Our Team

Have you ever heard the quote from John Lennon that “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans?” That certainly applies to me. As an emotionally illiterate, 20 year old computer science student, from a small town in the Midwest, my big dream was to go to grad school and get a job as a programmer, making $60,000 a year.

Yet somehow, I found myself at Berkeley in 1994, designing third generation Internet software, just as the first generation of the Internet took off. So I took my research, started a company, raised $20 million – and burned out twice.

After our IPO and my second burnout, I had an epiphany. Leadership had been so stressful for me that I saw how, moving forward, I could create more success or live a better life. But not both.

I wasn’t willing to live with that choice. So I dipped my toe in the waters of the “self-help world” and became fascinated by the strengths and challenges of that industry. There were all these powerful relational, emotional and spiritual technologies, but with very little quality control. From the outside, it was difficult to separate the brilliant breakthroughs from the new age nuts.

So I became an “emotional scientist,” immersing myself in the best programs I could find, and then filtering them through my science and business background. I mastered the best and threw away the rest. This worked so well that I began bringing these tools back to other leaders in the business world, as well as coaching some of the leaders in the self-help industry.

As I was doing so, I met an extraordinarily gifted coach and facilitator named Nicole. Today, we’re married, have two young daughters, and work together, helping business leaders master the tools that allow you to create more success and make a bigger difference, while also creating an even better life.

Nicole is an intuitive. She has an uncanny ability to understand people, often deeper than they understand themselves. She is able to directly sense people’s gifts, blocks, path and purpose.

She couples this with a Masters Degree in Spiritual Psychology and over twelve years of experience as a master coach and facilitator.

Nicole has a highly unusual capacity to coach and support extremely successful people. She has worked with and held space for a wide range of leaders, including studio heads, star athletes, senior executives and prominent entrepreneurs.

With the birth of her two daughters, Nicole’s services have become particularly treasured. In order to maintain space for her children, she only works with a handful of clients at a time, and her coaching slots are some of the most sought after services we offer.

Carmela is one of our senior coaches and an experienced corporate executive with an extensive background in senior management.

She combines this with emotional intelligence and deep insights to create her own brand of coaching which brings about dramatic results in clients.  Her passion lies in the intersection of achieving excellent business results while developing authentic leaders.

The inspiration to begin coaching and speaking came from her desire to better support executives in their development.  Her belief is that strong leaders who bring all their gifts to their work are better leaders, which, in turn, transforms organizations.

Jonathan Bessone is an executive coach, healer and trainer with over 25 years experience facilitating transformation. He’s a Dean at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and also serves as our operations manager. Jonathan has taught internationally in New Zealand, China, Taiwan and Japan.

Having trained in dozens of therapeutic modalities, Jonathan brings a rare depth and breadth of experience to his work. Over the years Jonathan has helped to thousands of practitioners develop their facilitation skills and authentic leadership.

Jonathan and his wife Rumi live in the foothills of Los Angeles, where they are growing a tiny food forest with over 50 varieties of fruits, herbs and vegetables.

After experiencing the challenges of leadership during her 10 years as a marketing executive, Ella developed a passion for executive coaching. She studied with a number of the masters in the field, before becoming an executive coach herself.

Today, with 21 years of coaching experience, Ella can hold space for executives at almost any level. She is a master in the areas of executive coaching, group facilitation and leadership training.

Ella is particularly passionate about the environment, and serves as a board member for three non-profit organizations.

An experienced entrepreneur and executive, Tomas founded a holistic wellness company and grew it to $30 million a year. He attributes this success to the way they combined strong systems with an even stronger culture. As he built this company, he invested heavily in his own leadership development, both for himself and in order to grow his capacity for coaching other members of his executive team.

After selling his company, rather than retire, he now provides executive coaching and business consulting to up and coming entrepreneurs, supporting them in developing both their leadership skills and operational excellence.

Jonny was born with a strong sense of purpose, as well as a passion for helping people. Prior to getting his Master’s in Public Health, he worked for a social enterprise, leading teams, transforming communities, and doing service work throughout Latin America and the globe.

After meeting the love of his life and getting married, he went back to school, got a Master’s in Spiritual Psychology, and now serves both as our Operations Manager and one of our senior coaches.

Jonny has the ability to work with a wide range of people, including young professionals, up and coming entrepreneurs, new managers, middle managers, and junior executives.

Paul is our master of holistic wellness. With more degrees and certifications than we can count, he brings to the table a brilliant integration of eastern and western medicine.

Paul is a licensed M.D. while also being one of the United States’ preeminent teachers of Ayurvedic medicine. He has a black belt in Aikido, as well as decades of deep spiritual practice.

Dr. Dugliss has an extraordinary capacity to diagnose the real roots of a wide range of chronic health issues, as well as helping clients rebuild their wellness after periods of acute stress.