Tamanna N. Ahmad
thuh-muhn-nah
she/her
I am a queer, South-Asian, Muslim, first-generation immigrant, and I am a Life Coach. I was raised between Northern Virginia and Dhaka, Bangladesh, and have since found home in 5+ cities around the world, most recently New York City.
I have over 5 years of experience working with leaders in the nonprofit world across Asia, Europe, and the United States. I have over 100 hours of formal coach training with the highly respected and rigorous ICF accredited program called CTI, months-long training in Positive Psychology, a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, and I'm currently on the path to completing a Master's in Clinical Social Work and becoming a licensed therapist in New York City, where I am currently based.
I grew up with multiple, sometimes conflicting identities. I moved to the US when I was 7 years old and was confused why people seemed to be shocked that I spoke perfect English. I learned early on that people simply expected less of me because of how I looked, the way my “foreign” name sounded in their mouths, and that I had come from a place they hadn’t even heard of. There are unique challenges to being a brown person growing up in proximity to whiteness. We start to learn that the closer we get to aligning with the dominant group, the more powerful we are. It’s time that we thank our survival strategies for trying to protect us and claim something different now that we’re grown. My life and career have taken me all around the world, including back to Bangladesh where I got the gift of being able to reconnect with a part of myself I forgot I was allowed to claim. I choose to work with high-achieving people of color because I am one, but only because of the remarkable people, circumstances, and opportunities that shaped me. I am not the kind of Coach who will tell you to Fix Your Mindset and all your problems will be solved. As a Social Worker by trade - and a human being witnessing and participating in the current state of the world - it is crucial to me that our work addresses systems of power and oppression, how they impact you and how you show up in the world, and being intentional about holding an intersectional and liberatory lens. I will work with you to acknowledge, honor, and include ALL of you, because all of your unique gifts are needed to make this world into one that serves all of us.
When I’m not coaching or doing one-on-one therapy, I love to drag my friends to dance classes, find new walking trails, hunt for the best g&t or fuchka in town (depending on the town), and get lost in a good book.