Grow Deep Before You Grow Tall

Ki Siadatan has spent much of his career leading people, building teams, mentoring emerging leaders, and helping others navigate moments of growth and change. But Oak & Elephant Lab grew from something deeper than his professional experience. It grew from a belief he has carried for decades: young people benefit enormously from having trusted mentors in their lives who will listen, challenge them, believe in them, and share some of the wisdom gained from traveling a little farther down the road. Ki’s career has taken him from the technology world, where he held senior leadership roles including Vice President of Global Advertising Sales at Microsoft, to more than two decades working in healthcare and senior living. Along the way, he has hired, developed, coached, and mentored people at virtually every stage of their careers. His work has taught him as much about people as it has about business: how character is formed, how relationships shape us, how we respond when things don’t go according to plan, and why the most impressive résumé means very little if we haven’t thought about the kind of person we want to become. His commitment to young people, however, extends well beyond the workplace. For more than 25 years, Ki has mentored students and young adults through schools, community organizations, Rotary, Rotaract, and Interact. He has spent years volunteering alongside students, supporting youth leadership, teaching, listening, and creating opportunities for younger generations to connect with people and experiences outside their usual circles. He is also a father, and that experience has reinforced something he believes deeply: preparing a young person for the future means far more than helping them get into the right college, choose the right major, or land the right first job. It means helping them develop roots strong enough to know who they are and the wisdom to decide who they want to become.
That belief became Oak & Elephant Lab.
Ki doesn’t approach mentoring as someone with a formula for how another person should live. He brings experience, curiosity, perspective, and a willingness to ask questions that don’t always have easy answers. Sometimes the conversation is about a college application or career decision. Other times it’s about failure, relationships, confidence, leadership, happiness, purpose, or defining success on your own terms.
The goal is never to create a younger version of the mentor.
It’s to help young people become more thoughtful, grounded, confident versions of themselves.
That is the work of Oak & Elephant Lab.
Grow deep. Walk wisely. Live with purpose.