Today we’d like to introduce you to Noorah Nachbor.
Hi Noorah, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I immigrated to the United States to Manhattan, KS in 1982 from Baghdad, Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war. My family left everything behind in the middle of chaos to build something safer in the U.S. I grew up understanding, very early, that life can change overnight and that gratitude and grit can exist in the same breath.
My birth name is Noor Abdul-Wahhab. After 9/11, when the backlash against Arab Americans was loud and very real, I legally changed my name to Noorah Hussuk (my married last name is Nachbor). At the time, it felt like survival. I was entering corporate America and I didn’t want my résumé to be the reason I didn’t get a call back. I didn’t want to constantly correct pronunciation and I wanted ease in my life. Looking back, I was doing the best I could with what I knew. Now I understand I never had to adjust my identity to make other people comfortable. That awareness came with healing and a whole lot of unlearning.
I attended Kansas State University and then moved to Kansas City in 2004 with ambition, hustle, and honestly… no real roadmap. I started my career as a bill collector for Chrysler Financial. Not glamorous at all. But it taught me how to talk to people in hard moments and it built on my resilience. I didn’t know it then, but that skill would follow me everywhere.
I fell into recruiting by accident when I moved to Dallas in 2007. I spent eight years in agency staffing and eight years in corporate talent acquisition. I’ve seen what happens when leadership is aligned and when it’s not. I’ve watched how candidate experience can build or damage an employer brand. I am not a transactional recruiter. I don’t just “fill jobs.” I build relationships. I care about placing the right person in the right environment because I know jobs impact families, mental health, and generational wealth.
After almost two decades in corporate, I felt the nudge to bet on myself and open up my own company. I launched The Leap, my talent search and placement agency focused on professional staffing and placements. I’m a solopreneur building the plane as it’s taking off. I wanted to create something human-centered, where both the client and the candidate feel seen, advocated for, and respected. A real partnership.
In 2025, I launched Palm & Light – my energy healing and identity + mindset coaching practice. That one came straight from my own healing journey. I’ve spent the last few years doing deep inner work and understanding my nervous system, my patterns, my identity, and what healthy relationships actually look like.
I realized the same themes I was seeing in boardrooms were showing up in people’s bodies and belief systems. Stress. Fear. Survival mode. So now I support people in a different way too by helping them regulate, reconnect, and step into new timelines with intention.
I don’t see the world in black and white. I’ve lived too much to simplify it that way.
At my core, I’m a connector. A promotor. Someone who believes in owning your awesome. Whether I’m placing a CFO or holding space in a Reiki session, the throughline is the same: I want people to feel empowered, aligned, and fully themselves.
My journey hasn’t been linear. It’s been bold, messy, faithful, and deeply human. And every chapter and pivot has been me choosing to lean more into the people, places, and things that are for my highest good.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not even close.
Being an immigrant kid in Kansas in the 80s and 90s wasn’t always easy. You’re learning English, learning cultural norms, trying to belong, and at the same time carrying your family’s sacrifices and traditions on your back. Add being an Iraqi-Kurd with Iranian roots and then living through 9/11 as a young professional, there were moments where I felt hyper-visible and invisible at the same time. Changing my name after 9/11 was also a decision most people didn’t have to consider. That came with grief I didn’t fully process until years later.
Professionally, it wasn’t linear either. I started as a bill collector and worked my way up. I proved myself over and over again. In recruiting, especially as a woman of color in corporate spaces, there were rooms where I had to build credibility quickly. There were moments where I saw misalignment in leadership and felt the tension between speaking truth and protecting my seat at the table. I’ve always valued candor, but candor isn’t always comfortable for everyone.
Then there’s entrepreneurship. It meant walking away from stability – salary, benefits, predictability – to bet on myself. There were months of uncertainty. There still are but it stretches you.
And on a personal level, the last few years have been about deep healing. Unlearning survival patterns. Regulating my nervous system. Redefining what success actually means to me – not what looks good on paper.
That work is beautiful, but it’s not easy. It requires confronting parts of yourself you’ve outgrown. But I’ve learned the struggles were the curriculum. Every hard season sharpened my intuition. Every identity tension deepened my empathy. And every risk strengthened my faith.
So while it hasn’t been smooth, it’s been absolutely worth it.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m the founder of two businesses that both center around one core belief: when people feel seen, supported, and empowered, everything changes.
Palm & Light is my Reiki, energy healing, identity + mindset coaching practice rooted in nervous system regulation, energetic alignment, and deep self-reconnection. I specialize in 1:1 in-person sessions in the Kansas City metro, creating intentional, grounded spaces where people can exhale and come back into alignment with themselves.
What sets Palm & Light apart is that it’s not performative or a surface level self-care practice. It’s embodied and practical. I integrate my intuition with real-world understanding of stress, identity, somatic therapy, generational patterns, and lived experience.
Palm & Light is about strengthening your capacity to live your most centered and authentic life.
Brand-wise, I’m most proud that Palm & Light feels like an experience – from the energy in the room to the language I use to the community it’s building. It’s gentle but powerful and grounded but expansive.
The Leap, LLC is my recruiting and talent advisory business where I bring almost two decades of experience across agency and corporate recruiting into a human-centered model. I specialize in direct hire, corporate and professional level roles, partnering with hiring managers, executives, and candidates who want alignment.
What sets The Leap apart is that I’m not a transactional recruiter. I operate with candor, strategic logic, and intuition. I understand internal business pain points because I’ve sat inside organizations leading hiring efforts. I also understand candidate experience and employer branding. I’m known for clear communication, strong relationships, and advocating for the right fit on both sides.
I’m most proud that The Leap reflects my values: integrity, transparency, and long-term impact. I don’t flood inboxes or push resumes. I build trust.
At first glance, energy work and recruiting may seem worlds apart, but they’re not. Both are about alignment, clarity, and both are helping people step into spaces where they thrive.
Palm & Light supports the inner work. The Leap supports the external leap.
And in both, my mission is the same – to help people regulate, realign, and rise without shrinking who they are.
If there’s one thing I want readers to know, it’s this: Everything I build is rooted in experience, authenticity, and a genuine desire to leave people better than I found them.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
What I love most about Kansas City is the heart.
This city shows up for its people. I see it in the nonprofit community and in the way creatives, entrepreneurs, and community leaders rally around one another.
There’s something refreshingly unpretentious about KC. You can build something meaningful here without the noise and ego of bigger markets. Relationships matter. And if you’re doing good work, people notice.
I’ve experienced firsthand how supportive and connected this city can be. It’s big enough to grow, but small enough to build real community and raise a family. That balance is special.
What I like least? Sometimes we play small.
There is so much brilliance here – innovative thinkers, bold founders, young leaders, multi-generational wisdom – and yet I think we underestimate ourselves and sometimes don’t go “deep” enough. We don’t always own our impact on a national level or amplify our own excellence the way we should.
And if I’m being honest, like many cities, we’re still navigating equity gaps and systemic barriers that impact who gets access to opportunity and who doesn’t. That’s real and it requires ongoing work.
But overall I believe in this city and its people. I believe in its potential.
I’m proud to live and build here.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.palmandlight.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/palm_and_light
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noorah-nachbor
