About Today's Empowered Woman & Cynthia Leeds Friedlander

In addition to being an accomplished speaker, coach and workshop leader, Cindy has considerable experience as a corporate and organizational consultant. Her corporate clients have included ABC/Disney, Harpo Productions, American Express, Deutsche Bank, Bloomberg, Time Warner and New York Life Investment Management.  She works successfully at all levels, including CEOs, Presidents, senior and middle managers, and new team leaders. She was a Professional Services Consultant for Right Management and a Vice President at The Strickland Group for a total of more than fifteen years before becoming an independent executive coach.

She is a frequent presenter and seminar facilitator for diverse professional associations, alumni groups and businesses settings which have included Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School and Wharton.  Additionally, Cindy is a counseling associate in the New York City Bar Career Counselor Referral program and advisor for The Corporate Workplace Program’s Advisory Board for The Children’s Aid Society. Cindy is a Counseling Associate for CYD, Comprehensive Youth Development, empowering New York City youth to create rewarding futures by partnering with NYC public high schools to prepare young adults, ages 14- 24, to secure a successful future for themselves and their families.

Cynthia Leeds Friedlander wrote a book examining a woman’s challenging health and medical crossroads, Breastless Intimacy – A Celebration of Love, Loss and Learning.  This memoir chronicles the journey through a diagnosis of stage zero breast cancer, prophylactic bilateral mastectomy and breast reconstruction, after the death of her sister from metastatic breast disease.  This book also focuses on dating and intimacy following mastectomy.

The first book Cindy authored is Speak Easy – The Communication Guide for Career and Life Success, an award-winning communication bible, acclaimed by Human Resources executives and senior managers as well as individuals of all ages from all walks of life. Speak Easy is a comprehensive communication handbook that engages the reader instantly as it brings together the emotional and the practical to provide the acquisition of new strategic communication skills and the simultaneous understanding of the underlying elements that significantly influence communication.

SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS FROM CYNTHIA LEEDS FRIEDLANDER’S EXPERIENCE:

– Coordinator, The Ellen Morse Tishman Memorial Seminars at Hunter College, City University of New York, for college educated women with family responsibilities, exploring re-entry into the workplace.

– Presenter, Work-Life Balance Communication Essentials / Responding to Difficult Requests at PepsiCo’s WIN, Women’s Initiatives Network, featuring Speak Easy, The Communication Guide for Career and Life Success

– Group Leader/Facilitator, Dating After Mastectomy Group and Friends and Family Support Group, SHARE Cancer Support. SHARE’s mission is to create and sustain a supportive network and community of women affected by breast and ovarian cancers.

– Keynote Speaker for the International Trademark Association’s International Leadership Meeting – program

– Design and delivery of two-week Communication Essentials program for NATO’s Joint Forces Training Center (In Bydgoszcz, Poland)

– Creation of the LIFE (Leadership Information For Excellence) Program for ABC Disney, providing 360-degree feedback and executive coaching to Division Heads

– Development and facilitation of an interactive team brainstorming two-day managers retreat for the National Trust for Historic Preservation to create a roadmap for future success built on individual vision statements, communication tools for effectiveness, missed opportunity analysis, best ever strategy team presentations 

– Coaching sessions and leadership development for all new R&D team leaders at Bloomberg, L.P.

Cindy held key leadership roles in Career Development for the National Institute for the Psychotherapies and Yeshiva University.  She has been a program coordinator and adjunct faculty instructor at Hunter College of the City University of New York.  Prior to gaining her Master’s Degree in Counseling, Cindy had extensive experience in both the retail and manufacturing sides of the fashion industry.  Her background also includes teaching French and Group Guidance.

Cynthia Leeds Friedlander has a Master’s Degree in Counseling from Hunter College and a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of North Carolina.  She speaks French and studied at the University of Grenoble, France.

Cindy maintains a private coaching practice, and has worked with thousands of individuals, throughout her extensive coaching career, from career entry and re-entry to career transition and retirement planning. Her current priority is empowering women at challenging crossroads.