About Shelly Barkes
Over the last 25 years, in roles across HR, marketing, and corporate communications, I’ve worked with countless teams in multiple industries. I’ve designed and delivered programs to connect employees to organizational vision and values, boost engagement, and foster healthier workplace cultures. I’ve led exit interviews, focus groups, training sessions, committees, project teams, and team-building exercises.
Along the way, I discovered a core truth: when people can’t show up authentically, their relationships, productivity, work, and well-being suffer.
I experienced this firsthand in my own career. Early on, I learned that assertiveness got you promoted. Sensitivity and introspection…not so much. So I adapted, creating a work version of myself that was outgoing, vocal, and productive. And it worked…until it didn’t. The performance was exhausting, and eventually, I burned out.
That burnout sparked the emotional intelligence work necessary to reconnect with the true source of sustainable success: my feelings.
Since then, I’ve become a Positive Intelligence–trained coach and have helped individuals reconnect with their authenticity. I’ve also studied individual and organizational psychology, along with therapeutic frameworks and modalities including EMDR, IFS, CBT, polyvagal theory, attachment theory, and somatic and mindfulness practices.
Drawing from this knowledge, experience, and skill set, I created the Feeling Function program to help build cultures rooted in trust, psychological safety, resilience, and emotionally intelligent leadership—foundations essential to high-performing teams.
The result? More fulfilled people. More successful organizations. And a better world.
Explore the Next Step
Schedule a call to discuss how Feeling Function can help your team work better together.