About Danielle

Danielle Levitan, ACC, is a certified polyvagal-informed life and leadership coach who supports creative professionals, change-makers, and purpose-driven leaders to build meaningful work and lives that feel authentic and sustainable.

Many of Danielle’s clients are navigating moments of transition: launching or growing creative work, stepping into leadership, reimagining their careers, or finding their footing during uncertain periods. They often arrive feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or held back by self-doubt, inner criticism, or the pressure to follow conventional paths.

Danielle helps clients develop the inner resilience, clarity, and nervous system regulation needed to move forward with courage and momentum. Her coaching integrates evidence-based tools, nervous system science, and mental fitness practices to help clients work skillfully with fear, uncertainty, and self-sabotaging patterns.

Through this work, clients learn how to:

  • calm and regulate their nervous systems

  • shift their relationship to self-doubt and inner criticism

  • access creativity, insight, and intuition

  • make aligned decisions and take meaningful action

  • build lives and careers that reflect their deepest values

A creative path of her own

Danielle’s coaching is deeply informed by her own unconventional professional journey.

She began her career as an independent filmmaker, writing, producing, and directing documentary and narrative films. She later worked at Northern California startups creating multimedia products and interactive toys, gaining firsthand experience with creative collaboration, innovation, and the realities of making a living through creative work.

After relocating across the country and becoming a parent, Danielle pivoted into the nonprofit healthcare sector, where she served as Director of Marketing for a national healthcare association, leading strategic communications and engagement initiatives.

Across these very different environments, from creative industries to mission-driven organizations, Danielle became increasingly interested in the inner challenges people face while doing meaningful work. She wanted to know how to better navigate uncertainty, manage stress and self-doubt, sustain creativity, and stay connected to purpose.

That curiosity took her on a journey that ultimately led her to coaching.

A mind-body approach to growth and resilience

Alongside her professional career, Danielle has spent more than two decades studying and practicing mind–body approaches to wellbeing and human development.

She became a certified yoga and mindfulness instructor in 2005 and has long been fascinated by the relationship between the nervous system, emotional resilience, creativity, and leadership.

Her coaching today integrates insights from:

  • Polyvagal-informed nervous system regulation

  • Positive Intelligence® mental fitness practices

  • Internal Family Systems perspectives and strategies

  • Mindfulness and somatic awareness

  • Leadership and personal development coaching

This work helps clients move beyond purely cognitive problem-solving and instead develop the embodied resilience needed to navigate complexity, uncertainty, and change.

Training and credentials

Danielle is a certified Wayfinder Life Coach and holds the Associate Certified Coach (ACC) credential from the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

Her professional training includes:

  • Play Zone Pro Polyvagal-Informed Coaching Certification (Polyvagal Institute), 2025

  • Wayfinder Life Coach Certification, 2023

  • ICF Associate Certified Coach (ACC)

  • Positive Intelligence® mental fitness training

  • Advanced study in nervous system regulation, polyvagal theory, and mind-body coaching

  • The Power of Embodied Coaching (Coaches Rising) — currently in progress

  • Certified Yoga and Mindfulness Instructor (since 2005)

She continues to deepen her training in nervous system science, somatic coaching, and evidence-based approaches that support lasting change.

Danielle’s coaching style

Danielle coaches with warmth, curiosity, humor, and honesty. She creates a space where clients can slow down, reconnect with themselves, and explore what is truly possible.

Rather than pushing clients toward quick fixes or external definitions of success, Danielle helps them develop the internal capacity to tolerate uncertainty, navigate challenges, and act from a grounded, authentic place.

Her work is especially supportive for people who want to live creatively, lead with integrity, and build lives that align their purpose and values.

Working with Danielle is an invitation to build a life and career that are not only successful but sustainable, creative, and deeply your own.

What Clients Say

“I find Dani to be a very open and courageous coach. Our sessions together have broadened my perspective on topics such as starting my own business, leaning into my creative pursuits, and discovering what is getting in the way of meeting my goals. I feel fully seen in ways I have never experienced. In addition, I walk away with clear next steps, and the inspiration to follow through on our agreed-to actions which has improved my sense of hope and empowerment.”

— Paula

“Dani's warmth, empathy, and depth of understanding were evident in every word she spoke. I cannot fully express how grateful I am for her insights and gentle encouragement. Dani's ability to instantly create a comfortable and nonjudgmental space allowed me to open up and share aspects of my life that I hadn't discussed with anyone previously. I left my session with a refreshed outlook on my future and a reinvigorated sense of purpose. ”

— Adam

“Dani is exceptional in her presence, ability to meet me where I am, her compassion, and her encouragement for me to discover my very best life and live into it. Dani’s coaching has been invaluable for me as I navigate a myriad of life-changes. She is able to meet me with grace and I can feel her care and her support of me to live into a life that is in alignment with my values and with my deepest longings.”

— Arlyn

Contact me

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