Ellina Watanabe
Executive Coach
Ellina is Human Essence and Executive Coach, living her purpose to honour the essence in all and be a gentle and empowering force to bring it forward. She is on a mission to transform leadership narrative from mind-driven to essence-driven.
Ellina believes that intellect, experiences, and skills only inform who we are as individuals and leaders, but the core message ultimately comes from within and it needs to be authentic, aware, and aligned. By not coming face-to-face with our essence and not recognising and owning our limited beliefs, fears, doubts, and worries, we deprive ourselves and people around of the best we can offer them. And our humanness is the absolute richness.
Ellina coaches towards becoming more reflective, self-aware leaders, who in turn create more mindful organisations. With her open, playful mindset and holistic, experiential approach, she embarks coachees on transformational journey where self-awareness and personal insights are developed. By creating the safe, open, and warm space, vulnerability is welcomed, awareness is fostered, and the person is empowered to come alive and actualize their strength of human essence.
Ellina is PhD(c) in Management Sciences, has three business diplomas from three continents and is a Certified Reiki Master & Teacher. She is fluent in English, Russian, Japanese, and French and has a unique international experience to bring to any engagement with more than 10 years in the corporate marketing and entrepreneurial roles.
What do you love about coaching?
I love witnessing evolution along the self-awareness continuum, where one step at a time the client comes into greater level of awareness and empowerment as the light is shed onto unaware spots. Coaching is also strongly meditative and actualizing experience as the client takes charge of self-growth and development by gravitating towards and establishing stronger connection with the inner self. Beyond personal transformation, I genuinely believe that caring for yourself and others has not only positive impact on the organisation but also exponential ricochet effects onto the society.
How do you unwind?
For me coaching is enjoyable and de-stressing process as it allows me not only to give warmth and shed light onto inner world of others, but also to learn more about myself. We learn who we are in relation to others, and coaching is a two-way street. I also enjoy writing at the end of the day: it is a therapeutic process for me to digest and make sense of my learnings and insights from the day. Walks in nature, stretching and yoga, and dancing are some of the ways I get in tune with my body and recenter myself.
What inspired you to work with CTG?
Organisational culture and direction start at the top, where the tone is set and concrete leadership behaviors and actions are displayed. Brad, being the founder, is the core of CTG and its most affirmative ambassador. I have met Brad during one of the workshops and we connected immediately around the topic of human essence and leadership development. Besides Brad’s professional qualifications, his open-mindedness, curiosity, and gentleness inspired me to join his team and carry CTG values into the world.