Chelesa S. Holden, LMSW

Chelesa S. Holden, LMSW, is an accomplished nonprofit executive, equity-centered consultant, educator, researcher, and community leader with more than a decade of experience helping organizations and professionals strengthen their leadership, programs, operations, and community impact. Her areas of expertise include nonprofit capacity building, strategic planning, organizational assessment, board development, grant readiness and development, project management, program design and evaluation, leadership development, higher education, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Chelesa currently serves as Executive Director of The Oxygen Project: Yoga for Youth, where she provides executive leadership for a nonprofit delivering yoga, mindfulness, and wellness programming in schools and community settings. She oversees organizational operations, staffing, program implementation, partnerships, budget management, evaluation, board relations, fundraising, and long-term strategy. Under her leadership, the organization has secured more than $300,000 in grant and philanthropic funding and doubled its number of school and community partner sites.

She is also the Chief Executive Officer and Innovative Principal Consultant of Innovative Change Consulting Group, LLC, an equity-centered consulting practice that supports nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, and community-based organizations. Through her consulting work, Chelesa assists clients with strategic planning, organizational development, policy development, training design, grant readiness, research, evaluation, and sustainable implementation. Her approach is collaborative, practical, and tailored to each client’s goals, organizational stage, and community context.

Chelesa brings significant higher education and teaching experience to her consulting practice. She has served as a lecturer or adjunct faculty member at St. Louis Community College, Missouri State University, the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and Washington University in St. Louis. Her teaching has included nonprofit board development, strategic marketing and fundraising, grant readiness, organizational management and leadership, social welfare policy, human diversity, and social and racial justice. She also previously coordinated faculty development, inclusive excellence, research excellence, and institutional policy initiatives through Washington University’s Here and Next Strategic Plan.

Her additional experience includes serving as a federal grant reviewer for the U.S. Departments of Labor and Transportation and as a community grant reviewer for the St. Louis County Children’s Service Fund. She has also worked in research, evaluation, behavioral health, criminal justice reform, mitigation, and student support.

Chelesa is pursuing a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration at Saint Louis University. She earned a Master of Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis, a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Criminology from the University of Missouri–St. Louis. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker in Illinois, a certified Trauma Awareness and Informed Care Trainer, and the owner of a Missouri-certified Minority-Owned and Woman-Owned Business Enterprise. She also holds professional certifications in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace and Women in Entrepreneurship.

Recognized as a 2026 University of Missouri–St. Louis Trailblazer Award recipient, Chelesa is committed to helping clients clarify their goals, navigate challenges, build effective strategies, and move confidently from ideas to sustainable action.