Dr. Leah B. Mazzola
PhD, PCC, NBC-HWC, BCC
Here to create spaces, at every age and stage, where beliefs can be examined before they harden, so we lead with tools instead of conclusions.
Fourteen years of coaching, thirteen years building evidence-based coaching programs, and a career that has run through insurance leadership, high school classrooms, a university success coaching team, and a coach training institute I founded. Open to coaching or mentoring leadership, talent development, quality assurance, psychology instruction, applied behavioral science, and human-AI integration roles.
Rigor and heart, on purpose
I lead coaches, and I build the systems that make great coaching repeatable. For 13 years, I’ve led Youth Coaching Institute, an ICF- and CCE-accredited coach training organization where I’ve trained, mentored, and credentialed 800+ coaches with a 98 to 100% certification success rate. That number comes from a competency framework I designed, a supervision and evaluation model grounded in research, and a mentor coaching practice built to help coaches see their own work clearly.
What I care about most is the person developing on the other side of the process. Whether I’m coaching a student who is one hard week from stopping out, supervising a coach through their first difficult session, or leading a team through a change nobody asked for, the work is the same: create the conditions where people can be honest about where they are and still believe in where they’re going. That belief is personal. I grew up navigating all ten adverse childhood experiences and built a thriving adult life on the other side, earning three degrees while working full-time and raising four children as a first-generation college student. Developmental relationships made the difference, and I built YCI so more people would have them.
I thrive where structure doesn’t yet exist. Turning messy workflows into repeatable ones and setting evidence-based quality standards is how I’ve built everything at YCI: rigorous underneath, human on the surface. We are not defined by our adversity, but by what we choose to do despite it. That’s what I bring to every coach, student, and team I lead.
Top five CliftonStrengths
Top five VIA character strengths
Approach
Person-centered, pragmatic, and evidence-based. I work to strengthen a person's relationship with, and power to influence, themselves, others, and their environment through care, connection, and skills.
Open to the right role
Full-time roles where the work is developing people and the systems that develop them.
Roles I am open to
Leading coaching and mentoring teams and programs: hiring, training, supervision, KPIs, and the culture that keeps practitioners effective.
Designing and running learning, development, and performance systems that measurably grow people and results.
Teaching psychology and applied behavioral science in higher education, from introductory courses to professional training.
Translating research into practice: program design, evaluation, and evidence-based interventions in education, health, and workforce settings.
Building evaluation standards, session monitoring, and feedback systems that make quality measurable and repeatable across a team.
Leading the people side of AI adoption: product design that keeps humans in the loop, and the change work that helps teams adapt when roles shift.
Five strengths, six contexts, fourteen years
I asked for a thematic analysis of every piece of feedback I could gather on my work: performance reviews, LinkedIn recommendations, client reviews, student surveys, peer recognition, and handwritten notes. Each item was open-coded, grouped into themes, and weighted by frequency, depth, source diversity, and explicit outcomes. Five strengths held across every context.
Makes science usable
Grounds every program, session, and answer in evidence, then translates it into something a person can use the same day. The knowledge is deep; it arrives in plain, usable form.
Three quotes
- "I decided to train with YCI because it was the only one with a solid scientific basis, which I believe is crucial from an ethical perspective."Coach trainee, two certifications, public review, 2025
- "They didn't just tell us what to do, they explained the neurological and psychological foundations that support the YCI model of coaching. We learned both the art and science of coaching."Veteran teacher and athletic coach, public review, 2022
- "Asking a simple question gets a thorough, detailed answer that one would never expect, quoting case law and providing us with the tools for success."Direct report, insurance claims, 2017
Develops people past where they thought they could go
Knows each person as an individual, adapts to how they learn, sets clear goals, and gives feedback that is on-target without being harsh. People cite the growth years later.
Three quotes
- "I have learned more from Leah during our time together than all of my previous years under multiple different supervisors. There are 7 of us on Leah's team, and she has taken the time to get to know each of us as individuals."Direct report, insurance claims, 2017
- "The Life Coaching Program was pivotal for me. I still use the skills daily even after being moved to another unit."Direct report, insurance claims, 2018
- "I have learned how to be my own coach."Adult coaching client
Creates a safe, calm, nonjudgmental space
People report feeling seen, steadied, and free to ask for help. The mechanisms they name are patience, a calm pace, normalizing stress, and never feeling judged.
Three quotes
- "Leah's personality lends itself to be structured and direct all the while being a soft place to land, which is exactly what my daughter needed as she transitioned into high school."Parent of a 14-year-old client
- "You taught us that it is okay to ask for help, even if it is scary to think that we need help."High school psychology students, handwritten letter
- "Leah, thank you for being a trusted coworker and someone I can talk to safely, honestly, and openly."Peer coach, university, 2026
Builds systems that outlast her involvement
Designs programs, curricula, accreditation systems, and training structures that other organizations adopt and that keep working after she moves on.
Three quotes
- "She made an outstanding impact on our organization by integrating and creating systems that ensured we were meeting ICF accreditation standards. She not only built the structures we needed but also worked closely with our incoming Director of Education, training and equipping her to step confidently into the role."Director, partner coaching institute, 2025
- "Leah's curriculum has been critical in supporting new coaches on our team in helping them sync into ICF competencies."Health coaching leader, partner organization, 2025
- "Leah designed a Cross-Functional Training Development program, which is being used as an underpinning to improved Quality Assurance results."Manager, annual performance review, 2016
Walks the talk
Lived experience shared deliberately, visible integrity, and commitment that shows up in every detail, including when it goes unrecognized.
Three quotes
- "Because of her own life journey, she truly wants to help improve the lives of young people who may have no other access to caring guidance. She doesn't just talk the talk, she walks it."Coach trainee and ICF-certified coach, 2018
- "Dr. Leah brings a rare, soulful quality to this work, and it shows up at every single level of her organization."Nonprofit executive director and program graduate, 2026
- "Listening to my success coach's similar experiences made me feel like I'm not alone while doing school work and working a full time job with adult responsibilities."University student, session survey, 2026
Structure and warmth, from the same person
What people describe as rare is not rigor alone or warmth alone. It is both, delivered at the same time by the same person. Clients name it as the reason coaching worked. Managers call it strategy and heart. Trainees call it evidence and grace. It is the Care, Connection, and Skills framework I teach, reflected back from the outside.
How different people describe the same combination
Where each strength shows up
A strength that appears in one setting might describe the job. A strength that appears in every setting describes the person.
| Strength | Claims leadership | High school teaching | Coaching clients | Coach training | Partner organizations | University coaching |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Makes science usable | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Develops people | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Safe, calm space | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Builds lasting systems | Yes | Not observed | Not observed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Walks the talk | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Sources: 56 public reviews of YCI training (2021 to 2026), 20 LinkedIn recommendations (2012 to 2026), 29 direct coaching client reviews, 13 peer recognitions (2025 to 2026), an insurance performance review and senior leader note (2016 to 2018), 4 student and graduate notes, and roughly 140 student survey comments (2025 to 2026). Every source is positively selected by nature; this analysis identifies what people consistently value and cannot surface weaknesses. Attribution is by role and year; names have been removed.
The record behind the feedback
A condensed timeline. The full resume is available on request.
Student Success Coach
Individual and group coaching for a diverse student population, with a focus on engagement, confidence, and self-regulated learning skills. Tableau data and pacing guides inform strategy; motivational interviewing drives the sessions.
- 316 course completions against a target of 300 (FY2026, rated Exceeds)
- 40% average monthly coach utilization against a 30% target, exceeded all 11 months measured (rated Outstanding)
- Academy Coaching Leadership Award for leading an evidence-based coach impact meeting that strengthened coach resilience and team culture
- 98%+ student survey agreement on empowerment, accountability, and partnership across nine months
- Literature reviews of evidence-based coaching in higher education, delivered as a workshop to the coaching team; an approved proposal for Student Success Coaching Best Practices
Founder, CEO, and Director of Education
Built a psychology-based, research-informed coach training company from the ground up, serving professionals worldwide through synchronous and asynchronous distance learning. Lead a virtual team of 15 faculty, evaluators, and mentor coaches.
- 800+ coaches trained and certified across ICF- and CCE-accredited programs; 98% internal and 100% board certification success rates
- Authored more than 100 behavioral science lessons spanning well-being science, lifestyle medicine for adolescents, motivational interviewing, learning science, and academic coaching
- Own the ICF (ACSTH and Level 1) and CCE accreditation relationships through successive renewal cycles
- Designed a 10-hour mentor coaching education course for the ICF's 2027 mentor coaching requirements
- Consultant to Wake Forest University School of Medicine (in-house coach training and coach KPIs for staff coaches serving medical students), Fostering Success Coach Training (two terms as Interim Director of Education, securing an ICF accreditation upgrade), and Future Coach (in-house coach training program design and pilot)
Board Certified Coach
Evidence-based 1:1 coaching for teens, young adults, professionals, and leaders, combining coaching psychology with health and wellness science. Contracted coach for BetterUp, Lyra Health, and Modern Health.
- Through BetterUp: 94% of members opted into five or more sessions within 90 days; 81% rated sessions as life changing or amazing
- Assessments and debriefs including MBTI, Strong Interest Inventory, CliftonStrengths, VIA, and Job Crafting
Educator
Developed and taught AP and IB Diploma Programme psychology, then taught college learning strategies to early-college students in an under-resourced Dallas ISD high school.
Casualty Claims Manager
Led casualty claims teams through the full performance cycle: hiring, training, quality assurance, and performance management. Rated Outstanding in 2016 for results and for individual and group development: introduced talent development initiatives, designed a cross-functional training program adopted to improve quality assurance, and spearheaded a career pathing and talent development track. Earned a PhD during the same review period.
Early career: claims and financial services
Claims adjusting and specialist roles across three carriers, preceded by lending and training roles at a credit union. This is where the habits of investigation, analysis, and evaluation were built, and where I first trained and developed other people's work.
Four products, one principle: the human layer comes first
I build software when the structure a team needs doesn't exist yet. Each of these started as a workflow problem I was living with, and each was designed to scale quality without removing the person doing the work. The technology was never the hard part. Designing for the fear, identity shifts, and skill changes people go through when their work changes was.
Docira
Training management platform for coach training organizations. Student portals, cohort tracking, certification progress, mentor coaching schedules, training agreements, payments, and an AI assistant that answers student questions in the program's own voice.
Critara
AI-powered ICF competency evaluation for coaches. Scores recorded sessions against the ICF competency markers and gives evaluators structured feedback to review. A human evaluator stays in the loop by design.
Claros
Brief, solution-focused AI coaching for ages 14 to 30, and an evidence-based strategy library for certified coaches. Built around ICF competencies, cognitive behavioral and acceptance-based frameworks, and a session arc with a proper close.
PoliPoll Router
End-to-end survey operations platform for a market research firm. Creates supplier entry links, routes each respondent to the right survey, tracks every outcome, and returns them to their supplier. Includes a hosted survey builder with six question types, skip and termination logic, nested quotas, trap and speeder checks, question templates, live metrics, and Excel exports with a codebook.
What the four have in common: a clear role for the human in every workflow, quality standards written into the system rather than left to memory, and a design that lets a small team do the work of a larger one. That is also how I would lead AI integration inside someone else's organization.
Education, credentials, and training
Education
- MBA, Western Governors University (in progress)
- PhD, Psychology, Forensic Psychology specialization, Walden University
- BS, Criminal Justice Administration, University of Phoenix
- AA, Criminal Justice, University of Phoenix
Board certifications and ICF
- Professional Certified Coach (PCC), International Coaching Federation
- National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC)
- Board Certified Coach (BCC), Center for Credentialing and Education, Personal/Life and Career specializations
- ICF Mentor Coaching Specialization (MCS) and ICF Qualified Mentor Coach
- ICF PCC Marker Assessor Training
Selected certifications and continuing education
- Lifestyle Medicine Coach and Certified Health and Well-being Coach, Wellcoaches
- Certified Academic Life Coach; Certified Group Coach; Certified Laser Coach
- Practical Instructional Design, Arizona State University
- Mental Health First Aid, National Council for Behavioral Health
- Cognitive Behavioral Coaching, Acceptance and Commitment Coaching, Mental Health Coaching, and evidence-based strategies for anxiety and depression, Lyra Health
- Project Management, Business Leadership, AI Skills Fundamentals, and Digital Marketing certificates, WGU
What I have authored
An original theoretical framework underpinning YCI's approach to youth coaching: potential is realized in the reciprocal relationship between a person, the people around them, and their environment.
The core YCI framework guiding coaching practice and program design. The feedback analysis above found the same three elements in how people describe my own work.
A proprietary competency model for coach training and evaluation, aligned to ICF and CCE standards and used across YCI's certification programs.
Chapter in The Family Life Coaching Handbook, Farr Publishing, 2025.
Self-published, 2019.
Doctoral dissertation, ScholarWorks, 2016.
Services
Alongside full-time work, I take on a limited number of training, consulting, and speaking engagements.
Coach training
ICF- and CCE-accredited youth coaching certifications through Youth Coaching Institute, plus mentor coaching for ACC and PCC candidates.
Coaching and training consulting
In-house coach training programs, coach KPIs, quality assurance systems, and accreditation for universities, health systems, and coaching organizations.
AI product consulting
Designing and building AI tools that keep humans in the loop and augment the people doing the work rather than replace them, from product scope through the rollout that teams accept.
Speaking and workshops
Evidence-based coaching, youth resilience, and applied behavioral science for educators, parents, and coaching teams.