WholeSpeak. Express your whole self.
Speak your truth. Shine your light.
About WholeSpeak
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- Over 15 years of public speaking coaching experience;
- Cutting-edge performance techniques (acting, movement, and vocal work) used by professional performers to expand their voice and presence (over 15 years' coaching experience);
- Personal growth and self-development methods to help you move through blocks and step into your true self (techniques include Constellation Work and the Guided Answers Process;
- Business savvy, to help holistic practitioners and spiritually-based entrepreneurs get clients and shine their light in the world;
- An unusual combination of intuition and strategy, to ensure that you shine your light in the world and inspire those around you, authentically and powerfully.
In sum, WholeSpeak's mission is to help you and your business become the most expansive, powerful, and heartful version of yourself - so that when you speak, people light up, potential clients want to work with you, and you feel like your life purpose is being fulfilled.
Jonathan Bender, MS, MFA - Founder/Principal
WholeSpeak founder Jonathan Bender, MS, MFA has been active in public speaking, live performance, and "the performance of everyday life" for over twenty-five years, as well as on a path of personal and spiritual growth since a very young age. Educationally, he began with a BA in Dramatic Art and Anthropology from UC Berkeley, later followed by a Master’s Degree in Performance Studies and Speech Communication from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where he specialized in the study of everyday life as performance. Next, his MFA program in Theater: Contemporary Performance at Naropa University specialized in physical, ensemble-developed theater and the creation of new work. There, he trained with such luminaries as Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project (renowned for The Laramie Project and I Am My Own Wife), Meredith Monk and The House, and the SITI Company.
Jonathan's coaching combines his love for live performance with a lifelong quest for fostering personal growth and societal transformation. After observing that his acting and public speaking workshops were transforming his students not just as performers but also in their everyday lives, he sought to make these techniques available to the general public. To fulfill this missive, he created WholeSpeak to offer highly effective coaching, workshops and seminars to provide individuals and corporations with immediate and discernible results. He has trained thousands of performers and public speakers at colleges and universities, private
acting studios, and at multiple schools in California and Colorado.
WholeSpeak founder Jonathan Bender, MS, MFA has been active in public speaking, live performance, and "the performance of everyday life" for over twenty-five years, as well as on a path of personal and spiritual growth since a very young age. Educationally, he began with a BA in Dramatic Art and Anthropology from UC Berkeley, later followed by a Master’s Degree in Performance Studies and Speech Communication from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where he specialized in the study of everyday life as performance. Next, his MFA program in Theater: Contemporary Performance at Naropa University specialized in physical, ensemble-developed theater and the creation of new work. There, he trained with such luminaries as Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project (renowned for The Laramie Project and I Am My Own Wife), Meredith Monk and The House, and the SITI Company.
He has been a performer since the mid-1980's and a theater director since 1989, and his writing has been produced in various theaters since the 1990's. He began working as a speech coach and acting teacher in 1995. In the Belly of the Whale, his solo show on Jewish identity, has toured nationwide, and he is Artistic Director of The Illuminated Theater.
Over time, Jonathan realized he held a particular gift for helping entrepreneurs and holistic practitioners, who themselves value personal and spiritual growth, to hone their message and their business to create impact in their ideal clients' lives while creating an abundant income. Jonathan resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, and frequently travels to coach, lead workshops, give keynotes, direct and perform.