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THE TOP STORYTELLING COACHES
Have you ever wondered what makes a story truly unforgettable? It’s not just about words on a page or slides in a presentation—it’s about weaving together emotions, insights, and authenticity to create a narrative that resonates deeply with your audience.
In the world of storytelling, mastering this art can open doors to new opportunities, whether you’re pitching a startup, writing a novel, or sharing your personal journey.
In this article, we’ve tapped into the expertise of top storytelling coaches who specialize in guiding individuals like you toward crafting compelling narratives.
From decoding the essence of a story to infusing authenticity into every word, these coaches bring unique insights and strategies that can elevate your storytelling game to new heights.
Do you think you or a coach that you know deserves to be featured as a top storytelling coach? If yes, then fill out this form and we will consider your application and get in touch with you for the next steps.
In Brief : The Top Storytelling Coaches
- Gabriela – Gi is a queer, nonbinary, first generation Mexican-American photographer, filmmaker and story coach helping their clients connect with communities and opportunities through messaging strategy.
- Ara Grigorian – Ara Grigorian, a USA Today Bestselling author and experienced coach, helps writers uncover the heart of their stories, drawing on over a decade of industry experience and a keen understanding of reader expectations.
- Anna McAfee – Anna McAfee, the founder of the #linkedinlocal movement, specializes in building communities both online and offline, coaching individuals and brands to establish networks that foster connection and belonging.
- Anna McAfee – Anna McAfee, a pioneer in community building and social impact, co-authored ‘How a Hashtag Changed The World’ and founded the #linkedinlocal movement, fostering offline connections from online networks across 100 cities and 96 countries.
- Patricia Chica – Patricia Chica, a renowned filmmaker and chi energy educator, pioneers a transformative approach to storytelling coaching, bridging metaphysical concepts with practical techniques to enhance creativity and communication skills.
- Matteo Cassese – Matteo Cassese, a business storytelling coach, combines a humanistic approach with a deep understanding of technology and business, helping individuals and organizations craft compelling narratives for presentations and meetings.
- Michael McRay – Michael McRay, an award-winning author and Certified Experiential Coach, specializes in storytelling and conflict resolution, guiding individuals through transformative journeys of self-discovery and reconciliation.
- Melissa Reaves – Melissa Reaves, a professional storyteller and sales expert, empowers individuals to find and tell impactful stories that resonate with audiences, drawing on her extensive experience in technology sales and professional acting.
- Debbie Weil – Debbie Weil, a podcaster and nonfiction writing coach, leverages her background in tech, online marketing, and storytelling to guide clients in crafting compelling narratives that engage and inspire.
- Bobby Umar – Bobby Umar, an inspirational speaker and leadership advocate, empowers individuals to harness the power of storytelling to become more impactful and influential leaders.
- Jay Golden – Jay Golden, a storytelling expert with a background in web learning and entertainment, helps leaders navigate the complexities of storytelling in the digital age.
- Jan Blake – Jan Blake, a leading storyteller with over twenty-five years of experience, captivates audiences with dynamic and generous storytelling rooted in African, Caribbean, and Arabian traditions.
- Ira Koretsky – Ira Koretsky, the founder of The Chief Storyteller®, brings decades of experience in storytelling and public speaking to his coaching practice, helping individuals and organizations craft compelling narratives that drive engagement and influence.
- Dave Walker – Dave Walker, a coach and storyteller, inspires and empowers clients to make positive changes in their lives through storytelling and coaching.
- Jyoti Guptara – Jyoti Guptara, a bestselling author and storytelling expert, specializes in helping leaders and companies tell compelling stories that inspire and engage audiences.
Gabriela
Gi is a queer, nonbinary, first generation Mexican-American photographer, filmmaker and story coach helping their clients connect with communities and opportunities through messaging strategy. Since producing stories on community health while getting their BA in Journalism, Gi has used storytelling to evolve narratives and preserve culture; they often emphasize the contributions of decolonial, cultural workers to activism, holistic wellness, sustainable fashion, and creative entrepreneurship.
What do you do differently, or how is your coaching different from others?
I approach coaching through a decolonial and trauma-informed lens, which means co-building impactful storylines for my clients’ campaigns and projects that help decolonize both their industries and personal narratives. I believe in sharing stories as a vehicle to connecting with communities and aligning with quality opportunities.
I also help clients foster compassion and claim the power of their lived experiences. Through my Constellation Mapping technique, clients have managed to draw a mycelial connection between their personal stories and larger cultural narratives. This provides clients with insight into their unique strengths, values and how they feel most empowered to foster change.
What according to you has been the single most important thing that has contributed to your success as a coach?
As a story coach, it has been critical for me to anchor the value and impact of storytelling into my program and sessions. I constantly address the importance of independent storytelling in a world of propaganda and media biases. My guidance being impactful highly depends on there being a conviction that the role of authentic truth-telling is crucial to change on a personal, spiritual and political level.
Ara Grigorian
Ara Grigorian is a USA Today Bestselling author whose novels include the international award-winning Game of Love, and Fortuny Bay series. When not devising hopefully-ever-after stories, he helps writers find the heart of their story by identifying and improving on the elements that make books unputdownable. Ara has had the privilege of leading countless workshops at some of the most prestigious writers’ conferences and has coached hundreds of writers
What do you do differently, or how is your coaching different from others?
Ara is an active, award-winning author, continually publishing successful novels. Additionally, he has been in the literary industry for over a decade. Therefore, because he has seen the transformation of the industry, he brings relevant and timely advice. Finally, because he is also an executive in the entertainment industry for nearly two decades, he incorporates the mindset of the current generation of readers, and what they expect and desire in their sources of entertainment. His workshops converge on where the best elements of movies intersect with exceptional writing.
What according to you has been the single most important thing that has contributed to your success as a coach?
The single most important thing would be the implementation of character transformation in the context of a story arc. He incorporates a holistic view of story in his coaching. The goal is to help the client produce the best work possible by focusing on the elements of story: the arc, the character, the motivations, the story beats, and the payoffs. If the story doesn’t touch the heart of the reader, then there is no resonance. No resonance, and the story is forgotten. He aims for timeless experiences.
Anna McAfee
Patricia Chica, an acclaimed filmmaker, chi energy educator, and coach, is on a mission to merge storytelling, higher consciousness, and performance in the film/TV and entertainment industry. As a sought-after instructor, she has empowered countless actors, celebrities, and industry professionals. Through personalized training, global Chi Energy workshops, engaging talks at film festivals and academia, and various online platforms, Chica has enlightened individuals about harnessing the power of mind, body, and spirit for enhanced creativity, overcoming limiting beliefs, and manifesting desired outcomes faster through simple energy techniques anyone can learn. As recently featured in the LA Times. Chica just released her groundbreaking directorial debut, MONTRÉAL GIRLS, where both the cast and crew received coaching from her, setting a new standards and practices in the film industry’s landscape.
What do you do differently, or how is your coaching different from others?
With state-of-the-art techniques that bridge chi and mindset strategies, I coach leaders to elevate their impact both behind and in front of the camera. My approach sets new standards in the film industry as it simplifies metaphysical concepts, providing accessible techniques to expand creativity, communication skills, and intuition. As a clairvoyant and clairsentient, I design a rigorous training program that harnesses intuition, energy awareness, and mindfulness, to eliminate blocks in the nervous system and subconscious mind. Through accountability follow-ups, outcomes surpass expectations. The stretch occurs at the core level, addressing inner and outer energy balance that accelerates desired RESULTS.
What according to you has been the single most important thing that has contributed to your success as a coach?
Since the release of my film MONTRÉAL GIRLS, where audiences witnessed the profound impact of my coaching, I have been humbled by the increasing demand for my services. Through heartfelt recommendations and generous media coverage, my reputation has gradually spread. Guiding a new, untrained actor through a year-long program I carefully crafted, I witnessed his incredible growth—a performance brimming with empowerment, authenticity, and self-assurance. This transformative journey extended beyond the lead actor, touching the cast and crew, whom I also trained with my method.
Anna McAfee
Anna McAfee is a Community Educator, Connection Coach and Co-Author of ‘How a Hashtag Changed The World.’ Anna founded the #linkedinlocal movement in 2017, an initiative to take our online connection offline that spread to over 100 cities in 96 countries in its first two years. She helps people and brands build communities and LinkedIn campaigns for social good.
What do you do differently, or how is your coaching different from others?
I work with people to help build networks that have the capacity to build connection and belonging for themselves and others. My Build Your Virtual Village program coaches people to build a network to support them throughout their entire career and establish communities and campaigns that support both short and long-term client goals.
What according to you has been the single most important thing that has contributed to your success as a coach?
One thing that has been critical for me in my work is a solid understanding of how connection is formed and built in both the online and offline world. Networks are complex and understanding the principles of digital body language, online leadership and community building is central to bringing out the best in my clients.
Patricia Chica
Patricia Chica, an acclaimed filmmaker, chi energy educator, and coach, is on a mission to merge storytelling, higher consciousness, and performance in the film/TV and entertainment industry. As a sought-after instructor, she has empowered countless actors and industry professionals. Through personalized training, global Chi Energy workshops, engaging talks at film festivals and academia, and various online platforms, Chica has enlightened individuals about harnessing the power of mind, body, and spirit for enhanced creativity, overcoming limiting beliefs, and manifesting desired outcomes faster through simple techniques energy anyone can learn.
As recently featured in the LA Times. Chica just released her groundbreaking directorial debut, MONTRÉAL GIRLS, where both the cast and crew received coaching from her, setting a new standards and practices in the film industry’s landscape.
What do you do differently, or how is your coaching different from others?
With state-of-the-art techniques that bridge chi and mindset strategies, I coach leaders to elevate their impact both behind and in front of the camera. My approach sets new standards in the film industry as it simplifies metaphysical concepts, providing accessible techniques to expand creativity, communication skills, and intuition. As a clairvoyant and clairsentient, I design a rigorous training program that harnesses intuition, energy awareness, and mindfulness, to eliminate blocks in the nervous system and subconscious mind. Through accountability follow-ups, outcomes surpass expectations. The stretch occurs at the core level, addressing inner and outer energy balance that accelerates desired RESULTS.
What according to you has been the single most important thing that has contributed to your success as a coach?
Since the release of my film MONTRÉAL GIRLS, where audiences witnessed the profound impact of my coaching, I have been humbled by the increasing demand for my services. Through heartfelt recommendations and generous media coverage, my reputation has gradually spread. Guiding a new, untrained actor through a year-long program I carefully crafted, I witnessed his incredible growth—a performance brimming with empowerment, authenticity, and self-assurance. This transformative journey extended beyond the lead actor, touching the cast and crew, whom I also trained with my method. For those interested, I have shared the coaching process in a documentary available on my Vimeo channel.
Matteo Cassese
Matteo Cassese is a business storytelling coach who transforms hard facts and figures into captivating narratives, aiding in preparation for meetings, presentations, and talks, and alleviating anxiety. As a facilitator and public speaking expert, Matteo supports individuals and organizations in reaching their communication goals. His experience spans managing digital marketing for multinational companies like Warner Bros., teaching at university and consulting for digital unicorns like Netflix.
What do you do differently, or how is your coaching different from others?
Matteo combines a strong humanistic approach with a deep understanding of technology and business. He’s gone to the root of how stories define us as humans. C-suite executives, Managers, Scientists, Researchers, and Academics have applied his signature business storytelling methodology. His ability to combine theory, practice, content & delivery is unparalleled.
What according to you has been the single most important thing that has contributed to your success as a coach?
Cassese’s strength is creating a warm, gentle, and understanding relationship that leads to open debate, profound reflection, and quick learning. His ability to facilitate shifts in the coachee’s mindset put him at the forefront of business storytelling coaches.
Michael McRay
Michael McRay is an award-winning author, Certified Experiential Coach, and the founder of Becoming Restoried. Becoming Restoried is an experiential coaching program, made up of an online membership community and in-person solo intensives, that aims to guide people toward a reconciliation with their life stories.
Michael work in storytelling the last ten years has covered everything from entertainment to organizational development to empathy-building to peace-building and more. He’s a sought-after speaker and widely-regarded facilitator.
What do you do differently, or how is your coaching different from others?
I work with individuals at a unique intersection: storytelling and conflict resolution. I combine my expertise in both to help people excavate their life stories with curiosity and compassion, while tending to the fires of conflict within and around them. I use highly experiential modalities and base my programming on what I see as the three C’s of personal transformation: Content for growth, a Community of Support, and Coaching from a Guide.
What according to you has been the single most important thing that has contributed to your success as a coach?
The single most impactful thing that as aided my work as a storytelling coach is my relentless investigation and excavation of my own story. I actually do the deep work that I’m guiding others into. There is nothing I ask my clients to do that I haven’t not already done myself. I tell my clients that while I do have numerous credentials, degrees, and certifications, my greatest credential is my humanity. Because I’ve walked the hard road of reconciling with my own stories, and there is nowhere I’m afraid to go with my clients to help them do the same.
Melissa Reaves
Melissa Reaves is a professional and award-winning storyteller and a storytelling coach to executives to i. Her sales and marketing background includes more than 20 years in technology enterprise sales, as well as countless stage credits as a professional actor/improviser. This combination of sales, marketing, acting, writing, directing and producing storytelling shows, ultimately led her to found Story Fruition to help others find and tell their stories–with impact.
Debbie Weil
A Harvard graduate, Debbie Weil is a podcaster and nonfiction writing & storytelling coach (as well as developmental editor). She is a tech pioneer, having worked online since the early 1990s, and was formerly an online marketing consultant. She is the creator and host of the [B]OLDER podcast which focuses on aging and reinvention and making the most of growing older.
And she is the founder and director of Island Women Speak, a Moth-like, intergenerational evening of storytelling by Maine women ages 20 to 80.
Bobby Umar
Bobby Umar is an inspirational speaker, coach, and one of the most prolific advocates of heart-based leadership in North America. Inc Magazine named him one of the Top 100 Leadership Speakers, alongside such noteworthy giants as Richard Branson, Brené Brown and John Maxwell. Bobby is a 5x TEDx speaker, and one of the top social media influencers in the world, with over half a million followers.
He has been named the “2nd Best Business Coach to Follow” on Twitter and the “4th Best Leadership Influencer” according to Kred. Bobby is an author of three international books, including a #1 Best Seller. He is also a frequent Huffington Post contributor and he is the host of a weekly tweetchat called “The Power of Connection” that has reached over 65 million impressions weekly. To date, his social media influence has garnered over 1 billion impressions. Bobby was also named a “2015 Speaker to Watch” and most recently, he was named a “Top 7 Networking Guru to Follow”.
Jay Golden
Our journey to catalyzing effective, memorable storytelling began in Saul’s Deli in Berkeley, California, when two storytellers, Jay Golden and Joel ben Izzy, talked over lunch. Both had been long at work supporting leaders who were innovating how our world works, from the food we eat, to the energy we use, to the homes in which we live.
The world was moving so quickly, and the information river was ever-expanding. Jay had been working at the convergence of web learning and entertainment for many years, and observed new media forms emerging each day to deliver this information. Joel had traveled the world telling stories and connecting audiences near and far. Together, they both knew that there was a good way to help leaders ride this river, something at once both very ancient and yet very able to travel into the future: the retellable story.
Jan Blake
As one of the leading storytellers, Jan Blake has been performing worldwide for over twenty-five years. Specialising in stories from Africa, the Caribbean, and Arabia, she has a well-earned reputation for dynamic and generous storytelling. Recent highlights include Hay Festival, where she was storyteller in-residence, the Viljandi Harvest Festival in Estonia and TEDx Warsaw.
As well as performing at all the major storytelling festivals both nationally and internationally, she works regularly with the British Council, leads storytelling workshops for emerging storytellers, and gives masterclasses for teachers, brands, and businesses. She also regularly captivates school children with mesmerising stories.
Ira Koretsky
Hello. My name is Ira Koretsky (bio). I am the founder and CEO of The Chief Storyteller ® and I have been in the world of storytelling since I was in high school debate. Three years after starting forensics (that’s what it was called back then), I was a New York State debate champion finalist. There were just 26 of us from the entire state.
A life-long foundational lesson came from our debate coach and our storytelling coach, Mr. Height. He stressed… and made us appreciate… the power of effective stories and appreciate the power of effective delivery. They went hand-in-hand.
Dave Walker
I would now like to help others make positive changes in their lives as well
I am hoping that through my COACHING and STORYTELLING (writing and speaking) that I can both INSPIRE and EMPOWER my clients to make positive changes in their lives Changes that will allow them to also lead more fulfilling lives, whatever that may mean to them.
Jyoti Guptara
Many leaders intuitively know the power of Storytelling, but their MBA didn’t teach them how to tell stories people want to hear. After studying story structure for 15 years and writing bestsellers, I’m passionate about helping leaders and companies tell stories so that they are sustainably more inspired, inspiring, and effective.
Conclusion
As you explore the wisdom and strategies shared by these exceptional storytelling coaches, remember that storytelling isn’t just about words—it’s about connecting, inspiring, and transforming.
Whether you’re a seasoned writer, a budding entrepreneur, or simply someone looking to communicate more effectively, the guidance from these coaches will empower you to craft narratives that leave a lasting impact.
Embrace their expertise, nurture your storytelling skills, and embark on a journey where every story you tell becomes a powerful force for connection and change.
Our highest-rated course lays the necessary foundations for this for you. This is a paid course but you can register for FREE for a limited time here.
Do you think you or a coach that you know deserves to be featured as a top storytelling coach? If yes, then fill out this form and we will consider your application and get in touch with you for the next steps.
ABOUT SAI BLACKBYRN
I’m Sai Blackbyrn, better known as “The Coach’s Mentor.” I help Coaches like you establish their business online. My system is simple: close more clients at higher fees. You can take advantage of technology, and use it as a catalyst to grow your coaching business in a matter of weeks; not months, not years. It’s easier than you think.
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