- About ELLA Consulting -Dr. Gross Kittles bridges potential and performance, ensuring organizations don’t just grow, they evolve.
Leadership & Systems Strategist for Organizations in Growth & Transition | Change Practitioner | Founder, ELLA Consulting
- About the Founder - Dr. Sharitta Gross Kittles is a leadership and systems strategist and the founder of ELLA Consulting LLC, where she helps organizations strengthen leadership capacity and build workplace systems that support sustainable performance.
With more than two decades of experience in learning and development, education, and organizational strategy, her work strengthens leadership capacity, clarifies expectations, and builds systems where support and accountability coexist — ensuring performance is sustainable, not accidental.
- Her Story -I was climbing out of the crib before I could even walk.
Early on, I developed a deep desire for access and agency — not just for myself, but for others.
I was raised by my grandmother, Elouise — “Ella” for short. She was equal parts tenderness and fire. She believed in service, education, and stepping forward when something needed to be done.
Ella didn’t talk about leadership. She modeled it, and fostered it.
Whether organizing church programs or placing me in roles that stretched me beyond my comfort zone, she showed me that leadership is less about position and more about how you create environments where people feel supported and expected to grow — where excellence becomes the norm, not the exception.
In high school, a counselor nominated me for a peer-selected leadership program called Natural Helpers. Looking back, it planted seeds that are still blooming today. It was the first time someone outside my family named what was already forming in my young awareness: leadership is about creating environments where people feel supported enough to stretch, and accountable enough to grow.
As I moved through higher education — first as a student, then as a professional — and even within my own family and community, I began to notice that some people were thriving, while others were not. It did not seem to be tied to talent or potential. I began to wonder why.
My doctoral research examined the lived experiences of academically successful Black men in STEM at a predominantly white institution. The cause of their success wasn’t talent alone.
It was support.
It was clarity.
It was access paired with accountability.
Across institutions, I saw the same workplace dynamic emerge.
Organizations would grow… but their systems wouldn’t.
Leaders were promoted, but not prepared.
Talent wasn’t failing. Systems were.
I knew I could help.
When I launched my firm, I named it ELLA Consulting in honor of my grandmother. Like Ella, we don’t just talk about leadership. We create the conditions where it can take root and thrive.
I am often called when organizations are growing, restructuring, or navigating change — moments when leadership gaps become impossible to ignore. But excellence for your team is not forged in big, front-page moments. It is won or lost in the environment that people live inside every day. And environments are shaped by leadership — through the systems they build, or the ones they leave to chance.
My work lives at the intersection of leadership behavior and system design. I help organizations address root causes — equipping leaders with the structure, language, and accountability needed to sustain change long after our engagement ends.
In short, I help organizations redesign leadership and the systems that sustain it — so people don’t have to survive the workplace to succeed in it.
Leadership is not a title.
It is an action. Success should not be the exception, it should be the norm.
Let’s build the bridge between your team’s potential and their performance, together.
- Our Values --
Disciplined Care
Care without structure creates chaos. Structure without care creates harm. We believe effective leadership requires both — holding people to high standards while ensuring they are supported, equipped, and developed.
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Accountability in Action
Leadership is not a title; it is an action. We believe leaders must actively model the behaviors they expect, take responsibility for culture, and reinforce change long after our session ends.
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Access Paired with Support
We believe onboarding, mentorship, and clear communication are essential to transforming access into real, sustainable success. Opportunity alone is not enough.
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Depth Over Surface Solutions
We do not treat symptoms. We address root causes. Through qualitative insight and intentional listening, we go beyond checklists and one-off sessions — grounding our work in continuous insight to ensure learning is captured, gaps are addressed, and change endures.
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Psychological Safety with Standards
People perform best when they feel safe to ask questions, admit gaps, and grow — without lowering expectations. We believe safety and performance are not opposites; they are partners.
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Diversity of Thought
Innovation requires difference. We believe organizations evolve when diverse perspectives are not just present, but heard, valued, and integrated into decision-making.
– In Their Words –
What ELLA Clients are Saying
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Consulting
For organizations seeking practical insight on leadership, growth, and navigating change.
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Coaching
For organizations navigating growth, restructuring, or strategic change.
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Speaking
For conferences and teams who want more than a keynote to remember.