About
Pavo [Pah-Voh] is a constellation in the southern hemisphere used to navigate, as a collection of its stars points to the Southern Celestial Pole. Latin for peacock, Pavo is a symbol of rebirth and wise insight.
Like its namesake, Pavo Leadership helps individuals and organizations navigate uncertainty by creating the space for people to foster agility, discover new insights, and put them into action.
Pavo’s founder and president, Katy Craig has over 20 years of professional experience in human development and experiential learning, as well as expertise in the fields of adaptive and transformational leadership, applied improvisation, change management, coaching, speaking, and writing.
A grounded enthusiast, Katy possesses both imagination and follow-through. She is a champion of hard work and intention, is possibilities-oriented and is a catalyst for fun. Her strong spirit allows her to draw on hidden reserves during times of urgency and anxiety, bringing her core of calm to bear on your most pressing priorities. Katy holds the space for you to take courageous action.
Because she sees connections between things that often go unnoticed, Katy is able to better encourage positive, meaningful and sustainable accomplishment. She revels in the unexpected by seeing challenge as a charge. Katy is energetic, smart and freakishly strong.
For more information about her various types of expertise, scroll down or click on the icons below.
Envision. Then Make it So.
Education and Work Experience
Katy attended the University of Denver as a Boettcher Scholar where she was a junior-elect to Phi Beta Kappa and earned Bachelor’s degrees in Communications, Creative Writing and French. She graduated Summa Cum Laude. Later, she completed her MA in English, also at DU, and her MFA in creative writing at Colorado State University.
Katy’s early career at the University of Denver included serving as the Assistant Director of the University Honors Program as well as holding the positions of First-Year English Instructor, Honors Seminar Instructor, Honors Symposium Instructor and Nelson Hall Faculty Resident. After leaving DU, Katy traveled and worked in Central and South America before joining the Boettcher Foundation as their Director of the Scholarship Program, then serving as the foundation’s Director of Strategic Initiatives and finally as its Leadership Coach and Content Designer. She founded Pavo Leadership in 2017.
Throughout this time Katy has coached individuals and organizations toward more fulfilling, productive lives of lasting contribution and far-reaching impact.
Improvisation
Katy has been studying, performing, hosting, and teaching improvisational theater since 2009.
Some of her favorite shows that she’s performed in are the freestyle rap whodunit SuperBaby’s Lyrical Mystery Tour (Think 8-Mile Meets Scooby-Doo), The Heirs of Hogwarts in which the grandchildren of J.K. Rowling’s heroes go off to Hogwarts to have adventures of their own in a fully improvised 90-minute play, and On The Spot, a rapid-fire game show in the style of Who’s Line Is It Anyway?
Katy has performed at the Bovine Metropolis Theater and Rise theater, and in the Denver Improv Festival. She draws upon the tenets of improvisational theater in her experiential workshops, particularly those for adaptive leadership, storytelling, and enhanced communication.
Leadership Development
A graduate of The Harvard Kennedy School’s Art and Practice of Leadership Development, The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Denver and The Daniels College of Business’ High Performance Leadership programs, Katy has been asked to speak on leadership development nationally and internationally.
She lead an effort to develop a Boettcher Foundation leadership philosophy, and has presented at the Colorado Leadership Alliance Summit, the University of Colorado-Boulder, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, and the International Leadership Association Global Conference in Barcelona, amongst others.
She has also facilitated workshops at or partnered with Abracademy in London, Adobe Headquarters-San Jose, the Daniels College of Business, Denver Public Schools, the El Pomar Foundation, Feeding America, Monash University in Melbourne Australia, and the Red Robin School of Leadership.
Coaching
Katy is a professional Co-Active Coach, certified by the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) and a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
She has completed multiple rigorous training and certification programs that use a broad range of proprietary tools developed by CTI and ICF that have been proven effective over the past 25+ years of the coaching profession. She has also completed CTI’s 10-month Leadership program, and serves as an assistant in coach training courses and as a Coach Match Coach.
CTI is the first and largest in-person coach training school in the world, and its training and certification programs are recognized as the most rigorous in the industry. The Co-Active model is based on the belief that people are naturally creative, resourceful and whole. The curriculum covers fulfillment, balance and process coaching, emphasizing the power of insightful questions, fierce listening, artful intruding and holding space for deep learning and courageous action, all in service of the client.
ICF is the leading global organization for coaches and coaching. ICF is dedicated to advancing the coaching profession by setting high standards, providing independent certification and building a worldwide network of trained coaching professionals.
Storytelling
In addition to her BA in Creative Writing, MA in Literary Criticism and MFA in Creative Writing, Katy holds a Certificate in Publishing from The Denver Publishing Institute. She has taken various professional and intensive courses on the writing craft and has attended the Tin House Writers Workshop, Robert McKee’s Story Workshop and the Iowa Writers Workshop. Katy served on the faculty for the Lighthouse Writers Workshop Youth Program from 2010-2012 and taught literature and composition at the University of Denver from 2001-2005 and creative writing at Colorado State University in 2020. Her first book was published in 2017, and her writing has also been featured in The Denver Post and Snowshoe Magazine.
In recent years, Katy has turned her interest in narrative toward her trainings, helping professionals hone their stories to connect with and engage their audiences. Effective storytelling can dramatically increase credibility, presence and influence. By creating a narrative with clear purpose and intention, exceptional storytellers help people understand our world, connect with others and achieve maximum impact. Those who are brave enough to tell personal stories and astute enough to know exactly how their stories relate to specific business messages are therefore at a distinct advantage.
Service
Katy serves as volunteer faculty for the Denver Publishing Institute, a graduate-level program designed to help book lovers launch their publishing careers. Through a combination of graduate-level lectures, special sessions, field trips, workshops, and small group discussions, students connect with industry leaders and DPI’s nationwide network of publishing professionals.
She is also the former Secretary of the Spark the Change Colorado Board of Directors, where she worked for 5 years to assist their aim of making volunteerism smarter by empowering individuals and organizations with knowledge and skills to create more effective, engaging and impactful volunteering.
In addition, Katy was appointed by the Dean of the University of Denver’s College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS) to a 4-year term on its Advisory Board, which she served from 2015 to 2018. Nationwide board members meet throughout the year to support and create recommendations for CAHSS leadership and faculty to improve students’ liberal arts education.
Katy also participates in various community forums and has volunteered her time reviewing fiction and nonfiction manuscripts, and assisting various nonprofit organizations in the design of international workshops and coaching programs, as well as providing feedback and coaching to nonprofit professionals seeking still greater fulfillment and professional accomplishment.