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Amina AlTai 💫 Executive Coach

@aminaaltai

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Where ambition meets purpose.
Coaching those who’ve done it all & want to do it differently.
Bestseller: The Ambition Trap
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This conversation with @aminaaltai made me rethink how I’ve approached ambition, what’s been driving it, and who I’ve been trying to prove things to - surprise! It’s not me.

We talked about the difference between chasing success out of fear vs. doing what actually feels aligned. It brought up a lot, but it also helped me connect some important dots. Listen to the new episode of Self-Conscious now on @audible by @aminaaltai

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a year ago

Welcome! I’m Amina AlTai, executive coach, bestselling author of The Ambition Trap, podcast host, speaker, and your guide to building a career rooted in alignment, purpose, and well-being.

I’m a Scorpio sun, Capricorn rising, Aquarius moon. A 1/3 manifesting generator for all my HD friends. I’m trained as an executive coach, in mindfulness, somatic work, neuroleadership, and unconscious bias. I’ve been a coach for over a decade & spent the decade prior to that working in marketing.

I believe doing work that you love is your BIRTHRIGHT. My goal is to help all underrepresented folks (women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disabled) do the great work of their lives & live into their purpose with the most ease and joy.⁠
If you’re new here, this is your go-to guide to get the most out of our time together.

WHAT I DO: I support high-achieving underrepresented humans escape the ambition trap and redefine success on their terms. My work is holistic and interdisciplinary. Think business + woo. Head + heart + body.

WHAT I CARE ABOUT: I care deeply about equity & Justice for ALL beings. I also believe in leaving people & the planet better than we found them.

WAYS TO WORK WITH ME:

✨ 1:1 Executive Coaching: For high-impact leaders ready to lead with clarity, courage, & authenticity. Book a consult at aminaaltai.com

✨ Workshops & Speaking: I partner with organizations to teach purpose-driven leadership, ambition healing, & burnout recovery.

✨ Retreat Days: One-day immersive sessions to break through blocks and chart your aligned next chapter.

START WITH MY BOOK: Grab The Ambition Trap, your permission slip to redefine success & thrive on your own terms. aminaaltai.com/book

TUNE INTO THE PODCAST: Amina Change Your Life features brave conversations with leaders, creatives, and culture-shapers who are transforming ambition from the inside out. Everywhere you get your podcasts.

GET IN TOUCH / BOOK ME: Want to collaborate or bring this work to your company? Let’s connect. Visit aminaaltai.com and drop a note in our contact form.

Can’t wait to learn more about you!
Thanks for being here. Let’s create a world where ambition is expansive, nourishing, and radically inclusive. by @aminaaltai

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a year ago

“This is the book I wish I had when I was starting out and even when I was knee-deep thinking success was the be-all and end-all.” —@mariashriver on THE AMBITION TRAP by aminaaltai, on sale TODAY! ✨💙⁣
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Most of us think ambition means doing everything in our power to get what we want. But this approach costs us our health and wellbeing, and ultimately upholds oppressive systems. In THE AMBITION TRAP, leadership coach Amina AlTai shows you how to break the cycle of overwork once and for all—and finally create the greatest, most joy-filled work of your life. 💙⁣
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Drawing on her work with Fortune 500 leaders, Olympic gold medalists, start-up founders, and former “girlbosses,” AlTai guides readers through the process of reconciling your ambition—starting with healing the core wounds and insecurities currently driving you. by @aminaaltai

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a year ago

I was speaking at an event in Miami not too long ago and I heard an interesting perspective on the betrayal wound — one of the 5 core wounds (from Lise Bourbeau).

It forms when our caregivers couldn’t live up to what we needed from them as kids. And the mask we create because of it is control.

Dot every ‘i’. Cross every ‘t’. Leave nothing to chance.
Miami has such a big immigrant community, and someone said for many people there, their parents didn’t grow up in this school system and didn’t know how college admissions worked here because they came from a completely different system.

So the kid becomes the one who has to figure it all out.

They had to control it, because no one else could show them how.

Their nervous system learned early that if they didn’t hold it together, no one would.

Where is control still doing a job it learned a long time ago?

#corewounds #theambitiontrap #burnout #leadership by @aminaaltai

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21 hours ago

Burnout is a lot of things.

Yes, the systems we work in reward overwork. Always-on culture, economic uncertainty, the pressure to prove yourself. That part is real, and often out of your control.

But there’s another layer to burnout that can be just as costly. And that’s how much of your day you spend outside your zone of genius.

Your zone of genius is the place where you’re brilliant without forcing it. No striving, no proving. It’s just easy.

Most of us barely live there.

Ask 3 people who know you well where they see you at your best. Not what you’re good at — where you’re brilliant without trying.

Give that answer 10 minutes a day.

#corewounds #burnout #authenticleadership by @aminaaltai

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4 days ago

Ambitious men are called driven. Ambitious women are called too much.

And for people of color, queer, disabled, immigrant friends…the math gets even harder.

This is the ambition penalty. It’s the cost of wanting more when the system wasn’t designed with you in mind.

Many might think this is a personal failing when really it’s a systemic dynamic. You’ve been navigating a double bind.

It’s time to name it. by @aminaaltai

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9 days ago

Every mask you wear was once a survival strategy.

These are the 5 core wounds and the masks we build to protect them:

↳ Rejection → Avoidance
 ↳ Abandonment → Dependence
 ↳ Betrayal → Control
 ↳ Humiliation → Masochism/Martyrdom
 ↳ Injustice → Rigidity/Perfectionism

None of these masks are character flaws. They’re intelligent responses to something that hurt.

But the mask that once kept you safe is the same one keeping you small (in work and in life).

Which one do you recognize in yourself?

Listen to the full episode on @brownambitionpodcast or grab my book, The Ambition Trap, to dive in deeper.

*The wounds and masks framework was originally developed by psychologist Lise Bourbeau by @aminaaltai

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11 days ago

You’ve rewritten that pitch four times. Here’s why you might not have hit send.

One of the 5 core wounds is the rejection wound. It forms early…when we learn showing up fully might cost us belonging. The mask it creates? Avoidance.

It can look like not asking for the raise. Over-qualifying everything you say. Calling it “not being ready” when you’ve been ready for years.

No amount of achievement heals this wound. It was never about what you’ve done, it’s about feeling safe and lovable enough to miss the mark and still be right with yourself.

Where might this be keeping you smaller than you actually are?

#ambition #burnout #leadershipskills by @aminaaltai

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15 days ago

Somewhere along the way, your job title became your whole identity.

So many of us over-index on our work self because it’s the part that gets measured and praised. The friend, the athlete, the artist? Whatever time is left over, which is usually none.

When work is where your whole identity lives, every hard quarter feels like a threat to who you are.

The people who move through their careers with the most ease are the ones who know they are so much more than just their careers.

What’s a part of you that has nothing to do with your career? by @aminaaltai

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17 days ago

Burnout isn’t a personal failure. It’s your nervous system sending you a message.⁠
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@aminaaltai is back in the chat 📲⁠
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She’s breaking down the four hidden drivers of burnout and why “just take a vacation” was never going to fix it.⁠
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Comment Amina and we’ll send you the link! by @aminaaltai

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18 days ago

A year ago, @aminaaltai published “The Ambition Trap”with @openfieldbooks. As a first time author, she thought the hard part was over now that the book was published. But what she learned in this past year shifted her perspective about ambition, hard work, and expectations we set on ourselves. Head up to our link in bio to read more now. #sundaypaperbooks by @aminaaltai

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23 days ago

For a long time, I was only focused on half the story.

The half where I was chasing shiny things and moving at an unsustainable pace. Yes, there was a lot going on on my side of the street.

But here’s the other half: I’m a woman of color with an invisible illness in a system that wasn’t built for people with my identity.

I’ve stopped separating these things.

Both are real. And I believe change starts with what we have agency over…if I show up differently, the people around me feel it. We’re all in a dance together.

Both/and. Always. by @aminaaltai

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