Designing Your Life Certified Coaches:
CANADA
Danielle Kershaw
Designing your life is better unstuffy and fun!! I’m a Certified Designing Your Life Coach, Career Educator and Workshop Facilitator, with an MA in Career Development and over 10 years’ experience helping both university students and clients at mid/encore career stages… apply curiosity, possibility and fresh “how might I” thinking to their next steps. Through 1-1 and group design thinking labs for career and life, I will lead you from dreaming about what’s next… to actively designing it. With a background in PR, marketing and tourism, I've had my own career pivots, reinventions and relocations, and personally understand the ups and downs of starting anew wherever you are in life. Send me a note for 1-1 chats, workshops and more!
Jennifer DeDominicis
As a Certified Organizational Coach, Jennifer works in partnership with clients to build capacity and amplify results at the individual, group and team level. With over eighteen-years of leadership experience spanning the cultural and education sectors, Jennifer empowers her clients to harness their capacity for creativity, focus on what matters most, and live and lead with impact and purpose.
Colin Macrae
Colin is Co-Founder of Fluency Leadership, a Vancouver-based leadership + coaching company specializing in working with leaders and teams in marketing, communications, and the creative industries. He brings an outcome-oriented, positive and human-centric approach to personal development and growth. As a coach, his commitment is to an authentic, humour-infused, and purposefully intimate approach that propels clients to outcomes that matter. Bringing a marketer’s mindset to the discipline of coaching and through a full commitment to authenticity, he supports clients in understanding and nurturing their personal brand, growing their superpowers in communications and executive presence, and creating life strategies that help them get unprecedented fulfillment inside and outside of work.
Jessica Elliott
Jessica Elliott is an Executive Coach, Creative Entrepreneur and Mentor. Jessica founded LIFETOX to service her coaching clients in a holistic way. Her coaching practice focuses on a proprietary concept of whole-body coaching, which keeps the mind, body and soul engaged. This whole-body approach helps you accelerate your personal growth and overall wellness, and fits nicely with the DYL philosophy and concepts.
Jessica hosts outdoor ‘Walk & Talks’ as a service for individuals and teams to get their bodies moving, connecting with nature and turn inward for self-discovery; this improves your memory, mood and increases your problem solving abilities. Whether it be remotely or in-person, Jessica’s coaching and outdoor walk-and-talks assist individuals to find holistic processes for growth in their life, career and business.
Keith Brooks
I have been teaching high school students since 2007. I have been a guidance counsellor since 2011. Since coming to Trinity College School, a boarding school about an hour outside of Toronto, I've specialized in post-secondary counselling with experience in navigating applications across Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, Japan and Europe. I have found the Designing Your Life materials to be of real value in working with students and families. I am passionate about helping people, students especially, find meaning and purpose in their lives and careers.
Wenny Cheung
Wenny believes that everyone has the capacity for growth and change. She also believes one’s mental health and career exploration is very much integrated and has a passion for working with individuals in building a career and life that is meaningful and fulfilling. As a Registered Clinical Counsellor, Wenny is experienced in providing a compassionate, non-judgemental, and collaborative space for supporting individuals who are navigating the obstacles of life.
Lauren Malach
We spend most of our lives working - work that defines us and demands our energy. Yet, sometimes we get stuck. There's many things we get stuck on-- how can I be a better leader? how can I find a new career? how can I find more peace at work? how can I plan for the future? I work with people who are stuck on figuring out that next step. Together, we reflect on who they are at their best, uncover what they have to offer and figure out ways to create meaning and fulfillment. Then we bring these insights to life.
Katherine Zhu
Katherine is a registered social worker, psychotherapist and social entrepreneur in Toronto, Ontario. She is running her own private practice and her own not-for-profit organization at the same time. Katherine is a long-time LGBTQ+ advocate and intersectional feminist. She is currently a full-time student pursing a Juris Doctor degree and she is dedicated to become a human rights lawyer in the future.
Annie Gauthier
Annie is the co-founder of Leadeo a Design Thinking and Innovation agency. Also, she have more than 20 years of experience in learning and development, leadership, talent management and organizational development in management and consulting roles, within large companies & public sectors.
Annie supports leaders and employees in their professional and personal development through different changes or transformations. She's recognized for her leadership to enable people to collaborate, experiment with new approaches and generate ideas. She's also an agile catalyst that naturally finds innovative solutions and navigates easily ambiguity.
Dr. Mariyam Ahmed
Dr. Mariyam Ahmed is a registered clinical psychologist. She believes in providing a genuine, empathic and non- judgmental space for her clients to identify and follow their life and career goals. She aims to provide a collaborative environment to develop strategies to meet each individual’s unique goals. Dr. Ahmed supports clients in developing and working on their clearly defined goals and facilitates building of skills that can be applied long term. Dr. Ahmed has a practice in downtown Toronto and believes in providing a highly personalized approach, tailored to each of her client's individual needs, and to help attain the goals they’re striving for. If you're looking for extra support and guidance or you are just ready to move in a new direction in your life, Dr. Ahmed looks forward to working with you.
Ann Drummie
I help project managers, travellers, and curlers be higher valued teammates and better positioned leaders. My coaching programs focus on accountability, motivation, coherence, and influence. For coherence, I recommend a six session, 1:1 program to tap more genuinely into your core values and your personal definition of success, using the Designing Your Life tools and concepts. Developing your coherence skills allows you to create more opportunities that challenge, energize, and propel you.
Brian Conlin
My executive business coaching practice is focused on CEOs in transition - into the C-suite, through the journey of reinvention mid career, and succession out of the job. We created a Next Chapter Workshop for those CEOs seeking clarity on how to use their skills, energies and curiosity to help others after leaving the C-suite.
Robyn MacDougall
As a Career Advisor and Coach, I have had the privilege of being part of the journey for hundreds of people finding their purpose and giving back to society in meaningful roles that shape our community and world. Having built my coaching philosophy by integrating client-led, solution-focused approaches, I ask powerful questions that champion authenticity and curiosity. I have made several transitions throughout my own life design journey from developing and working with psychological assessments, teaching Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness to first-time front-line leaders in the healthcare industry, and finally to higher education where I help future leaders connect the dots between past and present to design and fulfill careers full of purpose and meaning. I have a Master’s degree in Industrial / Organizational Psychology and currently work as a coach and facilitator with MBA students at the Ivey Business School at Western University.
Brian Malott
Brian has a passion for coming alongside on your journey to encourage you to chase your dreams. Over the last decade, through exploring possibilities and listening over coffee, Brian has helped people find peace as they search for their courage for “what if”. He is an out-of-the-box thinker who is not afraid to walk with you to achieve your wildest dreams. Happy clients Brian has helped chase their dreams successfully include:
• a recording artist working through her first award wining album
• youth worker who became a board game designer
• encouraging indigenous college students to step into their first careers
• home organizer turned radio DJ
• electrician finding a passion for teaching high school
• “helped me talk through the clutter of my own wording/thoughts/ideas, always nudging me towards being more clear” - Not For Profit Leader
How can a coach with a listening ear helpful to you? Let me join you on your journey and encourage you to chase your dreams today!
Lisa Sansom
Lisa has worked in organizational development, leadership development and change management since 2000, adding positive psychology in 2010. She enjoys working with insightful, forward-looking clients who bring curiosity and energy to their work in the world, making it a better place. In 2021, Lisa started her doctorate journey, researching the role that positive feedback has in creating higher task performance and better leader-employee relationships. Lisa has spoken at many conferences over the years, and is available for coaching, consulting, speaking and corporate training opportunities.
Graham Dover
I’ve spent the last 30 years working with a diverse range of people around the world who share a common interest: They are seeking to significantly impact their worlds for good. I specialize in working with social innovators and entrepreneurs - I have a PhD in Social Innovation and am a Fellow of the RSA - but I also get excited about anyone who wants to make a difference but isn’t sure where to start or how to navigate the process. The DYL tools can be super powerful to gain clarity, get unstuck, grow in confidence, and take action. If you would like to start a conversation to explore how I might be able to help, then please get in touch.
Cherylynn Desjardins
As an organizational effectiveness consultant within a global company, my HR career has been guiding leaders and employees through challenges and change. To support teamwork, we used a variety of assessment tools (MBTI, TMP, SDI). When individuals are feeling lost or stuck, I often recommend the DYL dashboard and Odyssey exercises - having people spend some time thinking about where they are, and where they would like to be. Start here. Becoming a DYL coach was one of my Odyssey lives, the post corporate transition to a more fulfilling coaching career. Here I am. I look forward to sitting with you and asking, what do you want to do and be next? It will be my pleasure. Let’s get started.
Courtney Amo
Courtney Amo is the founder of Mahaa Yoga, an independent Yoga, personal development retreat and lifestyle coaching practice that promotes inclusive and barrier-free access to well-being. With close to 20 years of Yoga teaching, public sector leadership, and facilitation experience, Courtney helps her students and clients approach work, life, and well-being from an embodied perspective. Courtney holds a Master’s Degree in Education (Measurement and Evaluation) from the University of Ottawa, and completed Akhanda Yoga Life Coaching Training in 2018.
Vicky Smith
My passion is to empower individuals, from diverse backgrounds, to embrace that life/career goals are realized through infinite thinking where each life/career experience builds on another, and the journey is to find satisfaction in what one does. My career is an example of a long winding road where after graduating with a BA in Psychology and a Diploma in Adult Education, I worked in a Social Work-related field with People with Disabilities, then shifted to consulting starting as a Recruitment Specialist and leaving the organization as President. My next adventure was starting my own consulting firm specializing in career and leadership coaching in Ontario and internationally. After, 15 years, I intended to semi-retire but an opportunity at Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario presented itself on the Career Management team and I have loved working as a Senior Career Advisor for the past two years.
Korilea Soltys
Korilea Soltys is a Career Facilitator for high-school students at Chilliwack Secondary School. As a certified coach she can expand her practice to support staff, Career Education teachers, and students with their Career Education question and implementation. She believes this is an extremely important conversation for all Grade 12 students to consider as they embark on their career-life exploration. High school is meant to be a time when students actively consider their plans post-graduation, and it is important that they are surrounded by individuals who are trained to support them while making these important decisions.
Ron Morita
By applying design thinking principles, I help people find joy in their life journey, confidence in their agility and resilience, excitement in continuously learning and growing, and the fulfillment of doing things which they value. I am an executive coach, life coach, high tech product executive and social impact leader. I help executives rising in their careers and senior executives who are seeking to design more fulfilling lives and careers. I successfully redesigned my career and my life and I share my methodology through my coaching practice.
Ruhuni de Alwis
``Every person has a story, and if you listen carefully, every person has a story that will bring you to your knees.`` Brene Brown
Certified Facilitator with over 20 years of experience in career coaching. With over 3000 individual coaching hours, Ruhuni provides career coaching to individuals and teams, providing her coachees with tools to explore their personal motivation and how to align that with their personal goals, leveraging the principles of Designing Your Life and other leading thinkers in the personal growth space. Recognizing that everyone has many pivotal moments in life - finishing school, starting a new job, leaving a job, health crisis - that all make us stop, think and reframe problems to opportunities. One goal of a coaching conversation is to help people recognize the control they have over their lives, breaking down what sometimes seems insurmountable obstacles into manageable steps.
John Shi
John is a passionate, kind, and hardworking young entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder of a leading Canadian educational technology consulting enterprise – Uforse Education – for high school and university students. He has helped over 5000 students in their academic and career planning since 2012. As an University of Toronto Rotman Commerce alumni and mentor, he is also featured in the Rotman Impact report 2016 to 2018 for setting up Uforse Leadership and Volunteerism Award for international students. He believes his career is about empowering students to share the success with one another. He started a non profit organization which connects students to volunteering opportunities in Toronto where students have completed over 200,000 volunteer hours on his platform. He believes, as a global citizen, the mindset of contributing to your community to the maximum capacity is extremely significant. He has received frequent feedbacks from his students sharing that his empowerment of them is far more crucial than going to a top - notch university or getting a dream job, it is also a real inspiration to their life.
Angela Linke
I am curious by nature.
• How do I create conditions for interesting* things to happen in my life (*as defined by me)?
• What do I want to try on and explore?
• What changes do I want to intentionally design, both personally and professionally?
I work with people in all stages of their life and career to consider these and other questions. And then help them design experiments and experiences that will offer them insights, answers, and incremental, forward movement. My background is in organizational change, adult learning and development, and facilitation. Over the last twenty years, I have helped people figure out how to navigate a path from here to there (or something approximating ‘there’ when we don’t know exactly where that is), lead change (for themselves and others), and shape experiences they want to have in work and life. As an ICF certified coach, I use evidence-informed practices like emotional intelligence, Design Your Life and Immunity to Change to help you design your way forward and chart a path that is authentically yours.
Charles Krusekopf
Charles Krusekopf is a Certified Executive Coach and Professor in the School of Business at Royal Roads University. He leads the MBA in Executive Management and has over 20 years of experience coaching mid-career professionals who are working to identify and achieve their personal and work goals. He participated in the Stanford Design Lab’s Life Design Studio program for educators and delivers Design Your Life (DYL) programs for a wide range of audiences, including North American, international and Indigenous business and non-profit professionals helping them explore the question, ``What do I want to do with my life?`` He completed International Coaching Federation (ICF) professional education and maintains an active Executive Coaching practice with a focus on later-career explorations.
Damien Faughnan
Damien Faughnan coaches Fortune 500 CEOs and c-suite executives to accelerate their success.
Christine Ni
Christine has a wealth of 27 years of experience in HR management, coaching and consulting fields. She works with all levels of workforce primarily in multinational companies from general staff to C-level executives who intend to become more effective in leadership development, career management, stress management, and so forth. Christine also works as a volunteer career coach with NGOs like Up with Women, ElizabethFry and ICTC in Toronto. Christine is passionate about assisting corporate executives to discover and overcome barriers blocking them from achieving and enjoying career success in a corporate environment. During her 17 years as freelancer coach and consultant, she worked with clients to develop and grow their leadership capabilities by bringing up their self-awareness and finding the ways to achieve the optimal results they desire. Christine also worked with many client companies to smoothen their Reduction in Force process by preparing them for the employee communication, providing onsite support and helping the impacted workforce with their career transitions.
Daliang (Daniel) Zhao
Daniel Zhao is a seasoned professional coach and facilitator specializing in executives, leadership, systemic team coaching, and organizational development. With more than 20 years of professional experience, he took different roles of Executive, Sales Director, Human Resources Director, and Entrepreneur. He is passionate about evoking transformation and evolving consciousness. In past years, he has initiated and delivered lots of impactful life-changing experiential programs across all industries, from one-to-one to teams, and has brought inside-out, purposeful transformation to many people and organizations. He is now mainly focusing on coach and facilitator roles in some globally renowned leadership programs, including Coaching for Performance, Coaching for Leadership, Create Meaningful Work, ExperienceInnovation, etc.
He lives in Toronto, Canada and Shanghai, China. With curiosity and playfulness, he is immersed in the meaningful journey, both inner and outer world.
Danika Zoe
Danika is a seasoned expert in leadership development, change management, and designing your work life. Working with a certified coach is a guaranteed way to excel at what you do, no matter the aspiration. Together, we will get impactful, actionable results for your business and transform your ability to be an aspiring leader by challenging personal mental models and assumptions. Danika has spent thousands of hours coaching high-achieving leaders, empowering them to lead change and identify the strengths needed to increase their impact at work. Now it's your turn.
10 years - Certified Leadership Coach (CPCC, PCC, Certified Design Your Work-Life Coach)
7 years - Certified Change Management Practitioner (Prosci ADKAR)
3 Sabbatical trips worldwide
Kaylee Olderskog
I value a sense of curiosity, creativity, collaboration, and authenticity in my practice working from a person-centered, strength-based approach. My goal is to create an intentional space to explore strengths, gain clarity, and foster deeper trust in self to support the emergence of your most authentic sense of self. Drawing upon motivation, learning, and goal setting theories, I use interventions that focus on inner resource development, empowerment, and self-awareness to integrate your experiences, values, and hopes toward courageous action in your career-life journey. My work focuses on career development across the lifespan including adolescents and emerging adults. I work as a Registered Psychologist in-person in Lethbridge, Alberta and with clients virtually who are residing anywhere in Alberta. I have graduate-level education in both Education (Counselling Psychology) and Management (HR/Organizational Behaviour). And the day came when the risk to remain right in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nin.
Isabelle Doré
Isabelle is a business consultant and certified leadership coach merging eastern and western practices of conscious leading and living. Guiding clients to successfully design their inner and outer development journeys and to be in the driver seats of life, work and wellbeing is a passion for her. Isabelle is also a co-creator of capacity building programs for emerging adults on the topics of conscious leadership, transformation literacy and holistic wellness. With a 15-year career as an executive in high tech industries in Canada, Isabelle (MBA, Eng.) has extensive experience leading large scale system transformations, team performance and individual development. While living in southeast Asia for seven years, she deepened her leadership, personal mastery and transformation literacy while heading consulting endeavors for various startups and small businesses in East Timor and Bali. Now based in Portugal, Isabelle’s clientele span across the globe and benefit from her diverse experience and deep desire for meaningful and authentic interactions. She also holds accredited certifications as an executive leadership coach, life coach, yoga teacher, small and medium consulting, Neurolinguistic programming and is on progress of accreditation for holistic wellness coaching.
Julie Walchli
Julie is a Work Integrated Learning Innovator and Educator with 30 years' experience in Canadian higher education. She leads workplace learning and career programs for 19,000+ students in the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She founded the Arts Co-op Program, and recently co-founded the Compass Arts Student Engagement Hub and the Career Design Studio, where she coaches Social Science, Humanities, and Creative and Performing Arts students.
Sarah Martin
I knew from a very young age that I wanted to work with people, which led me to several careers that allowed me to assist people with their mental, physical and emotional well-being. As a health and life coach I work hard to make sure your experience is authentic, engaging and held with the highest integrity. I bring a tremendous amount of positive energy, a wealth of experience and a strong determination to help my clients prosper. When working with me I have no doubt you will leave feeling respected, protected and cared for, knowing that your health and well being are a top priority.
Sarah Willsey
A professional career coach and advisor with a passion for helping people find their own path and purpose. After taking a break from my own career, I discovered my joy for helping others was not being utilized to its fullest potential. With the help of a career coach, I was able to dig deep and explore what truly made me happy and fulfilled in my career. Drawing from my experience in sales and marketing, I developed a strategy to become a career coach, receiving my CPC through iPEC in 2022. I have worked with individuals from all walks of life to help them navigate their career paths. While working with university students, I realized how much I was drawn to their passion and motivation to create positive change, leading me to became a Senior Career Advisor at Ivey Business School. Seeing the confidence and clarity develop within my clients is what motivates me to continue on this path. I am dedicated to helping others find their true potential and achieve their goals.
Anna Belyaeva
I am a founder of The Career Diet where I help ambitious go-getters around the world discover and land their dream jobs without the overwhelm and endless applications. Over 600 professionals from 30 countries have been through The Career Diet’s programs to date. My students went on to make their big career dreams happen like switching industries, getting a dream job while still in school, moving internationally, and getting 50% salary increases. Since starting my coaching business in 2020, I grew an online community of over 290K people, got featured in publications like Business Insider, and was invited as a speaker at major universities like The University of Toronto.
