Rooted & Rising was truly transformative for me. It gave me the rare opportunity to slow down and deeply examine my strengths with clarity, intention, and courage. I left feeling affirmed and equipped with powerful, practical tools that I’m already applying in my current role and will carry with me throughout my long-term career. Danny creates an experience that is thoughtful, rigorous, and deeply empowering. I’m incredibly grateful for this experience and would encourage anyone considering it to say yes. If you have the opportunity to participate, take it; it is an investment in yourself that truly pays off.

Rooted & Rising provided me with practical, transformative tools to intentionally maximize my strengths as a senior college administrator. The program deepened my understanding of how to tune my strengths for greater effectiveness while reflecting on how my lived experiences show up and shape my leadership. Dr. Daniel Almeida’s authentic, insightful coaching strengthened my confidence and sharpened my skills as a strengths-based supervisor. I highly recommend Rooted & Rising to leaders committed to purposeful growth.

I hired Danny Almeida for a year-long partnership on a large, diverse campus because I was seeking professional development that would meaningfully strengthen faculty capacity, engagement, and institutional culture—and his work delivered on all three. His opening keynote drew a packed room of faculty, staff, and administrators, a rare occurrence that speaks to both the relevance of his message and his unique ability to bring people together across roles and ranks around a shared, strengths-based language. That collective energy carried into a multi-session cohort where participants moved beyond identifying their strengths to examining how their strengths shape teaching, research, decision-making, equity practices, stress responses, and leadership choices, and how to leverage those insights for greater impact. Participants consistently reported deep engagement, powerful “aha” moments, and concrete shifts in practice. In my decade of senior leadership in faculty development, this stands out as one of the most high-leverage professional learning investments I have brought to a campus—particularly for institutions pursuing bold, complex change that requires broad-based buy-in.

This leadership development course was helpful in that it helped me figure out what areas of future professional development I should focus on. I was at a crossroads in my professional career where I was wondering if I should return to school and get a terminal degree, or if I should do something completely different. Learning about my top strengths and where I could take those allowed me to further develop those skills in my current work environment. I also received guidance and help with real life work challenges that I was experiencing in a way that activated my strengths and reminded me that I already had all the tools I needed to succeed. I highly recommend this for those who are new and seasoned professionals alike!

Danny’s workshop series was incredibly grounding and insightful, especially within the context of culturally informed advising. As Director of the Student Success Center in the College of Education, I found his framing of strengths and their shadow sides to be a game-changer—it filled a gap I had long wondered about. It helped me better understand how to balance and elevate strengths while addressing challenges. Since the session, I’ve become more mindful of the broader context others bring beyond just their strengths. Danny’s approachable, sensitive teaching style created a space where participants felt safe to reflect and share. I highly recommend his workshops to anyone looking to deepen their understanding of strengths-based practices.

Working with Danny helped me better understand how my strengths can have shadow sides, especially in relation to burnout. As a first-gen faculty of color, this insight is crucial for sustaining my career long-term. Danny created a non-judgmental space for reflection, offered practical tools, and provided deep knowledge of the strengths framework. I now feel more empowered to use my strengths intentionally across all my roles. I highly recommend working with Danny if you’re seeking clarity or a fresh perspective.

I strongly recommend the Culturally-Informed Strengths workshops. With Danny’s guidance and coaching, I learned to recognize my strengths and understand how to use them for my own work as well as for collaborative work. A key takeaway was realizing that my strengths also had “shadow” sides that prevented me from maintaining a balanced workload, which I have always struggled to achieve. Now I am better prepared to make thoughtful, meaningful decisions about both my collaborative and individual projects to achieve that balance. Thank you, Danny!

I highly recommend Dr. Danny Almeida to be hired to work with C-suite level leaders, managers, as well as front-line team members of any business to help create a strengths- based culture that can be built upon to maximize team building and effectiveness to achieve your organization's strategic goals. Danny was first hired by SC Johnson Lifestyle Brands to conduct a workshop with our Chief Marketing Officer and her team. That workshop was so well-received that she recommended we bring Danny to work with our Global Leadership Team for our annual retreat. Danny skillfully guided our team through a series of exercises designed to uncover and leverage our individual and collective strengths. The insights gained during this workshop have already begun to positively impact our leadership strategies and team cohesion. Based on the experience with our Global Leadership Team, we decided to invest in bringing Danny to work with several of our other teams, including Finance, Supply Chain, Research & Development, Global Product & Sustainability and Commercial Teams over the next several months.

Danny's facilitation skills are second to none. He demonstrated expertise over the subject matter, seamlessly guiding us through complex themes and lessons with clarity and insight. His effective communication, combined with his approachable and positive disposition, made the sessions engaging and enriching. He facilitated discussions that encouraged thoughtful participation and fostered an environment where diverse perspectives could flourish. His knack for connecting with us and his ability to meet each individual where they were, both professionally and personally, was truly outstanding.

Dan showed us that we all have different strengths that we bring to our organization and sometimes we need to turn them up or dim them down depending on the situation. Now that we are all speaking the same strengths lingo it's helped us communicate with each other on a daily basis.

Danny incorporates a DEIB lens into the training, which helps the staff think about their identities in relationship to the strengths, and ultimately yield a more inclusive and supportive work environment.