About
Shifra M. Novograd
Our POSITION naturally makes us see things our way.
It is our DISPOSITION that allows us to envision those same things in another way.
Mediation is the process that invites that to happen.
Shifra M. Novograd
PRINCIPAL MEDIATOR, WHEN MEDIATION MATTERS LLC
As a certified and insured professional mediator, Shifra built her mediation practice to serve a diverse clientele with resolving their disputes in a constructive way that upholds all parties in the process. People who seek mediation understand that there is great value in preserving the dignity and well-being of others while negotiating what is important to them.
Having personally benefitted from professional mediation for a business conflict, Shifra experienced the remarkable upside of collaborating with the other party to resolve their differences rather than letting others decide for them. She also has her share of personal encounters around how conflict erodes good will and emotionally wears people down. With a world increasingly fragmented and mired in deep conflict, she believes that humans will be best served by learning how to mediate their differences in a more whole and inclusive way.
Leading with FIVE PRINCIPLES OF MATTERING ™ developed throughout decades of working with thousands of people, Shifra dispenses a potent brand of mediation that moves people forward, while evoking the best and brightest in themselves and in each other. . . making everyone richer for the experience.
Her clients hear this a lot: Challenges are not in our way; they lead it.
When the cost of ill will is too high, Shifra works with individuals, families, and organizations to resolve highly-sensitive issues. She has earned the high regard of both clients and colleagues for leading the team towards achieving “good will” outcomes through an intensely collaborative process. Trained in both the facilitative and transformational mediation models, Shifra “stresses the issues without stressing the person.”
After earning her university degree and teacher’s license, Shifra obtained multiple professional certifications across the communication and mediation arenas. She currently holds certification in Women’s Leadership from Yale School of Management, as well as certifications in Mediation and Conflict Transformational Skills, including Custody Plans, Domestic Violence, and Trauma in Family Systems. In addition to her private practice, Shifra mediates for the Baltimore City Circuit Court and is a member of MPME (Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence) where she is a designated mediator.
ALONG THE WAY TO MEDIATION SHIFRA BECAME . . .
AN AWARD-WINNING COMMUNICATOR AND AUTHOR
Shifra’s messaging has been widely featured – from online greeting cards to radio commercials and organizational videos. While serving for two decades as the vice-president of project development at Write Now! LLC, an online writing and communications company, she also produced and hosted a live weekly radio on social and educational issues that aired in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Her purpose-driven memoir, DARE TO MATTER: Lessons in Living a Large Life was released in October 2020. Intended to empower people to create lives that matter to them, her book sets down the principles around what it means to matter. It also provided the early framework for the Five Principles of Mattering™ that underlie her mediation practice.
She is working on her next book featuring how we can help others mediate their best lives, scheduled for publication in the Summer 2025
THE CREATOR AND LEAD PRESENTER OF LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION TRAINING SEMINARS
Professionally trained as a WomanSpeak ™ International Circle Leader, Shifra helps people hear, listen, and speak their inner voice.
After serving as the Managing Director of a non-profit philanthropy for nearly a decade, Shifra emerged as a transformational thought leader and master communicator who now shares meaningful and powerful ideas through her book, speeches, and seminars. Her in-person and virtual presentations on personal, professional, spiritual and creative growth and development in a variety of academic and corporate settings–ranging from university students to women entrepreneurs– have earned her a reputation for being a “connector” who is refreshingly approachable and impactful.
Especially known for THE GREAT WILL SEMINAR™, Shifra designed her seminars to support individuals and teams with enhanced communication and leadership skills. Click Here for the list of Seminars.
A COMMUNITY ACTIVIST
Shifra’s lengthy list of community activism includes past service for the Association for Women in Communications, Washington D.C. and current service on the board of a non-profit organization dedicated to helping singles meet and marry. As a member of the New York State Chaplain Group Inc., Shifra serves as a volunteer Chaplain for Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Shifra resides in Maryland, where she occasionally puts her phone down so that she can pick up her pen to write poetry and read yet another book on mediation. She is rarely seen cooking and baking in the kitchen, though she has learned to enjoy baking bread and to set an inviting table.