About me.
I’m a multi-dimensional human, just like you. I am not one thing.
Born in California to immigrant parents. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Pacific Northwest is home now.
I lead teams and products, coach leaders, love to paint, and show up fully as a wife, friend, aunt, and dog mom. I have a life inside and outside of work, and I’m intentional and passionate about all of it.
I’m the human in the room with you. I lead and coach with radical kindness so you can move forward with steadfast conviction, grounded in what anchors you.
Diana Langston
FOUNDER, KIND but TOUGH
Executive building blocks.
I come from a blue-collar immigrant household in Silicon Valley, California. I wasn’t Ivy League. I studied cultural anthropology before I broke into tech, though I didn’t realize until later that I’d always been studying people and how they moved through the world. That lens helped me adapt and evolve across environments, and shaped how I observe customers using products.
I’ve been in tech for 20+ years. For most of those years, I was the only woman in the room. Underestimated. Before networks. Before allies was a word people used. I persevered out of passion, drive, integrity, and work ethic. Early leadership lessons came through observation, and the most important ones came from watching what not to do. I remember myself and teammates being called “minions” or “worms” by direct leadership (different companies). I spoke up, and eventually walked away out of self-respect, because leadership normalized that behavior.
It is not OK to normalize that type of behavior. That’s why kindness matters to me. That’s why I refuse to underestimate anyone. I see individuals for who they are and tap into their strengths so they can excel and find their voice. I stand up for those people, even when other leaders trade empathy for impact. I hold the bar on both. True leadership doesn’t require a trade-off — it is the radical integration of empathy and accountability.
The last 12+ years at Amazon, Box, and Iterable were critical to shaping how I build products, lead teams, and show up for myself and others. At Iterable, I scaled product from $42M to $225M+ in ARR over five years — with 100% team retention. Kind but Tough isn’t a style I picked up. It’s the foundation every team I led was built on, and the reason the ones I built stayed.
Coach at the center.
Coaching is a joy. I love serving others. Helping them tap into their strengths and lead their lives and careers in a way that matters to them.
I had mentors. I had bosses who were great coaches. But the real shift came when I became a director and worked with my first executive coach, ran my first 360, and took my first CliftonStrengths assessment. Game changer.
Then I started taking executive courses and got exposed to more coaches through Berkeley’s High Impact Leadership program. Life changer. Both experiences pushed me to sit with my own self-awareness. Where I was protecting myself. Where I was holding back. Where I could evolve into the human and leader I was meant to be.
I’m still learning. I’m still growing. I enjoyed the process so much that I wanted to get good at it. First for my teams, then for other leaders. I embarked on a certification journey, trained as a certified executive coach at BECI (UC Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute), and became a Gallup CliftonStrengths Certified Coach. My own top strengths are Individualization and Strategic. I see you as an individual, and the patterns around you.
I coach product leaders stepping into bigger rooms. Executives rebuilding after burnout. Founders learning to lead people, not just vision. You want someone who’ll hold the mirror and the bar at the same time. Someone who sees you clearly, refuses to underestimate you, and helps you find the voice you may have lost along the way. Clear, grounded, and on your side.
Everything is energy.
I’m an abstract painter. I work with acrylics, texture, and layered color, reaching for the unseen forces that connect people, places, and the natural world. Music drives my process. I grew up on the raw energy of the California coastline and mountains, and I now live in the moody energy of the Pacific Northwest.
Painting is how I refuel. Where leadership asks me to hold the bar and tend the fire for others, the canvas is where I tend my own and give back to myself. It’s part of my grounding process.
The same instinct I bring to the canvas — searching for raw power, deep pattern, and connection to something larger — is the one I bring to leadership.
Connections, 2025
Acrylic · Diana Langston
Kind enough to tell you the truth.
Tough enough to walk through it with you.
Whether you’re stepping into a bigger role, reshaping your team’s culture, or rethinking your product strategy, let’s talk.