Mboone Umbima is an organizational development professional, executive coach, and Founder and CEO of Discovery Grounds, where she designs leadership training and culture workshops that help teams build trust, lead change, and show up with real authenticity. Her work focuses on organizational culture: the behaviors, systems, and everyday leadership habits that shape performance and belonging.
With 15+ years across banking, food service, philanthropy, and beverages, Mboone has led people-centered change from the inside, including mentoring and development initiatives recognized with the Thompson Hospitality Leadership Award (2014). In 2016, she took a sabbatical in Kenya to lead communications for the Equity Group Foundation, supporting programs centered on education and financial inclusion.
In 2018, Mboone stepped out of corporate America, choosing a more values-aligned path that ultimately led to entrepreneurship. In 2023, she founded Discovery Grounds to create a home for leadership development rooted in authenticity, courage, and practical tools people can use immediately.
In 2025, she founded Studio Mboone, the creative umbrella for All Things Kenya, a brand dedicated to cultural learning and connection through experiences such as lunch-and-learns, safaris, and her cookbook Jikoni. These offerings are about expanding global perspective and telling Kenya’s story with joy, depth, and accuracy.
Mboone’s mission also includes conservation and community impact through the Umbima Foundation, which supports Kenyan communities living alongside wildlife. Inspired from a young age by her father, an information scientist who specialized in conservation, she partners with women in these communities to help tell their stories and grow their businesses by bringing their handcrafted work to the U.S. and selling it, with 100% of proceeds returning to the makers. She is also a proud supporter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Mboone is known as a speaker who blends insight with warmth, strategy with soul, and who leaves audiences feeling both equipped and brave enough to take their next step.
