About me
About Me
I’m Tess Vigil — a coach, designer, and catalyst for meaningful change.
I support leaders and teams to deliver impactful results and achieve their goals. Leveraging behavioral science, I spark momentum in people and organizations ready to change. I value authenticity, transparency, and continuous improvement — and I bring all three to every engagement.
My career spans from the middle school classroom to healthcare tech and a few unexpected places in between. I started as a teacher in Los Angeles through Teach for America, where I discovered my passion for learning and development. I went on to coach teachers across Colorado, eventually directing city-wide culturally responsive education programs at Denver Public Schools. I’ve consulted nationally through Promise54, partnering with social impact organizations on talent strategy, leadership development, and organizational culture. Today, I lead change management and technology adoption work in patient education at a large healthcare organization, bridging technical solutions, people strategies, and business needs to empower front-line teams.
Throughout it all, I’ve maintained a coaching practice. I work with executives and emerging leaders in education, nonprofit, and healthcare settings, drawing on 360-degree assessments, feedback and communication strategies, and a deep grounding in social and organizational psychology. That grounding started at Columbia University, where I studied social psychology and had the opportunity to learn directly from Dr. Carol Dweck as she developed her research on growth mindset — an experience that put a behavioral science lens on my work from the very beginning of my career.
And then there’s 50 Dresses — a past project where I proved creativity and business smarts can co-exist, wearing every hat a small business needs for eight years. Read the full story on the Design Portfolio page.
I hold a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.Ed. from Loyola Marymount University. I’m originally from Denver, where I live with my husband and two children. Outside of work, I enjoy reading nonfiction, sewing, and obsessing over smart products.
