Empowerment Now helps empowers and equip leaders to discover their unique strengths, values and gifts to embrace who they are, challenging them to be vulnerable when building compassionate, empathetic, positive and supportive relationships.

Dr. Anne Friesen

Activist. Researcher. Chief Strategy Consultant.

Chief Strategy Consultant, Dr. Anne Friesen, earned a Doctor of Education in Leadership ( Ed.D) and has more than 20 years of professional experience in the social justice and human services fields. Anne is committed to fueling the engine for positive social and economic change in her own community and communities world-wide.

For  more than 12 years, she served as Executive Director of Friend to Friend (a non-profit serving victims of Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking) located in North Carolina. During her tenure there, she led community and regional efforts to improve the safety, health and wellbeing of homeless and displaced survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.

Anne, nationally recognized and award winning in her field, is passionate about effecting positive social and economic change.

Having spent more than 20 years supporting foundations, local government, and non-profit organizations, advancing issues ranging from education/prevention to homelessness to racial equity. She brings broad and unique expertise in:

  • Transformational and Adaptive Leadership Coaching and Consulting,

  • Strategic Planning and Effective Conflict Resolution,

  • Empowerment & Leadership Programing,

  • Working with under-served and rural communities,

  • Trauma-Informed Response Systems,

  • Creating non-profit long-term sustainability,

  • Evidence-based programming that results in self-sufficiency for women, men & families in crisis,

  • Creating strength-based teams & diverse workplace cultures of positivity & inclusion,

  • Consulting & supporting non-profit organizations in leadership transition,

  • Holistic Leadership Training,

  • Crisis Intervention,

  • Organizational, Cultural and Leadership Development

Anne is committed to Empowering People. Prior to her work in social justice & human services, Anne created educational programs and materials for building stronger families. To help reduce barriers to non-profits, Dr. Anne Friesen offers her trainings & consulting using a sliding fee scale.

Activities & Affiliations

Anne recently completed a 6 year term on the Board of Directors and Co-Chair for North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and on the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Coalition Against Human Trafficking. She currently serves on the Board of Directors as the Board President for Springs of Living Water, a non-profit helping women and children sex-trafficking survivors in Ethiopia. Anne was named

  • 2016 Recipient of Moore Citizen of the Year by the Rotary Club of Carthage (honoring community members who exemplify the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self”),

  • 2019 Moore County Woman of the Year by the NC Community Foundation.

Anne is the author of:

Anne continues to present her research at conferences on transformational and adaptive leadership, empowerment, human trafficking, trauma-informed/survivor-centered advocacy, and developing holistic empowerment leadership programing for survivors, advocates and teams.

Certifications & Education

University of Kansas: BA and MA

Trevecca Nazarene University: EdD 

Harvard University, Kennedy School: Certification in Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Non-Profit Organizations

Duke University: Executive Education Program in both Non-Profit Management and in Non-Profit Leadership