Beyond EI Live

The Beyond EI Live Series highlights the practical ways Emotional Intelligence is used to face whatever life throws our way. Come and listen to genuine, unscripted conversations, with the experts, where we explore new practices and strategies to embody our Emotional Intelligence. Join Tony Saccardi, your host, and a new guest every month as they dive into today’s relevant topics such as career, employee retention, work-life integration, mental wellness, goal setting, the emotional brain, stress resilience, and much more…   

Next Webinar:

Mindful Self-Compassion

In this edition of BEI Live Session host, Michele Nevarez and her guest, Bela Shah, Founder of Wisdom Leadership, will talk about:

  • Taking leaps of faith, trusting the process, overcoming fear
  • Self-awareness, vipassana meditation, and equanimity
  • Cultivating a sense of belonging and connection as a first generation immigrant woman of color.

The conversation is scheduled for 30 minutes and the final 15 minutes will be reserved for Q&A. 

Learn about the speakers

Bela is the founder of Wisdom Leadership, a heart-centered coaching company that helps individuals cultivate clarity, confidence, and connection to their inner wisdom. Her passion for coaching ignited while leading Dalai Lama Fellows, a global fellowship for social change leaders , where she discovered that unseen inner barriers often hold us back from our full potential. Over the years, she has coached many leaders from programs at the Adrien Cheng Fellows at theHarvard Kennedy school to work through inner barriers and step into their greatest potential.

As a first-generation immigrant, Bela grew up navigating two cultures with contrasting values. She has lived and volunteered across four continents, including rural villages in Mexico and Central America and the Gandhi Ashram in India—experiences that shaped her ability to listen deeply and connect across diverse backgrounds. A transformative influence in her journey has been Vipassana meditation, where ten days of silent introspection challenged her to confront the contents of her mind, see the conditioning in her thoughts, and understand how her reactions create the world she is driven to change. Continuing in this practice for more than a decade has revealed the power of awareness and equanimity in shaping how she shows up in the world.

Bela holds an Honors degree in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a Juris Doctor from the University of Houston Law Center and American University Washington College of Law. Before becoming a leadership coach, Bela served as a humanitarian immigration attorney, representing survivors of persecution and violence. While she valued providing legal support, what truly inspired her was empowering survivors with the tools to rebuild their lives. This experience planted the seeds for her future in coaching.

After working 25+ years in business, Michele completed her Master of Science degree at Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management, where she studied with David Cooperrider, Chris Lazlo, Melvin Smith, Ron Fry, and Richard Boyatzis. Subsequently, she had the opportunity to work with Dr. Richard Davidson, his team at Center for Healthy Minds, and the University of Wisconsin School of Business, and then with Daniel Goleman. Michele co-founded and led as the CEO of Goleman EI, which has since rebranded its name to Beyond Emotional Intelligence (BEI). She and her small team at the time designed and launched the Emotional Intelligence Coaching Certification (EICC) program along with the Foundational and Relationship Skills EI learning paths in 2018 with the aspiration to democratize the practice of EI.

She has since authored many articles and chapters of books on the topic of EI & Leadership and most recently wrote Beyond Emotional Intelligence: A Guide to Accessing Your Full Potential published by Wiley in November of 2021.

Past Topics

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