About Barbara Kurka, MS, CPCC, PCC
What led me here:
For more than 30 years, my work has centered on growth — helping people recognize their strengths, expand their potential, and find greater alignment between who they are and how they live and work.
My path began inside organizations
I spent much of my career in senior Human Resources roles across advertising, media, financial and professional services, including Grey Advertising, Katz Media Group, Accenture and Sumitomo Bank Financial Services. My work took me into start-up operations, cross-cultural and international environments, and the complexities of leading and supporting people across very different organizations.
Throughout those years, coaching was an integral part of my work. I worked alongside executives and managers as they stepped into greater responsibility, developed their leadership, built successful teams, and found different and more effective ways of working.
“I appreciate how Barbara conducted our session. She helped me be able to express my truth out loud and share my feelings and concerns with others, something I had never done.”
A deepening path
Over time, my work expanded to include Spiritual Direction.
“My two primary desires (for Spiritual Direction) were to deepen my relationship with God and integrate my spiritual practice into my daily life. Yes, through somatic awareness I became more aware of God’s continual presence and ability to tap into that presence.”
I came to recognize that questions of growth and alignment aren't always professional. Sometimes they are about faith, meaning and purpose — a desire to deepen our relationship with the Divine or become more aware of the Divine's presence in everyday life.
For some people, their spiritual life is deeply personal. For others, faith and values also inform how they work and lead. Spiritual Direction gives those questions a place of their own.
People I have accompanied through Spiritual Direction have spoken about becoming more aware of the Divine in their daily lives, deepening their relationship with the Divine, integrating spiritual practice into everyday life.
Experience & Clients
“Spiritual direction gave me space to slow down and listen—not just to my thoughts, but to my feelings, my body, and the deeper movement within me.
”I became more aware of moments of connection and possibility that I might otherwise have missed. I came away with greater trust, a deeper sense of awareness, and a renewed openness to what was unfolding in my life.”
As a Spiritual Director, I work with those who want to deepen their relationship to the divine, and to discern where God–however they define God–is in their everyday life. They include executives, physicians, writers, educators, entertainers, clergy, entrepreneurs.
My previous experience spans advertising, media, financial and professional services, including senior Human Resources roles with Grey Advertising, Katz Media Group/iHeartMedia, Accenture, and Sumitomo Bank Financial Services.
As an executive coach, I worked with leaders from organizations including RBC, HSBC, Moody's, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Sotheby's, National Grid, Northwell Health, PAGNY, Mount Sinai Health System, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the New York Mets, Harmon Pediatrics, Theater Mania, The Moth.
Education & Credentials
I hold a BA from Hunter College/CUNY and an MS/ILR from a joint Baruch College/Cornell University program.
I earned a graduate certificate in Spiritual Direction from Moravian Theological Seminary. My professional coaching certification, CPCC, is from The Coaches Training Institute, and I earned the Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential from the International Coach Federation.
Certifications include Hogan; MRG Strategic Leadership Development assessments, including Leadership Effectiveness Analysis 360.
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