As Callie Kim ’18 moves among Fortune 500 boardrooms, diplomatic offices, and family offices, she’s often the youngest person in rooms where high-stakes decisions get made.
The founder and CEO of consulting firm Waban Impact steps in as a part-time chief of staff for executives and senior leaders, managing the behind-the-scenes work that keeps big initiatives moving. She does it with a clear purpose: helping businesses treat environmental sustainability as a foundation, not as an afterthought.
Callie’s work includes organizing and running high-level meetings, translating strategy into action, and getting governments, nonprofits, businesses, and philanthropists to work together toward a common goal. Since 2024, she’s supported the Consul of Mongolia in Chicago as it prepares to launch a permanent cultural hub, the Mongolian Cultural Center; set up high-level Chicago-based meetings for the Dubai Chamber of Commerce; and helped an Israeli startup launch its English-teaching app across Asia.
“My parents always ask me, ‘How can you be so fearless engaging with ambassadors and politicians?’” says Callie. “I started working on that muscle early on at Wellesley.”
Born in California and raised in Taiwan, Callie came to Wellesley as a sophomore, inspired by her aunt Grace Toh ’83. “She pushed me to think big and dream big,” Callie says. The Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs was an early introduction to the world she’d go on to navigate professionally, bringing her face to face with diplomats and senior government officials. “That gave me the courage to engage my current audience,” she says. After graduation, she built her consulting skills at Accenture.
Callie credits Wellesley with shaping the philosophy behind her business. When she was a student, Lake Waban became her place to decompress, reflect, and pray. Quiet time at a place that’s witnessed generations of Wellesley students reinforced an ethos she carries into her work: Real progress can’t come at the expense of the planet. Rather, financial return and social impact can, and should, work together in harmony.
“And you don’t have to be at a certain social status to do good,” says Callie, whose next step is expansion to Asia. “You can do good at any given moment.”
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