Meet Hollie Rottman
.png)
Executive coach.
Somatic practitioner.
Author.
I work with leaders navigating the moments that ask the most of them, and I've spent over 26 years developing the depth of practice to meet those moments with them.
-
Professional Certified Coach (PCC) — International Coaching Federation
-
Certified, The Collective Leadership Assessment (for Teams); Certified, Healing Breathwork Facilitator
-
Certified Strozzi Somatics Coach
-
Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC)
-
Certified, The Leadership Circle Profile
HOW I GOT HERE
The work found me before I found it
My path into somatic coaching wasn't linear. It was shaped by moments of real pressure — personally and professionally — where the tools I'd relied on suddenly weren't enough.
EARLY CAREER
I began in global organisations such as Citigroup, American Express — leading HR, learning and development, and cross-cultural leadership across 23 countries in Latin America. I was good at it. I was steady, capable, composed. But I was also carrying a great deal, quietly, in the way that high-achieving people tend to.
THE CRACK
I was in Brazil on September 11th, 2001 when something broke open in me. I found myself crying in the shower — overwhelmed not only by the devastation unfolding in the U.S., but by a wave of emotion I couldn't explain. I had spent years being the steady one. In that moment, I began to understand how much I'd been holding in.
MOTHERHOOD
Later, when my daughter entered a phase of intense emotions, I froze. Her cries felt like more than I could hold. I didn't yet have words for what was happening — I only knew something in me was shutting down. That was the moment I began to take somatic practice seriously, not as a concept, but as a necessity.
THE SHIFT
In somatic coaching, we don't dig through the past. We meet what arises in the body now — with curiosity, with compassion, without rushing to fix it. I began to notice moments of overwhelm as information rather than problems. I found more space. More breath. More choice. That shift didn't just change how I parent. It changed how I meet complexity, conflict, and pressure in every part of my life — and in my work.
"When the body says 'I can't keep doing this,' that's when the real work begins — and that's exactly when I want to be in the room with you."
— Hollie Rottman
WHAT I BELIEVE
Three things I know to be true about leadership under pressure
Pressure doesn't reveal weakness
It reveals what hasn't yet been given enough space to settle. The nervous system is not the enemy — it is information.
You can't think your way to steadiness
The body holds what the mind hasn't processed yet. Real change happens when we work with the whole person — not just the intellect.
Capacity is built, not found
The ability to hold tension, stay connected, and lead clearly under pressure is a practice — not a personality trait.
WHAT IS SOMATIC COACHING?
Working with the whole person
Most leadership development focuses on what you think and what you do. Somatic coaching starts one layer deeper: with what you feel, sense, and carry — often without knowing it.
The body holds patterns that predate our conscious habits. How we tighten before a difficult conversation. How we speed up, go quiet, or overexplain under pressure. These are nervous system responses — and they shape how we lead, how we decide, and how others experience us.
Somatic coaching helps you notice those patterns — not to fix them, but to understand them, and then develop the capacity to respond differently. Not by becoming someone new, but by becoming more fully yourself.
BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE
26 years across leadership, HR, and coaching practice
I bring the depth of someone who has sat in the room where the decisions are made — as a senior leader, as an HR executive, and as a coach. My clients benefit from that combination: someone who understands the complexity of real organisations and the inner life of the person leading them.
Corporate leadership
Senior HR & Leadership Roles
Citigroup · American Express · Led learning and leadership across 23 countries in Latin America
NGO & social sector
Wellness in the Schools · Board Member, SF Nonprofit
National Director leading programme design and cross-sector partnership across health, education, and community. Also for the Board Member, I was a Vice Chair of a San Francisco NGO Board.
Executive coaching
Individual & Team Coaching Practice
Hollie Rottman Coaching · Rottman Consulting — working with leaders across biotech, healthcare, financial services, and mission-driven organisations
Author
Co-author, The Confluence Method™
With Jim Rottman · Published July 2026
Speaker
National Conferences on Health and Wellness in the Public Sector
