What Fit Associates does

Fit Associates is a privately held professional services and consulting firm headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded in 2005 by principals Hanna du Plessis and Marc Rettig. The firm designs, hosts, and supports short- and long-term conversations, gatherings, and processes intended to shift organizational culture, foster learning, nurture relationships, and support co-creation among leaders and groups working toward equitable, thriving communities. In 2011 the firm pivoted from corporate innovation consulting to a 'social pattern-shifting' practice that draws on social complexity, emergence theory, social therapy, group co-creation, theater, and personal development, with anti-racism and trauma work as central themes.

Core offerings include facilitated gatherings ('Gatherings that matter'), one-on-one and group leadership coaching, and structured learning programs such as the 15-week 'A Liberated Life' mixed-race cohort course and the nine-week 'Deepen Lead Now' leadership support community for nonprofit leaders. The firm is developing Skill kits and Conversation kits as packaged, repeatable learning materials for organizational use. There is no proprietary technology platform; delivery is human-facilitated, supported by a content library of audio blog posts, video stories, published reports, and course documentation.

Revenue is generated through professional services engagements customized per organization, with no public pricing disclosed; all engagement is initiated through direct outreach and a website contact form. The customer base spans large enterprises (Microsoft, Highmark, Bose), government (NASA JPL), academia (Carnegie Mellon University, School of Visual Arts), and regional nonprofits (Humane Society, Pittsburgh Foundation, Bike Pittsburgh). Distribution is primarily referral- and network-based, supplemented by academic teaching roles at SVA and Carnegie Mellon and content marketing through a blog and email newsletter. The firm is a 1-10 employee boutique practice that is not currently hiring and has no external funding.

Name

Fit Associates

Legal name

Fit Associates

Website

https://fitassociates.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Fit Associates is a Pittsburgh-based consulting firm founded in 2005 that supports leaders and groups working toward equitable, thriving community through culture-shifting gatherings, leadership coaching, and structured learning programs like A Liberated Life and Deepen Lead Now.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Pittsburgh

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Gatherings and Conversations: Design, host, and support short or long-term conversations and processes that shift cultures, foster learning and development, nurture relationships and spark co-creation. Engagement is customized per organization.
2. Coaching Services: One-on-one and group coaching for leaders working at the edge of their confidence and ability, drawing on broad experience across contexts.
3. Learning Programs and Courses: Structured learning experiences such as the 'A Liberated Life' course (15 weeks) and the 'Deepen Lead Now' nine-week leadership support community. Kits for skill development are being developed.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Fit Associates designs, hosts, and supports custom gatherings, coaching engagements, and structured learning programs that shift organizational culture, foster leadership development, and nurture co-creation among groups working toward equitable thriving communities. Offerings are delivered through direct human facilitation by the two principals and a curated ensemble of collaborators, with no software or digital platform product.

Product overview

Fit Associates is a consulting and facilitation firm offering a portfolio of services focused on supporting leaders and groups working toward equitable thriving communities. Their core offerings include facilitation of gatherings and conversations that shift culture, leadership coaching, and experiential learning programs. Key products include 'Gatherings that matter' (facilitated conversations and processes), 'Coaching' (leadership support), and 'Skill kits/Conversation kits' (upcoming bite-sized learning materials). They also offer structured courses such as 'A Liberated Life' (a 15-week personal transformation course) and 'Deepen Lead Now' (a nine-week leadership support program for nonprofit leaders). Methods like 'Collective Story Harvest' and 'The Passport Story' represent their experimental approaches to organizational transformation. The company publishes annual reports documenting their impact and learning. This is a human-centered consulting practice, not a software product company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Gatherings that matter
• Coaching
• A Liberated Life A 15-week course gathering a mixed-race cohort to learn and practice being with strong emotion, pain and trauma, genuine relationship, and creative expression, instructor-facilitated by Hanna du Plessis and Medina Jackson.
• Deepen Lead Now A nine-week virtual leadership support community and practice space for nonprofit leaders experiencing burnout, stress, and isolation, with sessions on adaptive strategies, refuge, noticing needs, and self-care.

Quantifiable outcome

• After three weeks of listening and convening, administrators, students, faculty, and police found common ground in two hours and agreed forward direction in two days
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• School of Visual Arts (SVA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHanna du Plessis and Marc Rettig are both founding faculty members of the Masters in Design for Social Innovation program at SVA. They have taught the Fundamentals of Design for Social Innovation course for ten years. The program provides community and theoretical underpinnings while NYC serves as a lab for practice.
• Carnegie Mellon School of DesigncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFit Associates principals serve as adjunct professors of practice at Carnegie Mellon, contributing to the redesigned design masters program that includes questions of social complexity and organizational and societal transition.
• REACH Global Design Research NetworkminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFit Associates is the U.S. partner in this global network spanning East and West Europe, Africa, China, Southeast Asia, Central and South America. The network provides continuing relationship with a vital and evolving community of design research practice.
• Sheba GittenscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term collaboration to shift an organizational culture away from white supremacy and towards liberatory relationships and practices.
• Medina JacksoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted the 'A Liberated Life' learning group - a 15-week mixed-race cohort course for practicing skills of personal transformation, being with strong emotion, healing pain, and coming into right relationship.
• Maurice StevenscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosted 'Deepen Lead Now' - a virtual resting retreat for nonprofit leaders experiencing burnout, serving as a place to fall apart, be held in community, and reconnect to support.
• Tiffany WilhelmcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-holds long-term space for white people in philanthropy to work with internalized racism and work together toward centering black liberation.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• IDEO: Global design and innovation consultancy offering facilitation, organizational culture work, and human-centered research; comparable to Fit Associates for blending design-led transformation with social-purpose engagement.
• Cook Ross: Established DEI consultancy delivering leadership development, culture transformation, and equity education to enterprise and public-sector clients — close functional overlap with Fit Associates' offerings.
• The Winters Group: Specialist DEI and racial equity consultancy providing facilitation, leadership coaching, and culture-change engagements; directly comparable on service type and target buyer.
• IDEO.org: The non-profit arm of IDEO focused on social innovation and equity; most directly comparable to Fit Associates given similar nonprofit/equity-centered methodology and design-for-social-innovation practice.
• Reboot: Social-impact design and research firm that supports mission-driven organizations through facilitation, culture work, and strategy — overlapping closely with Fit Associates' mission and service mix.

Broad incumbents

• FSG: Large social impact consulting firm advising foundations, nonprofits, and corporations on strategy, evaluation, and equity; broader portfolio but overlapping client base and equity-centered methodology.
• BSR: Global sustainability and social impact advisory network; broader portfolio than Fit Associates but overlapping on culture, equity, and stakeholder engagement for large organizations.

Emerging players

• Pollen: Collective of practitioners supporting organizations through narrative change, organizing, and equity-centered facilitation — adjacent small-scale peer with overlapping social-transformation methodology.
• Avarna Group: Boutique DEI and liberatory design consultancy serving cultural institutions, education, and nonprofits; smaller scale and narrower scope than Fit Associates but directly comparable in approach.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fitassociates
• Facebookfacebook.com/fitassociates
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fitassociates

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fit Associates