The Power of Collective

Jen Pardi-Cusick connects experts through intentional gatherings

Story Grace Adele Boyle  

On the first Friday of every month for the past four years, a group of women known as StratSisCo (Strategy Sisters of Colorado) has met up to create community and redefine what work can look like. Jen Pardi-Cusick is the community organizer, and her enthusiasm is immediately apparent.

“What’s so special about this group of women is that everyone who joins is a mid-career professional focused on strategy work who is looking to contribute in meaningful ways,” Jen says. “StratSisCo is a community where women can be their full selves and support each other––we go deep on day one.”

StratSisCo has a natural flow––some stay for the whole five hours while others pop in for a short visit. The community table where they meet is covered in water bottles, cups of coffee, laptops, and tarot cards; it’s a collection of collaborative feedback, ideation, and frequent bursts of laughter. Members share professional successes, breakups, and new ideas for businesses in the same conversation. Unlike professional groups that slide into networking and sales, StratSisCo gives members permission to be fully themselves—and to bring that authenticity back into their work.

One of the original members of StratSisCo, Jen was the obvious pick to take the reins of community organizer when the founder was ready to step back. That spirit of mutual support didn’t just sustain the group—it helped catalyze her next chapter.

She earned her doctorate in business administration and marketing, focusing on bridging the gap between the expertise in academic research and the people who could benefit. Jen worked with ultra-high-net-worth clients and understood more than their pain points: she designed pre-incident solutions that prevented problems altogether

“In my previous role, I helped build an internal consulting model to understand customer satisfaction by proxy without directly asking,” Jen says. “Our clients were very busy, and this machine learning model took forty-two different variables and predicted client satisfaction. It was so successful we ended up trademarking the model.”

She had considered eventually moving her expertise into solo consulting, but a merger at her previous company pushed her timeline up. What she was seeing in her own career was mirrored across the StratSisCo table. Instead of finding a seat at a new table, she built a collective to keep great talent together. 

“One of the things that struck me was that there was so much incredible talent, and I really wanted to work with these experts and create a woman-led consultancy––that’s how Fennel Frameworks was born,” she says.

Founding Fennel Frameworks Collective allowed Jen to return to her roots, bridging academic rigor with real-world, in-the-trenches application of product strategy, customer research, and operational design. 

“One of the strategies we’re currently working on is a pricing optimization project, which helps clients set pricing for the first time or revamp their pricing strategy,” she says, noting that the project blends psychology and statistics with data-driven pricing recommendations. Fennel looks beyond price levels and dives into positioning, overall value story, packaging configuration, and demand curve. “The goal is to provide clients with real data they can trust to make informed pricing decisions, rather than just generic consulting advice,” she adds.

Fennel works primarily with established B2B enterprises and Series B startups—organizations mature enough to recognize the value of additional strategic expertise.

“We work with people who are ready to make meaningful change within their organization and are energized to collaborate. While we primarily do project-based work, Fennel operates as a ‘team member’ with the organization rather than coming in with a consultant attitude,” Jen says. 

In a previous role, she reached out to a big consulting firm to do a similar pricing project, and their starting quote was $1 million. She ended up completing the project herself at a fraction of the cost. 

“I wanted to take this same data-driven, collaborative approach to helping clients tackle complex strategic challenges in a more accessible way than traditional consulting firms. Fennel isn’t cheap, but we’re not a million dollars per engagement,” she says with a laugh. That emphasis on accessibility—without sacrificing rigor—reflects a larger philosophy shaping both Fennel and the StratSisCo community.

In a moment when many professionals are questioning the structures that have defined work for decades, StratSisCo and Fennel Frameworks offer a compelling alternative. Both are built on the idea that people do their best work when they are trusted, supported, and allowed to show up fully. Whether through StratSisCo—where new members often remark on the immediate depth of connection—or through Fennel’s collaborative consulting model, the impact is the same: better work, healthier teams, and outcomes that serve both the worker and the client. It’s a powerful reimagining of what meaningful work can be.

Learn more at luma.com/stratsisco and fennelframeworks.com.