Always Be Bettering: Democratizing Coaching and Leadership Growth
Ama La Vida CEO Nicole Wood joins Natasha Ozybko to discuss leadership coaching for every career stage, logical risk assessment for career pivots, and structural equity for women
In this thirty-eighth episode of Conversations with MOXY, host Natasha Ozybko chats with Nicole Wood, the CEO and co-founder of Ama La Vida, a leadership and career coaching company. The discussion explores the democratization of professional coaching, the logical dismantling of entrepreneurial fear, and the structural changes necessary to support women in senior leadership.
Democratizing Professional Coaching
Nicole Wood founded Ama La Vida with her partner, Foram Sheth, in 2016 after realizing that high-quality coaching was traditionally reserved only for C-suite executives.
Bridging the Gap: Wood’s mission is to make coaching affordable and accessible for mid-career and early-career professionals.
A Logical Partnership: The firm balances Sheth’s focus on methodology and service delivery with Wood’s background in supply chain management and strategy.
Ama La Vida (Love Life): The name reflects the company’s philosophy that individuals should build fulfilling careers that serve their lifestyle needs rather than waiting until the weekend to enjoy life.
Dismantling the Fear of Career Pivots
A central theme of the episode is overcoming the psychological hurdles of starting a business or making a major career change through logical risk assessment.
Logical Risk Assessment Wood advocates for asking "What is the worst that can happen?"—such as depleting savings or temporarily going without insurance—and building concrete plans to address those outcomes.
Investment in Self She shares the perspective that starting a company is like an "advanced degree," providing an education that makes an individual more marketable even if the venture fails.
Support Circles Wood emphasizes the need for an outside support system or expert who can provide honest feedback that emotional circles, like friends or family, might avoid.
The Business Case for Leadership Training
The conversation highlights that "soft skills" like communication and team motivation are essential drivers of operational success.
Measuring ROI Wood tracks the return on investment through micro-level data (pre/post-coaching 360 scores) and macro-level organizational goals, such as retention and promotion rates for women.
Fixing the "Frozen Middle" Wood notes that "bad managers" often lack malicious intent; they simply haven't been taught how to lead. Organizations must invest in these skill sets just as they do technical skills.
Structural Change for Women To move more women into senior leadership, Wood argues that organizations must move beyond performative events and structurally change policies regarding parental leave, caregiving support, and return-to-office mandates.
Conclusion: Always Be Bettering
Nicole Wood concludes by sharing the future vision for Ama La Vida as a "Happiness Hub"—a partner for growth throughout an individual's entire life journey. Her final advice to leaders is to embrace the discomfort of growth and model it from the top down to create truly inclusive, high-performance cultures.