ALL ABOARD CONDUCTORS CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
BAY AREA IN-PERSON COHORT
Join Changemakers Committed to working in vulnerable Communities on behalf of Social Change, Community Healing, & Liberation in the All Aboard Conductors Program
NEXT COHORT BEGINS SEPTEMBER 12, 2026
About the All Aboard Conductors Program
Blooming Willow’s All Aboard Conductors Program brings together Changemakers from around the world who are working within BIPOC and other vulnerable communities. This transformative journey focuses on liberation through self-discovery, personal growth, and community connection. Over the course of this 5-month, International Coaching Federation-accredited program, participants will have the opportunity to heal, challenge themselves, and develop Healing Centered Coaching® skills designed to foster liberation and equity for all.
Our culturally relevant space invites you to stretch beyond the known as you learn to envision and hold spaces of possibility for current and future clients. You’ll implement Blooming Willow Coaching’s signature Healing Centered Coaching Model® that enables clients to Pause, Ground, Align, and Act in the liberating processes of growth and healing.
Who is the All Aboard Conductors Program For?
Our program empowers Changemakers who are dedicated to serving and uplifting BIPOC and other vulnerable communities.
Through our comprehensive training, participants learn 30 transformative, Healing-Centered Coaching skills. These are designed to help them cultivate safe, supportive environments that foster both individual and collective growth. What truly sets our students apart is their ability to apply these skills beyond formal coaching sessions—using them as powerful tools for their own self-discovery, healing, and resilience.
Our diverse alumni network of 248 Conductors includes organizers, CEOs, teachers, parents, entrepreneurs, professors, nonprofit leaders, union advocates, therapists, physicians, social workers, and government officials. Together, we are building a community of leaders committed to driving meaningful change and creating a more equitable, nurturing world.
Please note that no prior coaching experience is required to apply.
All Aboard Alumni Reveal Top 4 Impacts of the Conductors Coaching Program
Enhanced Coaching Skills
Participants gained culturally responsive tools and techniques designed to address the unique challenges and strengths of BIPOC and vulnerable communities. This expertise enabled them to empower clients and drive meaningful, community-centered transformation.Sustainable Growth & Healing
With an emphasis on wellness, self-care, and leadership, participants experienced personal growth and healing while fostering a collective sense of empowerment and resilience. This supportive community nurtured their ability to thrive and lead with purpose.Strengthened Leadership
Participants cultivated leadership skills to champion healing-centered practices in BIPOC and other vulnerable communities. They emerged as influential advocates and changemakers, driving systemic change and uplifting the communities they serve.Deepened Network
By connecting with a network of diverse coaches who serve BIPOC and vulnerable communities, participants were able to build lasting relationships, share ideas, and work together to make a bigger impact. They also created a community of leaders that can support each other long after the training ends.
Fall 2026 Bay Area
All Aboard Conductors
Program Enrollment Details
DURATION: 5 Months • September 12, 2026 - January 30, 2027
INVESTMENT: $8,000
(Early Bird Rate of $7500 for registration prior to June 2026)
LOCATION: In-Person & Virtual
STUDENTS & FACULTY: Changemakers committed to support growth, healing and liberation in BIPOC and other vulnerable communities
CLASS SCHEDULE:
In-Person Class: 2nd Saturday, Classes 9 AM - 5PM PST
Oakland, California (Location TBD)
Virtual Classes: 1st, 3rd, and 4th Wednesday 6 PM - 8PM PST
Zoom
PARTICIPANTS: 24 Maximum
EXCEPTIONS: Students are able to miss and make up 15 hours of the required virtual classes
Financing and payment plans for the All Aboard Conductors Certification Program Is Available
PAYMENT PLAN OPTIONS
Blooming Willow Coaching Autopay Payment Plan
The payment schedule below is based on the full tuition amount. Early-bird enrollments will be adjusted accordingly. Payment plan options include:
April - 7 Payments of $1,072 (Early Bird Rate)
May - 5 Payments of $1500 (Early Bird Rate)
June - 4 Payments of $1875 (Early Bird Rate)
July - 3 Payments of $2667
August - 2 Payments of $4,000
CONDUCTORS PROGRAM POLICIES
In compliance with ICF regulations, we request that all individuals interested view the current Conductors Program Policies
76-Hour International Coaching Federation Accredited Program Components:
5 Half Day In-Person Sessions (Oakland, CA)
14 Live Virtual Zoom Classes
20 Hours of Reading, Practice Coaching, Portfolio Assignments, and Video Reviews [Per Month]
20 (30-minute) Practice Coaching Sessions Completed with Peers and Community Clients Outside of Class [4 Sessions Monthly]
10 Mentor Sessions [3 one-on-one Individual and 7 Group]
5 Coaching Portfolio Assignments [1 Per Month]
Healing Centered Coaching Oral Competency Assessment
Students being considered for the program may be invited to participate in an interview with Conductors Alumni or Faculty prior to admission. We use a rolling admissions process for this cohort and the application pool will close once the cohort has been filled.
All Aboard Conductor Fall 2026 Schedule
In-Person Full-Day Classes (9 AM - 5 PM PST)
September 12, 2026 (2nd Saturday)
October 10, 2026 (2nd Saturday)
November 14, 2026 (2nd Saturday)
December 12, 2026 (2nd Saturday)
January 30, 2027 (4th Saturday - Final/Class Graduation)
Virtual Weekday Evening Classes (6 PM - 8 PM PST)
Starting after the first in-person class in September 2026:
September 16, 2026 (3rd Wednesday)
September 23, 2026 (4th Wednesday)
October 7, 2026 (1st Wednesday)
October 21, 2026 (3rd Wednesday)
October 28, 2026 (4th Wednesday)
November 4, 2026 (1st Wednesday)
November 18, 2026 (3rd Wednesday)
November 25, 2026 (4th Wednesday)
December 2, 2026 (1st Wednesday)
December 16, 2026 (3rd Wednesday)
December 23, 2026 (4th Wednesday)
January 6, 2027 (1st Wednesday)
January 20, 2027 (3rd Wednesday)
January 27, 2027 (4th Wednesday)
MEET THE CONDUCTORS FACULTY & MENTORS
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Principal Owner
Leslie Avant-Brown, Conductor# 1, is an innovator, facilitator, coach and thought leader within movement work. Her relentless desire to fuel systems change in support of vulnerable communities has changed the fabric of this work. With her down to earth demeanor, she brings a unique mix of laughter, curiosity, healing, creativity and strategy to support conductors of change – those who are designing innovative strategies that benefit future generations. She believes that moving beyond traditional leadership approaches will revolutionize the way that people work and thrive. “I have dedicated my life to supporting communities to build trust, identify new leadership, increase diversity of voice and choice, incorporate growth and healing strategies and build sustainably. I do this because I know, what we plant today will bloom tomorrow”
In 2016, through a partnership with Beyond Emancipation, her CCRW Coaching Model (focused on foster and probation youth) received the notorious International Coaching Federation Prism Award Honorable Mention (Coming 2nd only to Coca-Cola Russia) for its innovative design supporting culture change. She went on to support the development of an ICF Accredited, Community Coaching Certification Program at Leadership that Works, the first of its kind. Through this pioneering effort, she certified over 100 coaches in this new community accreditation, radically shifting how communities are supported through coaching.
Leslie serves as CEO at her firm Blooming Willow Coaching, a culturally relevant, Healing Centered Coaching practice that allows her to partner with individuals, organizations and businesses. Her specialization areas include “all things” coaching including: one-on-one and group coaching, coaching facilitation, coach training, and designing sustainable coaching models that support growth and healing in communities.
Previously, she worked as the International Program Director for Leadership that Works, and supported the development, implementation and facilitation of cutting edge coaching programs that supported value-driven transformation in India, Europe and the United States.
Prior to earning her coaching certification Leslie worked in the nonprofit capacity building sector, supporting work that promoted social justice -- she has a background in leadership development and evaluation. “What brought me to the field of coaching was the idea of supporting deep change while aligning my strengths to support conductors of change.”
Leslie received her professional coaching certification through Leadership that Works and holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Michigan. In her free time, Leslie enjoys finding new adventures, spending time with her wife, belly laughing, eating delicious food and of course creating!!
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Conductor #2
Anisha has worked in organizations dedicated to movement support, educational equity and leadership development for two decades. She is a Facilitator, Strategist, Coach, and Worker-Owner at AORTA (Anti-Oppression Resource and Training Alliance). Prior to AORTA, she served as Director of the New Leaders Initiative and Brower Youth Awards at Earth Island Institute in Berkeley, where she identified, honored, and coached emerging youth environmental movement leaders. She shaped a long-standing program into one that was relevant, accessible, and responsive to a new generation of activists committed to advancing creative and inclusive organizational models.
Anisha previously held director roles at Women of Color Resource Center in Oakland and at United for a Fair Economy in Boston. In addition to organizational management, she designed programs and curricula and conducted popular education workshops.
Anisha approaches her work with a tenderness that comes from experiencing the often rough edges of hierarchical nonprofit leadership structures and knows the gifts of pain, insight, and metamorphosis that come with failing fabulously. She brings to AORTA a passion for supporting organizations to create cultures that value democratic participation, mentorship, healing, equity, and justice.
Anisha is of Sri Lankan and Indian descent, raised with class privilege by two loving-hearted psychiatrist parents and a devoutly religious grandmother in a smallish town in Florida. Through lived experience with depression and anxiety, she holds those with mental illness in deep care and understanding. She is also a Life-Cycle Celebrant and founder of Radical Ceremony, crafting and officiating end-of-life ceremonies, weddings, and other rites of passage. Anisha enjoys performing with her soul-line dancing team and is an occasional writer of stories on family, culture, and nostalgia.
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Feedback Mentor
Like a rocket, Nicky's coaching is the vessel that clients access when a much broader perspective is required. From a more spacious point of view, clients get to see their full operating systems--the world and themselves in it. By observing from different angles clients are better positioned to see options, opportunities, limiting beliefs and the way forward.
For over 21 years, Nicky has been exploring the impact of our systems- and rule-based society on individuals. As a workshop facilitator, coaching trainer, department supervisor and program manager, she has designed empowerment curricula centered on internal capacity building, culture change, leadership and healing for organizations.
As a Professional Certified Coach (trained in Transformational Life Coaching and Healing Centered Community Coaching), Nicky considers herself to be an intuitive partner, a wise ally and a reflector of the space between what you didn't know then and what you do know now. She brings a sense of wonder and curiosity to every session.
Nicky's coaching opens space for traditional and non-traditional leaders to slow down and catch up to themselves, to explore needs, to envision success and to create fresh boundaries and agreements before taking brave steps forward.
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Feedback Mentor
Based out of the Bay Area, California, DeShauna received her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, with additional coursework in Forensic Psychology. During this time, DeShauna also began working for a non-profit agency that contracts with Alameda County Social Services supporting foster youth with navigating self-sufficiency. After working in this field, she realized that the core of our problems and stress often correlate with symptoms in our bodies. Starting with self, she decided to challenge her mind, body and spiritual alignment by beginning an Ashtanga yoga practice. Also, she discovered life coaching, which quickly became an important tool in all clientcentered and leadership work. This allowed her connections with others to become more than just a mentorship, but a partnership in their goals.
Through self-discoveries in yoga and coaching, DeShauna resolved to deepen the mind/body connection and received her 250-hour Teacher Training Certification (Power Vinyasa & Yoga Sculpt). DeShauna also realizes that mastering the “self” is a lifelong path, yet the journey there is where meaningful experience happens. In June 2018, she became a certified transformational coach through Leadership that Works and uses somatic tools to support individuals with bringing their authentic selves to the surface. DeShauna will also earn her 300-hour Teacher Training (continued yoga education) in December 2021. Her ultimate goal is to create a connection with individuals throughout their personal journey, with the hopes of helping to empower them to reach their desired destinations. DeShauna believes “Health is a state of body and wellness is a state existence.”
During DeShauna’s spare time she enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, animals (she has a dog, cat, gecko, fishes) and different species of plants as well as geodes.