Innovators of the Week: Amanda Julian and Kelsey Hahn

As featured in Avenue Magazine

Innovators of the Week: Amanda Julian and Kelsey Hahn Developed an AI-Powered Leadership App

Monark provides custom leadership development and training in an easy-to-use, AI-powered app.

Kelsey Hahn and Amanda Julian are the co-founders behind Monark, an AI-powered app that provides customized leadership and educational resources for high-achieving leaders. Hahn, CEO, and Julian, chief science officer, came up with the digital leadership app while operating a boutique consulting firm together.

“We saw a gap in the market and that was a need for leadership development that would scale to all levels of an organization,” says Hahn.

Monark includes self-assessments and assessments from your colleagues. It also provides each user with AI-powered resources like role-playing, as well as experiential learning opportunities, live, cohort-based training modules, personalized micro-learning exercises, and regular feedback mechanisms tied to goals and performance metrics. The content is based on the latest behavioral research and enables users to practice critical leadership skills in realistic scenarios, while offering instant feedback on strengths or areas for improvement.

“We do a lot of pre- and post-training assessments,” says Julian. “We like to say that we’re outcomes-obsessed because it allows us to articulate an ROI (return of investment) to companies, which a lot of other service providers don’t.”

According to the co-founders, users typically use the platform two times a week, and approximately 84 per cent of those users have demonstrated some level of positive behaviour change according to assessments from their peers and colleagues.

“That’s not self-reported,” says Julian. “That’s their actual teams and people that report to them saying, ‘My leader is noticeably better.’ So, we’re really proud of that.”

Monark, which launched in 2020, recently became one of 11 North American startups selected for the Google for Startups’ Women Founders class of 2023, and the team of 14 people serves organizations of 50 to 50,000 people across North America.

“We’re very lucky to be able to work with some amazing leaders that truly do believe in getting better,” says Hahn.