Rough Diamonds Inc

Making Promising Entrepreneurs Shine through Holistic Coaching & Social Impact Sponsorship 💎

We're here to support promising entrepreneurs, especially those from overlooked backgrounds, on their path to business success. 

Our goal is clear: we offer specialized coaching for six months, covering leadership, mental resilience, and business strategies. Partnering with socially conscious companies, we turn their support into opportunities for our entrepreneurs. 

It's more than just coaching; it's about unlocking potential and building a community where every entrepreneurial dream finds its wings.

Connect with us to explore how your organization can contribute to our transformative mission by becoming a sponsor!

Founded in 2023 with Frans Voskuil, Shirley-Ann Mathis & myself. 

www.roughdiamondsinc.com

Co-Founder & Business Coach 💎

TribeX

After seeing the need for entrepreneurs to come together and support each other, Lennart & I decided to create a tight-knit family of business owners. People who want to co-elevate each other personally and professionally. Not once, but by being true partners in each other's journeys...

TribeX is an international community of impact-driven entrepreneurs

A collective for:
- masterminding
- expertise sharing
- accountability
- collaborations
- business friends around the globe

Online-first but with 2 yearly physical gatherings in a European city 🏙️

Members are selected with great care based on Character & Integrity.

We believe those are the key factors for a supportive business family🫶🏽

We kicked off in September 2023 with 12 founding members spread across Europe!

If you want to join us (first session = free), go to www.growtribute.com/tribe

Co-Founder & Leader @ TribeX 

Growtribute

Helping business owners improve how they run their business, for business growth & personal enjoyment.

⭐  Operational Excellence: I specialize in taking businesses from a '4' to an '8', optimizing processes, enhancing efficiency, and driving tangible results. From tackling workflow bottlenecks to implementing scalable systems, I've helped clients achieve significant cost savings, boost productivity, and accelerate growth.

⭐  Strategic Leadership: As your Fractional Chief of Staff, I partner with you to overcome strategic challenges and seize new opportunities. Whether it's expanding into new markets, diversifying revenue streams, or navigating industry disruptions, I develop and execute tailored strategies that drive sustainable growth and competitive advantage.

⭐  Team Empowerment: Building high-performing teams is key to sustainable growth. I work closely with your leadership team to foster collaboration, enhance communication, and cultivate a culture of accountability and excellence. Together, we unlock the full potential of your team, driving innovation and delivering exceptional results.

⭐  Personalized Approach: No two businesses are alike, which is why I take a tailored approach to every client engagement. Whether you're facing rapid growth, organizational challenges, or market uncertainty, I craft customized solutions that address your specific needs and goals, delivering measurable results and long-term success.

Results while working with us:
✅ Feel completely in control of the business & your days
✅ Step into your CEO role - execute a clear vision, strategy, and momentum.
✅ Increase revenue by working smarter
✅ Be indistractable, less available & needed in the business
✅ Have more time for yourself, family, friends & sports by working smarter
✅ Truly turn off your head and be present on evenings and weekends
✅ Better communication with your team and co-founder(s)

Reach out in DM to discuss a collaboration.

Fractional Chief of Staff for Scaling Entrepreneurs

The Thriving Entrepreneur Podcast

On The Thriving Entrepreneur Podcast, founder and entrepreneur coaches David Foster and Rachelle Leerling discuss practical insights in order to run a thriving business.

Thought-provoking discussions about how to thrive as an entrepreneur. No fluff.

What is the best way to ask yourself in order to make real progress and find the path that is best for you?
What are the best questions to think about the challenges that you face as an entrepreneur while running the business that you started?

Rachelle and David use their decades of experience founding and running businesses to help other founders and entrepreneurs with how to think about those problems, so the answer and direction you take is right for you.

No fortune cookie wisdom, no one-size-fits-all listicles that every entrepreneur should do every morning before waking up, just ways to think about your journey in your business and personal leadership.

A new episode is published every Friday.

LINK TO THE SHOW ON SPOTIFY - https://open.spotify.com/show/1nZP93zRX2HQdKVX1eafYP?si=cb08aba996e047ef

Co-Host

Rachelle Leerling (f.k.a. Chelle Media)

Event Moderator for Business, Inclusivity and Tech events and conferences. English and Dutch spoken.

Highlights:
- TEDx Amsterdam Women Startup Award
- Lean Innovation Summit 
- YES!Delft UNconference (2x)
- EBF Conference Groningen
- SDG House x Fashion Amsterdam
- Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Career Webinars
- Odyssey Connect Deep Tech Conference
- Emerce NEXT Digital Conference host
- Shell Energy Hackathon host

Event Moderator in Tech, Entrepreneurship, Startups, Innovation & Diversity

FRGRND

FRGRND specializes in Generation Z (1995-2015) and work. We help organizations connect to and retain the new generation of employees and freelancers, Generation Z. We do this by facilitating the conversation between organizations and Generation Z - call it a premium youth panel for your organizational issue regarding the youngest generation in the workplace.
>> We sold the company to /LAB Service Design in 2020. <<

Founder (exit)

Rachelle Leerling

I help organizations in digital & entrepreneurship realize new initiatives. 

Kick-starting new initiatives by brainstorming and sharing my ideas, setting project targets, aligning the project team & setting out the tasks is what I do without hesitation. I get things going, up to speed & moving fast. 

I care for the project team and will make sure everyone is on board, briefed & motivated. I never lose stakeholders out of sight, I tend to proactively communicate so that all parties are on the same page. When things do not work out as planned or need extra attention, I escalate quickly.

Oh, and I also love to present the project outcomes and/or host the (launch) event.
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Until 2018, Chelle Media mainly offered services in communication strategy, online marketing (SEO/SEA, social media) and LinkedIn trainings. Running several projects for corporates (a.s.r. and Utrecht University) and SMEs (e.g. Young Mavericks, Jong & Fris).

Project Lead in Digital 

Connext Lab

As Product Owner at Connext Lab, I help our customers to implement their innovations faster and better. Unburdening and results are our mantra. Do you want to know more? Go to www.nextpo.nl

Product Owner @ NextPO

Lean In

I co-started the Lean In Rotterdam circle & moderate the meet-ups. The circle is for all women, from internationals to local, from student to entrepreneur and corporates to come together to learn from each other. 

Lean In is an initiative by Sheryl Sandberg, COO at Facebook.

Rotterdam Circle Team | Event Moderator

YES!Delft

HackWeek is 5-day hackathon for students and early stage startups to find a solution that optimizes the total energy consumption of a Norske Shell upstream facility. 

In only 10 weeks’ time, in my role as (Integral) Project Lead and Host of the week, I:

•	oversaw scouting, led the selection process
•	managed the promotion & external communication
•	managed collaboration and communication with stakeholders and participating teams 
•	with the Events team, I made sure we had a well rounded program
•	acted as Host, making sure the teams knew about the program of the day, answered their  questions & motivated them
•	managed the communication with the experts (Shell & YES!Delft) monitoring the quality of teams' work and progress
•	moderated the event, introduced the pitchers & announced the winners on Demo Day

Results:
- 10 participating startup and student teams during 5-day program
- 5 winning teams of which 2x accelerated access to GameChanger Program and 2x ticket to YES!Delft Validation Lab.
- Made a big impact on the lead generation for and awareness of tech innovation within Shell.

Project Manager & Event Moderator - Shell GameChanger Hackweek 

In my role as co-founder and initiator, I was Product Owner for the platform. I worked with 4 different tech agencies and managed stakeholders within corporates, startups and investors. Also recruited & led the team of 4 (Community, Marketing, Design & Sales) as Manager, initiated new partnerships, created vlogs and co-organized partner events.
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Startup Corner is the single-point-of-contact for tech startups and industry experts, powered by MRDH, StartupDelta and YES!Delft. We provide support for all building blocks of a startup in order to grow. By creating a profile, you gain access to information on essential startup-related themes, knowledge and personal advice - peer to peer or from big players in the tech industry. Use the knowledge and experience of the community to accelerate your startup.

General Manager Startup Corner | Co-Initiator | Product Owner

Focusing on the customer journey, content, SEO and tech development of the corporate website of TU Delft’s tech startup incubator YES!Delft.
 
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A leading complex tech incubator that brings your product to the market as fast as possible. We breathe technology.

We are passionate about tech startups in the fields of Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, CleanTech, MedTech, Aviation, Robotics and  Complex Technology. We are always (and only) looking for startups that can solve real-life problems. Problems that the world faces now, and ones to be tackled for future generations. We’re not a pizza-delivery-app kind of incubator ;-).

We offer the right circumstances, timing, methodology, focus, an iteration mindset and connections in the form of programs and an ecosystem in order to accelerate. We guide you through the whole life cycle: pre-acceleration, acceleration and growth. By offering the right resources, we help technology startups faster towards their market/product fit, faster to a launching customer and faster towards investment. We are one of the most time-efficient tech incubators out there.

Product Owner & Content Writer

I'm on a mission to empower entrepreneurs to break free from the daily grind, get back into their best role, and ENJOY their business again. 

1️⃣ Fractional Chief of Staff @ Growtribute

My passion lies in supporting high-achieving entrepreneurs who are too involved in day-to-day operations and don't do enough of what truly matters to get back to the work that moves their businesses forward. 

I help them get back into their zone of genius & full leadership through tough love coaching & accountability. My secret sauce is Personal Mastery - because your business can only be as thriving as you are. Over the past years, I’ve helped dozens of entrepreneurs achieve more revenue, headspace, enjoyment… All while working less & more efficiently. 

2️⃣ Co-founder & Leader @ TribeX

On top of coaching, I co-founded an entrepreneurs community called TribeX. It's more than a community; it's a tight-knit family of like-minded entrepreneurs across Europe. At TribeX, we're all about mutual support and growth - all by operating on deep trust & vulnerability. Together, we tackle challenges, celebrate wins, and co-elevate our businesses through masterminds, expert talks, and much more. 

For me, my work is all about (re)calibration – positioning you and your team for holistic success. My approach ensures that you're not just working hard but working smart, creating an environment where everyone can shine and mutually bring the business to where it belongs.

If any of the above resonates with you and your business situation, just reach out in DM 🙏🏼

Parikh Ventures LLC

Aligned and improved clients' (ranging from Amazon, Walmart, Chewy) day to day operational effectiveness to achieve their long term strategic goals. Analyzed current challenges at hand, identified trends & opportunities for growth, and designed strategies that aligned with and ensured operations are optimized to meet strategic objectives.

●	Implemented operational improvements for 50+ managers with strategies that ranged in best practices for frontline leadership to up C-Suite leadership.

●      Improved team engagement by over 50% in 1 month through insights gained from implementing and monitoring weekly data that drove strategic approaches.

●      Drove cross functional alignment across departments and operational improvements that led to the business being top 1% in their district.

●	Turned around an org that was missing SLAs to achieving 100% of KPI metrics.

Strategy & Operations Consultant

XPO Logistics, Inc.

Directly managed a team of 40+ employee, 6 exempt managers, and 6 nonexempt leaders. Collaborated with global cross functional teams to design and execute a strategy to implement a new Warehouse Management System across the entire Healthcare enterprise. Tracked and presented weekly progress to the President of Supply Chain and conducted quarterly business reviews with executive leadership and client. Drove process improvement for day to day operational excellence in order to achieve long term strategic objectives.

●	Efficiently developed and managed operations, policies, and processes to optimize and improve KPIs by 50%. 

●	Effectively reorganized segmentation strategy for facility with 78,000 SKUs and record count strategy to achieve 100% cycle count completion in 3 months to pass 2 audits.

●	Designed and implemented customized reports to monitor KPIs for feedback and analysis for the newly implemented WMS.

●	Led the process mapping, documentation, creation of SOPs, and training for implementation of new WMS.

●	Scheduled and rolled out hardware deployment and training for 250+ employees on new WMS and processes.

General Manager

Iron Mountain

Directly managed a team of 80+ employees, 3 exempt managers, and 5 nonexempt leaders. Drove cross functional initiatives and operational alignment at an organizational level. Partnered with Product, Marketing, Strategy, Sales, and CX to grow from 4 markets to 31 markets post joint venture. Partnered with Product and IT to develop a knowledge database for all teams. 

●	Partnered with Director of Quality to develop 12 new KPIs, design and monitor dashboards to monitor performance, capture feedback, and personalize KPIs based on market specific relevance. 

●	Drove significant annual savings (over $300K or 85% YoY) in concessions from quality defects through improved handling processes, successful delivery, and inventory accuracy all within 98-99%. 

●	Established inventory categorization strategy for oversized freight and loose stowing items which helped increase storage utilization by 36%.

●	Mentored and developed 2 direct reports into leadership and management level roles.

Senior Operations Manager

MakeSpace

Directly managed a team of 60+ employees, 2 exempt managers, and 4 nonexempt leaders. Led programs with cross functional teams to improve processes, products, and strategy. Collaborated with executive leadership to develop documentation, training, implementation, and standardization for all aspects of Operations. Oversaw $12MM P&L for NY and NJ markets. 

●	Partnered with the Product team to develop 2 apps and a WMS website that played a key role in joint venture.

●	Increased productivity 400% (from 30 UPH to 120 UPH) and drove significant annual savings (over $500K YoY) to come ahead of target goal through headcount restructuring, streamlining processes and improving quality defects.

●	Oversaw and executed project to insource operations and eliminate 3PL inefficiencies. Expanded 75k sq ft to over 500k sq ft. This added 2MM cu ft of physical storage space and increased daily capacity by 50%. 

●	Saved company $600k through the implementation of a zoning strategy for field team that improved lean practices by eliminating travel time, idle labor, and disruptive delinquencies.

●	Created and implemented a demand planning product to assist in forecasting workload and headcount scheduling.

●	Mentored and developed 3 direct reports into leadership and management level roles.

Amazon

Directly managed a team of 500+ employees, 3 exempt managers, and 10 nonexempt leaders in a 1.1MM sq ft facility. Drove operational efficiencies through optimizing processes, systems, and cross functional collaboration with teams in order to achieve long term strategic goals. .

●	Drove initiative for defect injection reduction that collaborated with UI/UX teams, product teams, and senior leadership which led to process improvements and reducing quality defect by 73% year over year.

●	Designed project to reconfigure 6 floors of 1.1 sq ft facility for 8000+ associates which led to an increased 23,000 cu ft of storage, 80% productivity YoY, 66% safety incidents YoY, and 70% quality YoY.

●	Designed, documented, and implemented onboarding and training program for new hires reducing learning curve by 75%, from 4 weeks to 1 week to hit KPI goal. Program was adopted region wide.

●	Mentored and developed 12 direct reports into leadership and management level roles

Operations Manager

Area Manager II

Area Manager

I help first time managers in Ops 🦺 close the gap from a lack of training and support.

Professionally:

10 years of experience leading teams to drive operational improvements by designing and implementing frameworks, processes, and systems at startups and enterprise companies like Amazon, XPO Logistics, and Iron Mountain. Skilled in collaborating with cross functional teams to drive alignment, coordination, and execution on initiatives with stakeholders. Proven track record of designing data-driven and scalable processes, streamlining bottlenecks, and developing KPIs to monitor data for actionable insights. Drove efficiencies that led to operational increases of over 80%, proprietary product development, WMS implementation, 7x market growth to scale nationwide, and a successful joint venture.

𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬: Operations Management, Operational Excellence, E-commerce, Management, Leadership, Coaching & Mentoring, Cross-functional Leadership, Collaboration & Coordination, Interpersonal Skills, Stakeholder Management, Process Improvement, Continuous Improvement, Strategic Planning, Program/Project Management, Product Operations, Communications, Data Analysis, OKRs / KPIs, Problem Solving, P&L Management

𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬: MS Office Suite, Google Suite, Looker, Asana, Slack, MS Teams, Trello, Sharepoint, Notion, Canva, Calendly, Zoom, Active Campaign, Dropbox

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Personally: 

I've been lucky enough to live on both coasts (NJ and Cali) but I'll always be a Jersey guy at heart. I enjoy photography (have even done friends' weddings) and video games (huge Zelda fan). Oh and I'm a foodie - I can out eat my wallet which can be a problem.

Let's connect!

taplio

The Battle

Rachelle Leerling

Pathik Parikh

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