

Empowering Scholars and Fostering Authentic Partnerships
In this episode, Karen Nowicki hosts Rachel Lutowsky, Daniel Brown, and Tacey Clayton Cundy, representing Fahrenheit Advisors, Myriad at My Home Group, and CASA Academy respectively. They discuss their collaborative efforts in empowering low-income scholars and fostering authentic partnerships for positive community impact. Rachel reflects on coaching Tacey and Daniel, emphasizing their shared commitment to CASA Academy’s mission, while Daniel shares insights into his team’s unique salary-only model, complementing Tacey’s focus on empowerment and character development.
Listen to this episode as it highlights the importance of authentic collaboration in driving meaningful change within the community.
Join this team and their teams at the Annual CASA Academy Fundraiser: Click here for Details, Sp0nsorship Opportunities and Tickets
Myriad at My Home Group is a realty company in Phoenix that assists people through one of the most important times in their lives, buying or selling a home. The experienced team of 5, has been in business for nine years and has established a unique business model in the real estate game. 
With Myriad’s model, they change the atmosphere in real estate by enlisting all salaried employees, allowing them to focus their attention on creating a positive client experience.
In the past year alone, they were able to help 120 families achieve their real estate goals while building long-lasting relationships at the same time. Our real estate consulting company in Phoenix will value your home and find the best buyers for you.
Our team is currently ranked in Arizona’s top .1% of REALTORS®, top 40 agents in the state of Arizona, and are consistently in the Top 10 producers with their brokerage, My Home Group.
After working in banking for over 10 years and bartending for a year in between, Daniel Brown decided to try something new.
In 2007, he was encouraged by a friend to get into real estate. At that time, the Great Recession had just hit and the economy was suffering its worst set-backs since the Great Depression. When many people were stepping away from real estate, Daniel was just beginning.
Over the course of 4 years, he closed on over a staggering 400 homes and gained a vast amount of experience in real estate.
That experience showed Daniel how important it was for agents to have some sort of financial stability so that they could focus on client needs instead of commissions. Daniel established a unique business model in the real estate game.
With Myriad’s salaried agent model, they change the atmosphere in real estate by enlisting all salaried employees, allowing them to focus their attention on creating a positive client experience.
Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn and follow Myriad on Facebook and Instagram.

CASA Academy is a free, public charter school that serves low-income students in kindergarten through sixth grade, providing students with the early academic foundation and character skills necessary to graduate from college and succeed in life. In the 2023-24 school year, CASA has continued implementing its growth plan, serving grades K-6, with the ultimate goal of serving grades K-8 in the year 2025.
CASA is not just a school, but a movement to raise the bar for education in Phoenix. Through a combination of rigorous academics, a college-bound culture, competitively selected teachers, and an extended school-day, CASA aims to have all of its students make over a year of growth in a single year. At CASA, the road to college truly starts in kindergarten.
Tacey Clayton Cundy graduated from Bucknell University with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. She went on to serve as a Teach for America corps member in Phoenix.
Following her corps commitment, Mrs. Clayton Cundy remained in the classroom teaching Title I second and third graders in Phoenix and Glendale. Always eager to improve her practice, Mrs. Clayton Cundy earned her master’s degree in elementary education and reading endorsement at Arizona State University and continued her education by earning a second master’s degree in administration and supervision through a scholarship from Teach for America and the University of Phoenix.
Mrs. Clayton Cundy served multiple summers on Teach for America’s summer institute staff as a literacy specialist and academic dean. Prior to co-founding CASA Academy, Mrs. Clayton Cundy was an Aspiring Leaders fellow and Charter Starter fellow through the Arizona Charter Schools Association.
Outside of work, you can find Mrs. Clayton Cundy teaching Jazzercise fitness classes, hiking in National Parks, and spending time with her husband and daughters.
Connect with Tacey on LinkedIn and follow CASA Academy on Facebook and Instagram.

Fahrenheit Advisors is a management consulting firm. They are management consulting, business operation, and growth experts with a focus on mid-market companies across the U.S. Fahrenheit’s executive and leadership coaching practice was founded in Phoenix, AZ and has grown to include ten coaches that support clients with a variety of programs and offerings to support your talent development needs at all levels of your company.
Rachel Lutowsky’s career in talent development and organizational leadership has spanned 30 years.
As the Managing Director for Fahrenheit Advisors’ leadership coaching practice, Rachel works with her team and Fahrenheit’s clients to sharpen leadership skills and maximize effectiveness.
Rachel has the ability to understand where business challenges meet interpersonal dynamics, and brings a unique, personable style to coaching, and consulting.
Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.


Alexes (Lexe) Niekamp was born in Northern California and moved to Arizona at a young age, she takes pride in starting to dance at the age of four years old, and being actively involved in theatre and her community as well.
Baton twirling lead Kate Hofmann to competing in the Miss Arizona Organization where she won Miss Arizona’s Outstanding Teen 2009, and then continued as a Miss to earn multiple Preliminary, Quality of Life and Community Service awards.


Lt. Col. Waldo Waldman, The Wingman, is a Hall of Fame leadership speaker, executive coach, and the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Never Fly Solo. He helps leaders and organizations build collaborative cultures of trust, courage, and excellence in order to adapt to change, break performance barriers, and overcome adversity.
Dan Clark is the founder and CEO of an
James Christensen is the President of Gateway Bank, the only community bank in Mesa, Arizona. Under his leadership, Gateway has thrived through multiple economic downturns and grown





Victor Assad is the CEO of Victor Assad Strategic HR Consulting Managing Partner of InnovationOne, LLC. He works with companies to transform HR, conduct executive and technical searches, implement hybrid work, and improve leaders, teams, and cultures of innovation.
Carol Stewart, a long-standing authority on research parks, is the Vice President for Tech Parks Arizona at the University of Arizona. Carol Stewart leads the UA Tech Park at Rita Road and is developing the UA Tech Park at The Bridges.
Art Taylor serves as a vice president within PayPal’s Global Compliance Investigations division. In this capacity, Taylor leads a team of industry experts in charge of risk and compliance investigations in North America, ensuring PayPal fulfills its commitment to combat money laundering, terrorism financing and other related financial crimes.
Steve Zylstra serves as president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, a role he assumed in 2007. He is responsible for strategy, operations, finance and policy development. Zylstra is a vocal spokesman for the value technology can provide in raising social and economic standards in Arizona.
Karen Nowicki is a successful author, speaker and the creator of Deep Impact Leadership™ and SoulMarks Coaching™. She is a two-time recipient of the prestigious national Choice Award® for her book and personal development retreat. Karen was crowned the first-ever “Mompreneur of the Year” Award in 2010 for the southwestern states. She was recognized for her leadership, business acumen, and work-life balance.
Leslie Cooper Marquez is a dynamic marketing professional with over 17 years of broad-based marketing, public relations and advertising experience in both in-house and agency environments.


Paul Bigbee has served as Cavco’s Chief Accounting Officer (“CAO”) since June 2020.
Chad Dean has been an executive recruiter since 1996. He currently is owner and CEO of a top-ranked national recruiting firm with a 33 year history servicing the Finance disciplines.


Today’s CEOs report 80% of their company’s challenges are people related, taking up critical time, money, and resources.

In the first 15 years of his career, Michael Erath took over an $8M family manufacturing business which he grew to $45M in revenue with over 200 employees during his 15 years as President & CEO.

Megan Ferguson started Backcourt Marketing, a recent recipient of the State Forty Eight Foundation Grant, to help businesses that were under-utilizing social media platforms. She understands the roadblocks that stop business owners from effectively promoting their business to thousands of people online daily.
Art has always played a major role in Caitlin Penny’s life. Everything she did growing up included some sort of artistic ability or activity. Caitlin Penny has been a graphic designer since 2010, and founded her business, Copper Theory Creative in 2016 at the age of 24. She was excited, and her dream of being her own boss was worth fighting for.
Elizabeth Lowney was working for a fairly high-profile company in San Francisco, putting on a lot of corporate and charity events when a PR company there asked her to join them. She’s always been a writer, so she fell in love with that part of it – finding and telling the compelling stories of our clients.

Kai Wong (she/her/they/them), Senior Manager of Digital Accessibility at Teladoc Health, is passionate about making the digital world accessible for people with disabilities.
Phil Yatvin excels at helping organizations understand the never-ending benefits of creating inclusive experiences for all. He breaks down flawed mindsets organizations have about employees and customers with disabilities so that they can improve business outcomes while also becoming more inclusive.
As the manager of Community and Public Relations, David Steinmetz uses his expertise, education, and personal experiences to “change the perception of blindness.”

David Rodriguez is the Chief Strategy Officer of
Christy Moore is Founder & Owner of Social Spin, Inc., both a profit-driven laundry service and an award-winning social justice enterprise. Social Spin locations are safe, trusted community centers where customers can do more than their laundry.














