Origins Story
The Story Behind Felice Upton Consulting
Some people choose this work. Others are called to it by the lives they've lived.
Felice Upton
Founder & Principal,
Felice Upton Consulting
“Over a 20-year career in Washington State's corrections and juvenile justice systems, I worked at every level, from community corrections to the executive suite.
I know what it feels like to be a frontline worker trying to do right by people with limited resources. I know what it feels like to be a mid-level manager caught between policy and practice. And I know what it feels like to sit at the top, making decisions that ripple through thousands of lives.
Along the way, I witnessed institutions swing between punishment and reform like a pendulum, never pausing long enough in the middle to ask what actually works.
So I started doing something different.
I brought trauma-informed leadership into facilities where it had never existed. I built programs that treated incarcerated youth like human beings with futures.”
Felice Upton is a transformational leader, TEDx speaker, and founder of Felice Upton Consulting — a systems change firm specializing in justice-centered leadership and organizational culture transformation
“I created Washington State's first library inside a juvenile facility. I forged community partnerships that brought hundreds of volunteers through our doors. The results spoke for themselves when we stopped choosing between being strict or compassionate, and created space for both approaches.
Felice Upton Consulting exists because the field needs more than good intentions. Organizations across the country are wrestling with workforce crises, culture rot, and the exhausting whiplash of pendulum change. They need thought partners who have sat in the chair, made the hard calls, and built something that actually lasted.
That's what I bring. Lived experience, hard-won expertise, and a deep, unshakeable belief that systems can change and that the people inside them deserve leaders who know how.
This is the work I was built for. Let's build something together.”
Let’s build systems that work.
If you’re navigating complexity, change, or growth and want a trusted partner, we’d love to talk.