national nursing organizations, including the National Nurses in Business Association and the Nurses Bond Conference 2024.

As a LEGO® Serious Play® Coach, Karen brings experiential, reflective, and interactive learning to leadership development, helping leaders access deeper clarity, creativity, and self-trust.

Her mission is simple: to empower nurse leaders to lead with confidence, authenticity, and calm authority—especially in environments where change is constant and the emotional demands of leadership are high.

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