Nadine Zeinoun turned a life hurdle into an inspirational speaking award, and now has her sights set on becoming Ottawa’s second Inspirational Speaker of the Year this fall. By 2010, Zeinoun had spent 13 years in Lebanon’s pharmaceutical industry as a brand manager. She was a top performer who won awards for her work and […]
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Nadine Zeinoun turned a life hurdle into an inspirational speaking award, and now has her sights set on becoming Ottawa’s second Inspirational Speaker of the Year this fall.
By 2010, Zeinoun had spent 13 years in Lebanon’s pharmaceutical industry as a brand manager. She was a top performer who won awards for her work and was always given high-demand projects. Then, a company-wide email changed the trajectory of her career.
“We had some re-organization all of a sudden. The list (of retained employees) comes out and I’m not there. I couldn’t believe it, because I hadn’t been worried at all, so this came as a shock,” Zeinoun told OBJ Monday.
After finding out she’d lost her job, Zeinoun said she wrestled with how to respond.
“The next day after the announcement was made, I was launching a very important product for the company. I had the choice not to show up, which would have been the best revenge, since I prepared everything. It was in front of key stakeholders. All night long, I asked myself, ‘Who would I be if I did that?’ That question made me change everything,” she said.
In fact, it made her realize what kind of person she wanted to be when faced with adversity. “If I (didn’t show up), I would allow the pain to change who I am and what my values are. So I showed up. I gave one hell of a training session,” she said.
Following a few years as a stay-at-home mom, Zeinoun used what she learned during her time in the pharmaceutical industry to start a business in workplace training.
“At the start, it was built as a marketing consulting (firm), but slowly I found my passion in training and helping people develop. So I started going in that direction. I got certified on emotional intelligence and giving trainings on emotional intelligence. I fell in love with the topic because it aligned with my faith and values, but then I felt like it wasn’t enough,” she said.
Zeinoun got into executive coaching in 2013, eventually getting her credentials with the International Coaching Federation, where she is now president of the Ottawa chapter, after moving to the city in 2022.
In her day-to-day life, she said she coaches executives through “high-pressure situations.”
“I help them through emotional intelligence and through building trust with themselves and the people around them. When we’re under pressure, it’s very easy for us to lose relationships because we’re too focused on the business and our emotions make us fear a lack of performance so we start unconsciously taking it out on our people. My job is to support those leaders as they manage their emotions and the emotions of those around them as they keep performance going,” she explained.
Though she finds her coaching practice fulfilling, Zeinoun said she was looking to broaden her reach to help more people. So she started giving keynote speeches on emotional intelligence.
“Somebody heard me speak in Miami and asked me to speak at her conference in Toronto. When I went there, someone said, ‘Oh, you should be a part of Speaker Slam.’ I met the owners and I qualified to be one of the speakers. I took that as a challenge and I thought it would teach me to be a better speaker, because you also go through a course, but at the same time it will give me credibility as a speaker,” she said of North America’s largest inspirational speaking competition.
While thinking about the talk she was to give at the Road Less Traveled competition this year in Toronto, Zeinoun said she reflected on what she learned when she was let go from her job in the pharmaceutical industry.
“The message is not about losing a job. It’s about (when we’re in) intense emotional states, it’s easy to lose who we are and just act out of emotion … (It’s) about not allowing the pain (you go through) to change who you are. When you’re at a crossroads between your character and revenge, choose your character,” Zeinoun explained.
As she prepared to give her talk on May 26, Zeinoun said she focused on the essential elements of communicating effectively in front of an audience: conveying her message clearly, connecting with the audience and proper preparation.
“First of all, my mind is always clear on the message that I want to give. I try to convey it in the simplest way possible, so that any five-year-old could understand. Second, God sent me a talent for feeling a room and connecting with people. No matter how big the audience is, I feel their energy and address them in a way that feels personal. Then, preparation is key. I repeated this talk maybe 100 times because I wanted to nail it,” she said, adding that being passionate is always important.
Though she felt that other speakers may have described more compelling life experiences in their talks, Zeinoun said she believed in what she was communicating. She thinks it’s sticking to the essentials of public speaking that won her first prize.
With her sights now set on the Grand Slam: Inspirational Speaking Finals in November, Zeinoun hopes to be the second Ottawa participant in two years to win Inspirational Speaker of the Year — an award that Ottawa-based founder of Venture Creative Collective and Forty Under 40 recipient Michelle Weger won in 2025.
“I feel like it’s a responsibility,” she said of representing Ottawa at the Grand Slam event in November. “Ottawa has given me a lot. If I am at the level of business success that I’m at now, a big part of it is due to the Ottawa community and what it provided me. I feel responsible to showcase what Ottawa can give,” she said.
