From the Stage to the Boardroom.
I’ve spent over 20 years learning how to hold an audience. First as a professional actress on Netflix and stages across Europe and the US. Now as a public speaking and communication coach helping executives, leaders, and teams command any room they walk into.
From the Stage to the Boardroom.
I’ve spent over 20 years learning how to hold an audience. First as a professional actress on Netflix and stages across Europe and the US. Now as a public speaking and communication coach helping executives, leaders, and teams command any room they walk into.
This is my Story.
"The South taught me charm. The stage taught me confidence. Coaching taught me how to help others find both."
Elia Nichols
It started in Louisiana.
I grew up in the deep South, surrounded by thick accents and big personalities. But from the time I was small, I was fascinated by the people I saw on TV. They didn’t sound like anyone I knew. And I remember thinking, very clearly: if I want to be on that screen one day, I need to learn how to sound like them.
So I did something a bit unusual for a kid. I started deliberately changing how I spoke. Listening, mimicking, practising. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was already teaching myself the thing I’d spend my whole career doing: helping people transform how they communicate.
"Fairytales are made up of Tuscany at twilight."
Anonymous
Then Italy happened.
When I was 14, my father took me to Italy for the first time. I fell completely in love. With the language, the light, the way people lived. I told my father that I was going to learn Italian and move there one day.
I did just that. I minored in Italian and spent my junior Spring semester abroad in Florence, Italy. I felt completely at home.
"Acting is behaving truthfully under imaginary
circumstances."
Sanford Meisner
The acting years
I studied theatre at Tulane University in New Orleans, then earned my MFA in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin. After a stint in Los Angeles, I followed my bliss and moved back to Florence, Italy.
What followed was a career I couldn’t have scripted. I co-founded an English-language theatre company, performed Lady Macbeth and other leading ladies at the best theatres in Florence, and landed a starring role in Maggie & Bianca Fashion Friends, an Italian TV series that aired on Netflix in 180 countries. I appeared in Murder Mysteryalongside Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, worked on Devils with Patrick Dempsey, and guest-starred in Aziz Ansari’s Master of None.
For over 15 years, my job was to walk onto a stage or a set and make people feel something. Every single night, I had to own the room before I said a word. I had to control my voice, my body, my nerves, and my presence, and make it all look effortless.
That training is now the foundation of everything I teach.
“People don’t connect with your successes. They connect with your messes. Your message is in your mess.”
John K. Bates
The moment everything changed.
Somewhere along the way, I started noticing something. The brilliant professionals around me — lawyers, executives, entrepreneurs —knew their material inside and out. But the moment they had to present it, something shifted. Their voices tightened. Their bodies shrank. Their confidence disappeared.
I kept thinking: I could fix that.
The techniques I use every night to hold an audience, stay fully present, and project confidence—even when I’m terrified—are exactly the skills these people are missing. And nobody is teaching them.
It was my husband, Michele, who finally said it out loud.
“You’re already doing this. You teach public speaking at university. Why aren’t you doing this for professionals?”
In 2019, I opened my coaching practice. It took off immediately.
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Maya Angelou
What I do now?
Today, I work with corporate teams, C-suite executives, and TEDx speakers from my base in Florence and with clients around the world online. Everything I deliver, whether it’s a group training for 40 people or a one-to-one coaching session, is rooted in the same techniques that transformed my own life: professional theatre, improvisation, storytelling, and the psychology of persuasion.
My corporate training programmes cover confident public speaking, persuasive communication, presenting to senior executives, assertiveness for managers, corporate storytelling, improvisation, team building, and train-the-trainer skills. I also coach TEDx and keynote speakers, and work one-to-one with professionals preparing for high-stakes moments. All programmes are available in English and Italian.
I’ve personally coached over 25 TEDx speakers to success on the red dot. I’ve trained teams at companies like Menarini Pharmaceuticals, bioMerieux, and Lions & Tigers. And I’ve helped a criminal defence attorney transform his courtroom delivery so effectively that he secured a 30-year conviction.
In 2024, I gave my own TEDx talk at TEDxOltrarno. It was selected as a TED Editor’s Pick, a distinction awarded to just 0.07% of all TEDx talks. It had over 36,000 views in its first week.
I am a Professor of Public Speaking and have taught at institutions including Syracuse University, New York University, the University of Texas at Austin, European University Institute and the European School of Economics.
But what I’m most proud of is this: every single client walks away not just with better presentation skills, but with a completely new relationship with their own voice, body and confidence.
Left Los Angeles to follow my bliss in Florence, Italy.
Starred as Lady Macbeth at the Bargello Museum in Florence. To this day, my favorite role I’ve ever played.
Starred as Professor Tucker in the TV show Maggie & Bianca. We shot three seasons, and it still airs nightly on Rai Gulp. It was sold to Netflix, translated into 100+ languages and seen all over the world.
Officially opened my public speaking and communication coaching business.
Unlock your Confidence!
Free Guide
The Actor's 3-Minute Breathing Ritual for Confident Public Speaking
The breathing exercises I teach every client, and the ones that got me through my own TEDx talk. Three techniques, three minutes, and a calmer, more confident you before every presentation, pitch or interview.
Inside you’ll learn:
- The Calming Breath: settle your nerves before high-pressure moments
- The Energy Breath: bring life and presence to your delivery
- The Balance Breath: find focus and clarity when your mind is racing
- Plus: your 3-minute pre-stage ritual, ready to save to your phone
Ready to transform how you
communicate?
Whether you’re preparing your team for a major pitch, stepping onto a TEDx stage, or simply ready to speak with more confidence and presence, I’d love to hear from you.
or email me directly at inquiries@elianichols.com