1 - Great coaches are made. Not born.
With expert guidance and a community that accelerates mastery.
Choosing a coaching school is a partnership with your future self. When it clicks, growth happens faster, deeper, with joy and fulfillment. We might not be the right fit for everyone and that’s a good thing, because when it’s right, your growth accelerates in ways you can’t imagine.
2) Skill first. Art follows.
We build strong technical foundations first, so your humanity and presence can land with impact.
Our philosophy is built on integration. We train technical competence until it’s second nature, so you can stop thinking about the mechanics and fully meet the person in front of you. From there, your art and humanity can emerge naturally.
3) Trained for real life. Not ideal scenarios.
Real sessions are messy. We prepare you for the moments frameworks can’t save you.
We cultivate the presence and mindset that keep you grounded when sessions don’t go as planned, so you can meet difficult clients with confidence while acknowledging – and working with – what is present. Leverage 50 years of combined experience.
4) It takes a village to become an artful coach.
We are the coaches we are because of everyone’s contribution.
When you join COTB, you are not signing up for coach education. You are joining a diverse and global community of coaches and first class instructors that will shape into the coach you are meant to become.
Even the most experienced coaches get stuck. Here’s the unvarnished truth about why becoming artful feels so hard.
Many of us believe coaching brilliance is innate: something you either have or don’t. Waiting to “discover” hidden talent instead of committing to rigorous practice, honest feedback, and deep self-reflection keeps us stuck. Growth accelerates when we step fully into the work, even if it means letting go of the comforting idea that we’re “already enough.”
We dream of presence that feels effortless, of sessions that flow naturally. But skipping the foundations is like building a house without a frame: it will collapse. Without technical mastery, our humanity can land flat or even miss the mark. Artistry only emerges after competence becomes second nature. Until then, our presence wobbles under pressure.
We rehearse “ideal” sessions, memorising perfect questions or relying on frameworks, and fear the messy, unpredictable realities of real humans. Life rarely follows a script. If we aren’t trained to sit with discomfort, we leave ourselves vulnerable exactly when our presence matters most.
Coaching can feel solitary. We undervalue the impact of mentors, peers, and community, thinking we must figure it out ourselves. Artful coaching emerges when we embrace collaboration, feedback, and the collective wisdom around us. The people we surround ourselves with shape us more than we realize.
Struggling isn’t failure: it’s evidence that real growth is happening. With the right environment, guidance, and community, those struggles become leaps of mastery you never imagined possible.
”Coaching is not just a skill, it’s a way of being. And to truly master it, you need guidance, challenge, and a community that stretches you beyond what you think is possible.” — Lucia
Our approach is the product of decades of combined experience, curiosity, and a relentless commitment to cultivating artful coaching. It comes from a deep belief that coaching is both an art and a science, and that true transformation happens when technical competence, human presence, and integrative approaches converge.
That’s why our faculty is deliberately diverse. Each instructor brings a unique specialty: ranging from leadership and organizational dynamics to mindfulness coaching, and neurodivergent coaching. This blend ensures that your learning isn’t just theoretical; it’s practical, multidimensional, and with an immediate impact on your unique style.
By weaving together these complementary perspectives, we provide a comprehensive, nuanced, and real-world approach to elevate your coaching practice. You won’t just learn frameworks. You’ll develop the presence, flow and flexibility that turn skill into artistry.
If you feel like you’re coaching with one eye on your client and the other on an ICF checklist, you aren’t alone. Many coaches come to us feeling scattered and unauthentic. You want the skill level and credibility associated with a credential, but you wonder if that means losing the very intuition and heart that drew you to coaching in the first place.
This doesn’t have to be true. Many programs out there often present coaching as a split: you can either be a technical ‘compliant’ coach and follow one of the coaching models out there, or an artful, effective coach. This forced separation is the root of your frustration. When you try to force compliance without integration, your coaching feels mechanical like if you’re just ticking boxes. It lacks authenticity, and because it lacks authenticity, you lack confidence.
We see the blind spots that keep you stuck: the fear of a ‘failed’ recording, the confusion over marker expectations, and the overwhelm of the portfolio path. But the biggest ‘spell’ we want to break is the idea that the competencies are a cage. They aren’t. They are the skeleton that allows your humanity to stand tall. You don’t have a lack of talent; you have a lack of integration.
You are a coach who is tired of the industry’s status quo and ready to embrace a deeper, more integrated path to mastery. You will find your home here if:
1. You refuse the "Checklist" mentality
You recognize that true mastery (ACC, PCC, or MCC) goes beyond merely ticking boxes. You seek to fully embody the ICF Core Competencies so they become a second, intuitive language, allowing you to coach with both elegance and structure.
2. You See Your Coaching as an Art
You believe your unique voice, intuition, and personal philosophy are your greatest professional assets, not liabilities you need to suppress. You are looking for a program that gives you a rigorous technical framework but actively encourages you to infuse it with your own soul and humanity.
3. You Value Depth Over Speed (Integration over Volume)
You understand that deep, sustainable growth requires a foundation, not a shortcut. You are committed to the process of integration, recognizing that this work takes time, intention, and repetition. You want a clear roadmap that reduces the “scattered” feeling, but you are not looking for a superficial “get-credentialed-quick” scheme.
4. You are Committed to Ethical Mastery (The Bigger Why)
You want your professional success to contribute to a broader wave of positive impact of coaching in the world. You reject quick fixes and insist that your growth must be guided by ethics, effectiveness, and humanity. You want to build a profitable business that feels good to you and aligned to your core values.
5. You Crave Authentic Community
You thrive in a community that is deeply supportive, challenging, and professional. You are ready to show up, be vulnerable, and collaborate with peers who are equally dedicated to professional excellence and personal growth.
To save you valuable time, we need to be clear about who our approach is not designed for. You will likely be frustrated here if:
1. You Only Want the Fastest Path
Your primary goal is to get the ICF credential in the absolute minimum time required. You view coaching solely as a transactional skill and are satisfied with surface-level competence without exploring the “why” or the art of the practice.
2. You Want a Rigid Script or Framework
You are looking for a highly prescriptive, step-by-step script for every coaching scenario. Our training provides clear frameworks and structure, but we expect you to show up, think critically, and use your judgment, rather than relying on rote memorization.
3. You Believe Competence and Authenticity Are Separate
You think that being professional means masking your personality, or that deep personal growth is irrelevant to your coaching practice. We believe your professional journey and personal development are inseparable, and that your integrity is the foundation of your skill.
4. You Resist Practice, Peer Feedback or Community
You prefer to learn in isolation and resist the messy, human work of engaging in feedback, practice, and collaborative reflection. Our community-based approach relies heavily on mutual support and relational learning.
If you read this page while nodding, you feel both excited by the challenge and relieved to find a like-minded community, then we are likely a great fit.
We’ve organised our best resources to help you get started right away.
Hello, I’m Maria, an ICF Professional Certified Coach, Trainer, Facilitator, and Mindfulness Teacher. My superpower is empathetic joy, and I genuinely thrive when contributing to others’ well-being and success.
With a Master’s in Computer Science, specializing in Artificial Intelligence, and expertise as a Senior Agile Coach, I’ve supported organizations through transformations, acquisitions, and rapid growth in the AI and e-commerce industries.
Beyond the technical realm, I’m a Registered Yoga Teacher and Mindfulness Meditation Teacher. My true passion lies in providing holistic support to individuals and teams, enabling self-fulfillment and sustainable change.
I am Italian and have had the privilege of calling Barcelona and Berlin home. Currently, I am based in London.
I co-founded The Mindful Facilitator Certification Program.
I am a multilingual Life Coach, Facilitator, and Mental Health First Aider passionate about helping people move from stuckness and uncertainty into clarity, confidence, and purpose. I’m based in France, and I work in English, French, and sometimes in Spanish.
I trained with the MOE Foundation and I’m currently on the ICF PCC pathway. I’ve coached individuals across industries and continents, with a strong focus on emotional well-being, neurodiversity, and meaningful life transitions.
With a background in International Business and a deep love of learning, I’ve lived, volunteered, traveled, and contributed to development programs globally. I’ve facilitated coaching certification courses, supported students at the University of Oxford, and spoken on international stages and podcasts about resilience and recovery.
