Thousands of ICF Coaches and Chapters regularly engage in pro bono work with social impact organizations around the world. The ICF Foundation’s Council of Ambassadors is a group of 18 volunteers who work alongside those ICF chapters and members. They are strong, experienced leaders who ignite passion for social progress through coaching and who communicate the mission of the ICF Foundation.  This month our Council of Ambassadors Spotlight features Dr. Uttara Pattanaik, PCC, and Shruti Sonthalia, PCC who work in the Asia Pacific region.

Dr. Uttara Pattanaik:

Dr. Uttara Pattanaik, a Ph.D. in Medical Sciences, is an accomplished industry leader, a strategic leadership consultant, an ICF credentialed Executive and Leadership Coach (PCC), a mentor coach, and a personal mastery expert. She also has served as a Board member for the ICF Delhi/NCR Chapter where she was the Vice–President and was the Director of CSR 2016-2019. Uttara serves on the Board of National Coaching Council under Women’s Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industries (WICCI).

During her 23 years in senior leadership positions, Uttara has connected strategic leadership to personal mastery and mindfulness. She has given a new definition and meaning to leadership and strategy, energizing people to make it an integral part of their life regardless of roles or levels. Uttara is committed to humanize leadership and change the global leadership landscape by creating inspiring leaders and influencers who can produce a ripple effect in their ecosystem and society.

Two of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are of great interest to Uttara—Goal 4 (Education) and Goal 5 (Gender Equality).  “I strongly believe that education gives you clarity of thought,” Uttara explains. “Since educators are uniquely positioned to create ripple effect in the society, I sincerely believe that through coaching the educators and the key decision-makers in the sphere of education we can inspire and enable them to excel in their work (…policy, …content, …methodology, ….etc.) and create a better world, a better tomorrow.”

Her thoughts on Gender Equality are just as focused. “…Gender equality starts from self. No one can serve me equality if I do not choose to be equal. And to be equal, one has to feel equal first. And to feel equal, one has to feel secured first. And to feel secured, one has to be self-aware and connect with their inner power. Coaching can do wonders to enable people to connect with their inner power and unleash their potential.”

Shruti Sonthalia:

Shruti Sonthalia is a leadership development consultant, facilitator, coach educator and executive coach (PCC, ICF). She helps pioneering leaders to create new paradigms and integrate purpose and meaning into business realities. Trained as a sociologist at the London School of Economics, she also holds a Diploma in Economics and is Faculty and a Mentor Coach at Leadership That Works.

Shruti understood early on, her call was to actively engage with individuals and groups to develop awareness and facilitate change. Her passion and personal explorations on the shadow, power, rank, and gender have attracted coaching clients exploring similar themes. She actively works with women looking to rediscover themselves in relationships.

A unique offering from her is using coaching to unlock the wisdom of dreams. Shruti also challenges leaders to discover their inner authority, distil their visions into powerful roadmaps, and create top team alignment. Core to her approach are: emotional literacy; courageous and authentic conversations; sustainability; and the triple bottom line of profit, people, and planet.

She has led organizational transformation and coaching interventions in both the corporate and the humanitarian sector. She coaches individuals, senior leadership, and management teams within organizations from different parts of the world.

Committed to understanding individuals and systems holistically, Shruti describes her approach as, “I am inspired by a vision of creating sacred, heart-connected spaces in the workplace.”

All of the ICF Foundation Council of Ambassadors  are volunteers who seek to ignite a passion for social progress and to engage participation in our initiatives working alongside Members and Chapters.  To learn more about all of our Ambassadors visit our website page at https://foundationoficf.org/council-of-ambassadors/.