Meet the Founder + CEO
Nathalie Blais
Founder & CEO, Coach Academy
TEDx speaker. Master Certified Coach. Harvard MA in psychology, earned with distinction. Host of the Connection Experiment podcast, and author of The Connection Experiment, arriving July 2027.
- 50,000+ hours of fieldwork
- 4,000+ coaches certified
- Since 2016
The first life to change is yours.What every graduate discovers
Her story, in her words
Who do you think you are?
I’ve battled imposter syndrome my entire life. That question lingers at the back of my mind with every milestone and every achievement. Including the TEDx stage.
I knew the material. In fact, I had lived it for more than a decade. And yet, I still heard the whisper: who do you think you are?
I said yes to TEDx anyway. Just as I said yes to building a company from the ground up so many years ago.
Because coaching has taught me to challenge doubt, fear, and limitations shaped by belief rather than fact. Feel the fear. Notice the story you are telling yourself. Then do the thing that matters to you anyway. Break down the story instead of letting it decide what you are capable of.
That is coaching.
And that is the power of a coach: to witness your life in a way no one else does. With curiosity instead of assumptions and judgment. With questions instead of advice. With acceptance and compassion instead of attachment to a cherished outcome.
I started Coach Academy because I believe coaching skills are the skills we were never taught in school or in leadership. They are the skills that create connection between two people.
I have devoted the latter part of my life to studying, practicing, and exploring coaching-based connection through the lenses of coaching, mentoring, facilitation, research, curriculum design, and peer collaboration. And I can tell you this: the research and my experience agree.
Anyone can learn this.
And it will change your relationships, how you think, what you notice, and how you show up for others. It will change your life, if you let it.
Don’t take my word for it. Read the reviews. Listen to our podcast, The Connection Experiment. Watch the testimonial videos on our website. The evidence is in our community.
The one thing I hear more than anything else is this: “I wish I had these skills 10 or 20 years ago. It would have made such a difference.”
And that is the force behind Coach Academy.
It’s not just a certification. It’s a pathway to connection.
Nathalie
What she believes
A few things Nathalie will tell you
People want a witness to their lives.
They rarely want to be saved, fixed or advised. Witnessing someone, fully, changes what they can see for themselves.
Turn why into what.
Why questions trigger justification and the past. What questions open possibilities and the future.
People do their best thinking in silence.
Stay in it. People feel seen there.
Ask a question and stop talking.
If you want someone to like you, this is the entire instruction manual.
Perspective is a superpower.
What we believe is true, until we question it. Don’t take her word for any of this. Try it, experiment with it, use your conversations as a laboratory.
On the TEDx stage
Watch Nathalie’s TEDx talk
The story she almost let the inner critic talk her out of telling.
Nathalie Blais
The Connection Experiment
In print · July 2027
Coming July 2027
The Connection Experiment
What if the communication skills you were taught are exactly what get in the way of true connection?
We interrupt to relate. We offer advice no one asked for. We rush to fill the silences. We outsource connection to algorithms. Although our brains are built for connection, roughly one in six people worldwide lack the experience of being felt, received, and heard.
Drawing on over fifty thousand hours of coaching, teaching, and curriculum design, Nathalie shows that anyone can learn connection skills, one small shift at a time. Witty and honest about how hard unlearning old habits can be, this is a book for leaders, parents, colleagues, and friends who want the people around them to feel seen, heard, and valued.
The book will be announced first in the Coach Academy newsletter. Join below to be the first to know.
Stay connected
Be the first to know.
Join Coach News, the Coach Academy newsletter keeping you connected to a community living and breathing coaching. When you sign up, you’ll be among the first to know when my first book, The Connection Experiment, will be available for purchase.
