We ask our members share a few thoughts: to introduce themselves to fellow members, and those who are interested in our community.
In this instalment, we interview Nadja Muller-den Blijker of Bell Noma.
Tell us about your business:
My business ranges from Peace Making to Coaching with Virtual Reality. At its core stands professional coaching, which is an empowered relationship between coach and coachee with the intention for transformation. In professional coaching the coachee discovers true self-worth, self-confidence and self-compassion. In this safe space the coachee can fully express himself or herself to achieve self-actualization and reach the goals.
What 5 words would you choose to describe your business?
- Engaging
- Dynamic
- Empathetic
- Intelligent
- Inspiring
What are your most popular products or services?
- Coaching for Peace: a 3-step process to reconcile conflict between adversary parties. The three steps are (1) awareness of own thoughts, emotions and believes about the other; (2) mutual empathy; and (3) negotiation. This process can be used in family interventions, company mergers, conflict between nations, any kind of conflict you can think of. It’s a facilitated process. The adversary parties are coached through this process.
- Confidence breakthrough sessions: In this session I help you find out who you are when you are living your dream. We’ll also pinpoint the biggest thing in your life that is preventing you from being confident and having compassion for yourself. You’ll leave the session with a personalized action plan complete with the next steps so you don’t waste time.
- Trauma relief and self care training for refugees: I work with a group of mental health care professionals on trauma relief and self care for refugees. The goal is to help the refugees recognize and work through their trauma. The training is geared towards empowerment and self care practice. This is done in form of 3 days training, in which the participants are gently lead to the trauma experience, start processing the trauma and get empowerment for the future. I have delivered such training in Nepal, after the earthquake. The training had enormous positive impact on the participants.
- Coaching with Virtual Reality: professional coaching as I described in the business section, augmented with Virtual Reality. It deepens the learning and forwards the action in a way we have never seen before. In professional coaching we use frequently visualization techniques to help opening up the mind to the full potential. It is a powerful tool.
Imagine coaching visualizations assisted with immersive reality, in which our responses are immediate and primal. We spot a spider scuttle towards us and we cringe. Floating in outer space we see our planet and are in awe. We sit at impossible heights of a 1000m cliff and our stomach clamps tight. The experienced reality is intensified and our learning is immediate and palpable.
- Developing applications for VR Coaching: my business partner Dana-Maria Faneker and I are starting-up a coaching-tech business in which our ideas for Virtual Reality Coaching are turned into digital applications. We will work with developers to design these applications. The applications are for coaches and therapists who wish to coach/ treat their clients with the support and inspiration of Virtual Reality.
What do you like best about owning a business?
I like best about owning a business that I determine what I work on. I like to be in service of others and work towards my dream of world peace. I have a vision for the world in which people are truly seen, heard and understood for who they are. They don’t harbor conflicts within them and towards others. Conflicts – which are disagreement without solution – are reconciled. Coaching is a powerful tool to reconcile conflicts within and amongst us.
What or who inspired you to start your business?
I used to work a project manager in the oil and energy industry. My academic background is in engineering and science – I hold a Master Degree in Science. I signed up for professional Co-Active coach training by coincidence. What a discovery! Pure inspiration and a myriad of possibilities opened up. I reconnected with a dream of mine that I held for a long time: world peace. The resolution of conflict within, with the outer world, and in world became a tangible possibility.
In my business I started pursuing this goal through:
- Business & Career Coaching
- Corporate Coaching
- Coaching for Peace
- Trauma relief and self care training
- Virtual Reality Coaching
- Educator and young academic coaching programs
What makes your products/services special?
- Me ☺
- My business partner Dana- Maria Faneker
- My collaborators
Who is your role model or mentor?
- My role model is Nelson Mandela.
- My spiritual teacher is Thich Nhat Hanh.
- Cynthia Loy Darst is my coach and mentor. Check out her TED talk. She is awesome.
People may be surprised to know…
When I am not coaching, working with refugees on trauma relief and starting-up Virtual Reality Coaching, I can be found with my family outdoors, accompanied by 2 rescue dogs, or indulging the occasional fantasy/ Sci-Fi novel.
What are your future plans?
- To bring more trauma relief to refugees
- To bring Coaching for Peace to many families, organizations and nations
- To make Virtual Reality Coaching mainstream and provide many coaches with awesome and powerful coaching applications to enable their clients to tap fully into their innate potential
For more information about Nadja Muller-den Blijker and Bell Noma, please visit www.bellnoma.com
