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Clear thinking for what’s next
I’m Deborah Blaine — a legal professional with 15 years of experience managing a high net worth estate planning practice, and nearly 20 years before that helping organizations plan, build, and grow. I help individuals, law firms, small businesses, and solo founders get clear on where they’re headed, work smarter with the tools they already have (AI included), and pressure-test the big ideas before they bet on them.
Strategic Planning, Goals & Visioning
Get clear, then get going.
Most people don’t lack ambition — they lack a clear, honest picture of where they’re going and what matters most right now. This is the work of stepping back, naming the vision, and turning it into goals you can actually reach.
Whether you’re an individual working through what’s next, leading a small team, running a firm, or building something on your own, I’ll help you sort the noise from the signal: what’s the vision, what are the real goals underneath it, and what’s the sensible plan to get there — in order, without the overwhelm.
Good for: annual or quarterly planning, an individual at a turning point who wants a clear plan of their own, a team that’s pulling in different directions, or a founder who knows they need a plan but hasn’t had the space to make one.
Can be a facilitated half-day session, a short series of working sessions, or something else. Can be virtual, but in person is best.
Legal Engineering — practical AI for law firms
Smarter tools for busy law practices.
Law firms are being handed powerful new AI tools, and most don’t need another sales pitch — they need a practical guide. That’s the work I’m building here: helping firms spot the repetitive, time-draining parts of their day, choose tools that actually fit, and put sensible automation in place.
What I bring to doing legal engineering: fifteen years inside legal work, a practice manager’s eye for what actually helps a firm run, and a genuine enthusiasm for making technology useful instead of overwhelming.
Good for: firms curious about AI but unsure where to start, teams drowning in document and admin work, or owners who want a thought partner before they buy anything.
I start where the hours actually go: document drafting and the repetitive admin around it — intake, follow-ups, the same letters written a hundred ways. The work is practical: a clear-eyed look at where your firm’s time is leaking, honest advice on which tools actually fit, and sensible automation put in place properly — no overselling, no shelfware.
Idea Think Tank
A second brain for your next big idea.
You’ve got an idea you can’t shake — a new service, a product, a pivot, a side project — and what you need isn’t another cheerleader. You need someone to think it through with: to ask the awkward questions, poke at the weak spots, and help you develop the good parts until it’s something real.
That’s the Idea Think Tank. Bring the half-formed thing. We’ll pressure-test it together — who it’s for, whether it holds up, what it would take — and you’ll leave with clearer thinking and a sense of what to do next (or the relief of deciding not to).
Good for: founders at the “is this anything?” stage, owners weighing a new direction, or anyone who thinks better out loud with a partner in the room.
Usually starts with a single working session, just you and the idea. If it has legs, we can keep going in a short series while it takes shape. Virtual works — but the messy early thinking is better in person.
Kind words from people I’ve worked with.
Here’s what a couple of clients and colleagues have said about working with me — shared from my LinkedIn recommendations.
“I owe all of my success as a host of the Born To Talk Radio Show to Deborah. We started together over 8 years ago. She saw something in me, that changed the course of my life. Deb coached me and taught me how to move the dial from being in the LA Talk Live Studio in my hometown to becoming a podcaster heard nationwide and beyond. I could have never done this without her support and confidence she has had in me. I highly recommend her if you are looking to enter the media world.”
— Marsha Wietecha, Host of the Born To Talk Radio Show Podcast, February 2023
“It was such a joy to work with Deb for a prominent non-profit in Los Angeles. Deb had already been working for years when I joined. She was very thoughtful in showing me the ropes, especially organizing hundreds of volunteers to support fundraising events with budgets in hundreds of thousands of dollars. I really appreciated her interpersonal communication and management skills. Happy to work with again, in a corporate setting, non-profit or not.”
— Jessica Oppenheimer, Director, Agentic SOC Integrations – Splunk Security, February 2023
Hi, I’m Deb.
If there’s a through-line in my career, it’s this: I’ve always helped organizations plan, build, and grow — first in consulting and development, and for the past 15 years inside estate planning law.
I spent nearly 20 years in development and consulting before law. As Director of Development at The MENTOR Network (1991–2000), I oversaw business development, grant writing, program design, project management, contract negotiation, software development, PR, marketing, and event coordination across three statewide companies. After that, as a Consultant with Blaine & Associates (2001–2010), I provided grant writing, project management, and public relations and marketing services for small businesses and non-profit agencies. My education fits that people-and-systems mix: a B.A. in Humanities and an M.A. in Clinical Psychology, both from Pepperdine University.
In law, I’ve been a paralegal for 15 years — at Mains Law Office from 2011 to 2021, and now as Managing Paralegal at Mains Law Office, PC since July 2023. I completed the ABA-approved Paralegal program in General Litigation at the University of San Diego, with honors, and my work covers high net worth estate planning, probate and trust administration, trust litigation, and business entity formation. It’s detailed, people-first work, and I still love it.
My nonprofit roots go back decades, too. I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity International for over 18 years (1987–2005), have supported Best Buddies International as a donor since 1993, and volunteered with the Human Rights Campaign in Los Angeles, where I’m a donor as well. That’s a big part of why nonprofit consulting is one of my services — I know those organizations from the inside, not just the outside.
Alongside that, I’ve been Principal of Zengirlmedia since 2010 — my freelance home for creative, development, and new media work. Outside the office I build things, too. Zengirlmedia is where all those threads come together: the consulting home for the planning, technology, and big-idea thinking I’ve always done for others.
If we work together, you’ll get candor and follow-through. No jargon, no stuffiness — just clear thinking and a plan.
Clients tend to say the same thing about working with me: I listen properly, I say what I actually think, and things get done.
Ready to talk?
Tell me what you’re working on — a plan you need to make, a practice you want to modernize, or an idea you can’t put down. A few honest paragraphs is plenty; I read everything myself.
Email: deb@zengirlmedia.me
Looking for legal help rather than consulting? I’m Managing Paralegal at Mains Law Office, PC — you’ll find the firm at mainslawoffice.com. Consulting and legal work stay separate, so please use the right door and we’ll take good care of you.
It helps to include: who you are and what you do, what you’re hoping to sort out, and your rough timeline if you have one. Don’t worry about making it polished — honest beats formal.