Dr. Melinda Zay PhD, MCC

My motto:
The ‘I’m possible’ bridge is paved with the bricks of action steps, spanning the river of ‘impossible.’

This particular idea was shaped by the challenges and choices of my life, many times I drew strength from it, and now it sums up my professional and personal approach. This is the message I carry through when I support my clients to achieve their bold or seemingly impossible goals. I believe that a good coaching session frees the mind, raises awareness, empowers clients, and reframes ideas and creates new thoughts that lead to new ways of seeing and living life.
I started my career in adult education and soft skill training. After gaining experience at many different companies and sectors, I opened my own training institute and built a team of very talented, innovative, and creative professionals. This is how I had become the CEO of my own company which employed 15+ trainers from all over the world. During this ten-year period as a CEO, I had the chance to gain hands-on experience in people management, business practices, and coaching. As a team, we were committed to growing and providing the most effective methodology for our clients, so our core team decided to learn and later introduce team coaching and individual coaching as part of our developmental programs. I transitioned to be a business coach and team coach.
As I got more and more involved in coaching, I noticed that not only were our clients making great changes and getting results but my own life also started to change for the better. Very quickly I fell in love with coaching, found my calling, and pursued further studies in leadership coaching and executive coaching.
After the birth of my first child, I sold my company to become my own boss and focus on personal development and parenting. I completed my Ph.D. studies in intercultural communication and continued my coaching studies and practice. I completed the international credentialing process by ICF (International Coach Federation) and first became a PCC (Professional Certified Coach) then completed the MCC (Master Certified Coach) journey which granted me the highest designation in this profession. In addition, I have also taken some international courses in intercultural studies, global business, and intercultural mediation in Exeter, Barcelona, Tilburg, London, Lisbon, as well as several internationally recognized coaching courses, such as the Team Coaching Programme 2020 accredited by the Global Team Coaching Institute and Compassionate Inquiry with Dr. Mate Gabor.
In recent years, my professional focus has expanded to include ADHD coaching, neurodivergent leadership development, and polyvagal-informed nervous-system coaching. This direction emerged from both personal insight and the growing need among leaders and parents for support that honors cognitive diversity, emotional intensity, and the biology of regulation. I now integrate nervous-system science with evidence-based coaching to help clients move from overwhelm to clarity, from dysregulation to grounded leadership.
This work allows me to support individuals, families, and leaders in understanding ADHD and neurodivergence through a compassionate, empowering lens—while developing personalized strategies for sustainable focus, communication, and wellbeing. It has become a deeply meaningful part of my practice and a natural extension of my commitment to human-centered, transformational coaching.
I currently work as an executive coach, intercultural consultant, interpersonal skills trainer and team coach.
I have been a coach for more than 15 years and have gained extensive experience in coaching leaders (or would-be leaders) from 5 different continents over the past 4 years as a digital coach for BetterUp.
I coach in English and in Hungarian. I’m originally from Hungary but now I live in Florida.
I love traveling and learning about different cultures and people, I have traveled to over 50 countries of the world, and in addition, been to 48 states of the USA which has changed me and enriched my worldview. As an interculturalist in heart and mind, I am an avid supporter of diversity, equity and inclusion.

ICEBREAKERS

My coaching style can be described as

solution-focused, self-confidence-boosting, and (gently) provoking.

I’m most proud of
my never-give-up attitude which manifests in different areas of my life:

– I was always able to start it all over again when I failed at something and I wouldn’t let myself be defined by my failures. It has been a learning process but by now I know how to transform “failures” into the building blocks of success and I have learned how to find and open a new door when life closed one in front of me.

– I am an avid lifelong learner, having completed a new course or school every year in my life.

– My sports past: I used to be a marathoner, I ran dozens of marathons many of them under 4 hours. I was an ultra-runner too, the longest distance I ran was 75 Km in under 8 hours on a hilly course. (But now, I’m rather just a jogger and a hot yoga fan. 🙂

I’m most grateful for all the really important things in my life: my nice and supportive family, my job that I am ever passionate about, my truly wonderful clients who trust me, inspire me, and let me be part of their amazing and inspiring growth stories and experiences. Furthermore, I am also grateful for the everyday little things in life such as a good chat with an old friend, a nice walk in the forest, or at the beach, sunshine, nature in general, a good joke to laugh at wholeheartedly, or some good food with some good wine. 🙂