WHO I AM

Saul Kotzubei

Since 1999, I’ve offered an individualized approach to working with people on their voice, communication, and presence. The heart of the work is a nuanced, personalized process that helps you be more effective while also having a better experience. While it’s not therapy, clients often experience the work as therapeutic.

My work in voice and public speaking began because of my own shyness and anxiety. In the early 90's, I began working in the field of conflict resolution. In that work, in group situations in general, and as an actor, I struggled to be present and communicate effectively. To address my challenges, I began a long and wide-ranging process. I found people in diverse fields who could help me. I paid attention to what was really happening in the moment. And slowly I began to realize what I needed to focus on to improve my experience and effectiveness in communicating.

As I began to teach, these experiences deeply informed my approach. I learned, amongst other things, that to realize fundamental, lasting change, cookie-cutter approaches don't get at what is needed. In that spirit, I offer a genuine, practical inquiry into what really helps each client, and a supportive environment in which clients can challenge themselves to do their best work.

I now teach voice and public speaking in Los Angeles and internationally. I am a lead trainer for the two-year Fitzmaurice Voicework Teacher Certification Program and Director Emeritus of The Fitzmaurice Institute (which trains voice teachers worldwide). This approach to working with voice and presence was founded by my mother, Catherine Fitzmaurice, and is now taught at Yale, Harvard, NYU, and hundreds of other institutions worldwide.

I have a Masters degree in Buddhist Studies from Columbia University. I completed the three-year Somatic Experiencing Professional Training program to help clients address the stresses associated with public speaking, performance, and daily life. I also completed the three-year Foundation Training program to help people integrate early life experiences in helpful ways. I can also draw on years of experience in acting, improv, and clown to support clients’ enjoyment and freedom in the act of speaking. I have taught at NYU, New York’s Actors Center, and in workshops in Boston, Los Angeles, NYC, and San Francisco, as well as in Barcelona, Bogota, Dublin, Havana, Ljubljana, London, Paris, Santiago, Shanghai, and Vancouver.

In addition to voice and public speaking coaching, as well as breathing and stress resilience coaching, I do a wide range of communication-related teaching and consulting: I’ve taught theater games to Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, consulted for the municipal government of Prague in their transition to democracy, done conflict resolution in educational institutions and at a Zen center, and taught creativity workshops in Russia.

I was born in London, England, and lived most of my life in California, Michigan and New York. I spent a year in China (and still speak a little Mandarin) and have travelled all over the world for work and for pleasure.

Associates

To offer truly high quality services to organizations, I bring together a team of extremely gifted colleagues. I can also offer excellent referrals when I'm not the best coach for the job or I'm not available.

There are many teachers inspired by Fitzmaurice Voicework (which is the basis for the voice work I teach). For more information on certified Fitzmaurice teachers, visit www.fitzmauriceinstitute.org