Beam exists to help more people feel, lead and live better today to build a brighter tomorrow.

When life and work demand more than we believe we can meet, we protect ourselves. We avoid, disconnect, control, overwork, or question whether we are enough.

We believe the answer isn’t pushing harder or choosing between success and self-care. It’s caring for ourselves while growing our capacity to meet what life asks of us.

And our success increasingly depends on leading with greater human capacity — judgment, courage, empathy, creativity, trust, wisdom, and more — especially as technology becomes more capable.

Beam strengthens these leadership qualities through development that also provides daily restoration, practice and support — making them more accessible when we need them most.

Restore yourself.

Grow your capacity.

Live and lead brighter.

Most leadership development happens in a moment — a course, workshop, or offsite — and then competes with real life.

Beam turns leadership development into a daily practice you’ll actually want to return to.

Personalized, evidence-based learning is reinforced through multisensory self-care, reflection, and everyday cues — helping you access the qualities you need when they matter most.

Calm under pressure.

Courage in fear.

Clarity in complexity.

Confidence in doubt.

Trust in uncertainty.

Compassion in conflict.

Wisdom in urgency.

You see it.

Touch it.

Smell it.

Taste it.

Reflect on it.

Practice it.

Live it.

Over time, leadership qualities become more than ideas you value. They become capacities you can access.

Care with purpose.

Practice with rigor.

Transformation made tangible.

Dr. Maryann Baumgarten founded Beam after more than 25 years working in executive support and talent development, including leadership roles at Microsoft, Stanford, and Meta and later supporting leaders globally as a ICF certified executive coach. 

Across those experiences, one truth was constant: how people intend to lead — and what companies need from their leaders — often gets lost in practice, especially when times get difficult. People need support they can trust and turn to when pressure rises. Companies need great leaders and reliable systems to develop and apply relevant leadership skills. Neither needs another demand added to already busy schedules.

As a leader, Maryann built systems of behavior change and support at scale. As a coach, she helps clients with issues specific to their situation and organization. Often, clients would leave sessions with new insights and inspiration but wouldn’t always follow through with commitments to their goals. “It got really busy,” “a big change happened,” etc.  Maryann noticed the theme and experimented with asking clients to anchor an intended action from a session to something tangible in daily life — a note on a monitor, touching their watch in a meeting, a reminder on their calendar or another familiar cue that could ground them and remind them of their goals.  Clients began taking more actions between each session more consistently. 

During a particularly demanding season of personal change, Maryann realized she needed more of the same care and support of her goals that she provided and encouraged her clients to give themselves between sessions. But she wasn’t always sure how to create more of it amid caregiving, loss, medical recovery, parenting, and a heavy workload — without requiring more time or invasive technology pings.

So she turned to the science and began experimenting with more ways to anchor action and calm the nervous system through the senses. This led to creating multisensory rituals already woven into her day: the shower and sink, putting on jewelry, drinking a warm beverage, scent, and small moments of reflection. These everyday rituals created much-needed pauses for restoration of energy, remembrance of needs, and reinforcement of goals when they were needed most in challenging times.

The results she experienced, together with what she continued to see in her clients, led to the creation of the Beam Leadership Elements. The Elements were shaped by recurring themes in what leaders most needed support with, alongside peer reviewed research and globally recognized competencies reflected in company values and talent development models. Each Element has its own sensory experience designed to help anchor and evoke its qualities in daily life.

That transformed Beam from a leadership development and coaching practice into Beam Leadership Studio + Apothecary — a daily system combining learning with self-care cues designed to help more people feel, lead, and live better today to build a brighter tomorrow.

Beam Forward is one way we extend our mission beyond ourselves.

For every 25 Beam membership boxes purchased, Beam gives one to Dress for Success—supporting women as they build confidence, independence, and what comes next.

Because everyone deserves to feel, lead and live better today and build a brighter tomorrow.