Testimonials and Clients
Arina helped me find my true voice. I came to Arina without any experience in public speaking when I had to get ready for my first public presentation in front of 200 people. I didn’t have a clear picture of what exactly I wanted to present. In the 6 months of my work with Arina she helped me to craft my story based on my “river of life”, prepare for my presentation, and deliver it in a very professional way.
Only when I got on stage did I fully realize how important my work with Arina was. I presented with confidence, authenticity, and with a true voice. No one in the audience knew that it was my first presentation. People were moved to tears and came to me afterwards to ask me to speak at other events.
These few months of working with Arina was equivalent for me to getting MS in Public speaking. This investment into myself already paid off by opening so many doors for me just a few weeks after my presentation. The biggest gift that she shared with me was teaching me how to “fly” without fear. Now, that I have discovered my “wings” I can’t wait to use them again. At every step of the process Arina was professional, available, supportive, and inspiring. Arina has a deep spirit and she has a true gift to be able to deepen the spirits of others.
~ Anya El-Watter, Inspirational Public Speaker,
Healer, Philanthropist, and Pragmatic Visionary
Clients I Have Worked With
VMWare
Stryker
AT&T
The Gap
Adobe
Lucent Technologies
Nortel Networks
Salesforce
Pacific Gas & Electric
Hot Wire
Peterson Caterillar
Mozilla
Hewlett- Packard Company Inc.
Panasonic
Visa, Inc.
Kaiser Permanente
Genentech
Pandora
Johnson & Johnson
Janssen Pharmaceutical Japan and Korea
Baxter
Shanghai
Radix Consulting
Hong Kong
McKinsey
Capital One
Oracle Corporation
Levi Strauss & Co.
500 Startups
Hi-Power/Leading Women in Technology
Attic, Abu Dhabi
Avis, South Africa
Quaker Chemical Corporation, Shanghai China
East Water, Bangkok Thailand
Fattal Company, Beirut Lebanon
Societe Generale, Paris and San Francisco
Deloitte & Touch
Amgen Pharmaceuticals
Lockheed Martin
Sandia National Laboratories
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories
Berkeley Lawrence National Laboratory
NSTec.
Learning as Leadership
Genentech
Pandora
Apple/I Tunes
Thailand Management Association
Bangkok
Shanghai
SIS Conference Consulting Shanghai
Leader Styles International Shanghai
University Affiliations
Arina is a lecturer on the professional faculty at UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business and UC Davis Graduate School of Management. She has lectureed at Kellog Graduate School of Management at Northwestern Univeristy ,the Olin School of Business at Washington University and, HKUST Business School in Hong Kong. She is part of the senior faculty with the annual Berkeley Executive Coaching Institute offiered in affiliaton with the UC Berkeley Center for Executive Education/Haas School of Business. Arina has offered leadership, communication, storytelling and coaching courses, through the UC Berkeley Center for Executive Education since 2003.
Arina taught me techniques for being present with the room and engaging with my audience and helped me craft core messages to communicate my thoughts and embody them. Her focus on the ‘vertical takeoff’ with a personal and engaging story will be a key tool for me for the rest of my life!
~ Laura Gates, Executive Coach and Culture Change Partner, Learning as Leadership, www.learnaslead.com
Arina has played a key role in helping me see, plan, and realize my goals over the past decade. Sometimes challenging, sometimes consoling, sometimes cheerleading, sometimes scolding…whatever I needed at the time, be it to summon the courage to make a change or perhaps to simply stop, think, and feel what was going on inside of me. Most of all, she was always there with me and for me, and helped me see and connect the parts of my life that were most important to me. I often look around me, both literally and figuratively, and wonder if I’d ever gotten here – or even knew that ‘here’ existed, without her.
~ Brian Damkroger, Senior Manager, National Laboratory
Arina worked with us to build relationships across a new management team from disparate parts of the company. She helped craft a series offsites that fostered sharing, dialogue, and authenticity which added richness and depth to our conversations. Arina enabled us to connect with each other and quickly develop the relationships we needed to move forward as a leadership team.
~ Dawn Manley, Management, Sandia National Laboratory
My work with Arina sparked a revelation about myself that shaped my personal development for the next two years. Despite how much I valued my analytical mind, I found that its constant background chatter kept me from fully connecting with the people around me. Arina’s encouragement and counsel gave me confidence that I could find a way to quiet that internal voice and be fully present. Now, my colleagues tell me they notice something is different – like I’m shining with an energy that they can catch onto.
~ Michele Florendo, Operations Manager, Aspire Public Schools
Arina has been great to help me develop my public speaking skills and find my ‘public’ voice. I was terrified of speaking publicly because of a mix of lack of experience, low confidence, fear of others judgement. She’s been accompanying me with empathy, revealing grace and value where I thought there was nothing. She’s been also confronting me with my own self indulgence in area where I thought I was right and frankly, it wasn’t fair! But thanks to that, she taught me the value of putting my fears and mental into my pocket (as we say in French!) and that when it’s time to show up, we can’t escape. She also taught me that we always have the choice to give the best of ourself. She’s a great teacher, funny, wise and practical.
~ Carole Levy, Executive Coach and Facilitator, Learning as Leadership/A Revolution in your Evolution
Over the past five years, Arina has guided me along a path of both personal and professional development. Key in this journey is the core belief that true courage and leadership come from a foundation of personal awareness and of being true to one’s own values. Through my work with Arina, I have grown to acknowledge and appreciate the collage of experiences, thoughts, and ideas that make me unique. Arina has inspired me – pushing me beyond my comfort zone, encouraging me to take risks, and challenging me to lead from my authentic self.
~ Kathryn Hughes Manager, National Laboratory
Arina is a wonderful guide and coach. She teaches that public speaking is more than a set of tools. It is a way of finding a story within yourself that you connect with – and sharing that connection with an audience. The end result is a powerful dynamic interaction that can be applied to all aspects of ones’ life. She helps you find and create a clear, focused, and passionate way to communicate about who you are and what you stand for in your life
~ Wendy Millet, Director, The Nature Conservancy
I’ve been applying many of Arina’s coaching techniques. When I am selling I remind myself it’s less about the topic, and more about building rapport.
~ Dave Salvator, Client Capabilities Evangelist, Intel
My public speaking anxiety was completely consuming. Now when I’m feeling nervous, I concentrate on learning about the people I face. I try to make a real connection with them. This not only alleviates my nervousness, I also make better and more effective presentations.
~ Annie Barkley, Manager, Amgen, Inc.
I lead a range of professional development workshops across the US and around the world. I was ready to take my leadership to the next level by strengthening a quality that every great leader must have: Presence. Arina is a master of this quality and she taught me how to master it in myself. She called forth in me a powerful voice and a centered presence. I have increased my impact and effectiveness as a leader. This makes a difference for me, and more importantly, it makes a difference to the people who attend my courses.
~ Athena Katsaros, Bpeace Governing Board Member, Faculty Member of the Coaches Training Institute, Leadership and Life Coach
I am amazed how a tiny twist of tone, a pause, or a slowing down the speed while presenting, can produce eye opening effects.
~ Rebecca Bonar, Editor, Wiley Publishing
The coaching isn’t just about learning presentation skills. It’s a real reminder that there are people at the other end of those emails, out in the audience, sitting in that board room and they are likely to be people I need to know.
~ Alice Jen, Senior Research Associate, Amgen, Inc.
Coaching with Arina has given me the skills I need to inhabit my leadership.
~ Fernando Guerrero, Product Manager, Wells Fargo Company
Leading with an open heart effortlessly provides each of us with that intangible ‘leadership presence’ as we each improve someone else’s life and simultaneously provide an example for others.
~ Andre De Vilbiss, Vice President, Bank of America Securities
Arina always adds a dimension to my thinking that is rarely encountered elsewhere in my working world. While I am introspective, Arina challenges me to dig deeper in areas that are uncomfortable but necessary and useful.
~ CIO, Corporate
Arina Isaacson is one of kind. Quite honestly, when I hired her I couldn’t understand the relevance of her background in entertainment and how it might benefit me in coaching. I know now that Arina has brought together her unique collection of skills, talents, and experiences to create a powerful coaching model that delivers results – not only in executive presence and presentation but at a deeply personal level as well. Arina’s strengths are her commitment to growing her clients, a deep reservoir of skills and experience in communication, and her fearless, creative spirit. She will literally take her clients wherever they need to go to achieve their goals. Fearless, funny, talented, bright and committed. Could I say more? Yes, Transformative. I am a much more effective executive and coach for having worked with Arina for the past two years. I continue to work with Arina. I have recommended her for coaching and facilitation and I would do so again.
~ Lora L. Banks, PCC, CPCC, Professional Certified Coach, The Coach Approach
The big lesson from this experience is to treat your audience as ordinary people who are invested in your success. This realization takes all the doubts, inhibitions and preconceived notions about your audience away and provides much-needed self-confidence.
~ Shel Sharma, Computer Engineer, Product Marketing Manager, Secure Computing Corporation
Arina led an intriguing and unusually successful seminar that changed our personal and professional lives. Her approach is uniquely successful because of her background and her style. She connects amazingly with her audience in ways that capture attention and inspire action.
~ Dr. Troy Johnson, Senior Director, West Texas A&M University
Arina has a way of putting people at immediate ease. Through her, I witnessed a transformation in some very conservative graduate students who were able to really reach beyond their comfort zones, to try new communication approaches. She instilled in them an immediate confidence to take a risk. Her energetic, nurturing manner captivated everyone in the room and pulled them into the magic of her presentation. Her enthusiasm for teaching and her artistic approach left everyone inspired and motivated to practice new techniques and skills. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Arina and look forward to having her back soon.
~ Becky Heard, MBA Program Manager, UC Davis
This marvelous teacher, in her gifted open involved caring way, brought a group of us to a place in our lives where we were able to change behaviors and truly connect to one another.
~ Ed Cassidy, Director, Corporate
Arina helped me prepare for an important conference presentation. She provided me great insight and coaching on how to be relaxed, confident and engaging. The presentation was fantastic. I felt poised, articulate and my natural humor shone through.
~ Bob Bates, President, Resolve Today
I now appreciate that the real keys to successful communication are presence and authenticity. No set of fancy speech techniques, masterfully crafted messages, or flashy presentation slides can substitute for real honesty.
~ Vitaliy Bondar, Software Engieer, IBM