Shadé Zahrai: Career, Education, TEDx Talks and Big Trust
Shadé Zahrai moved from law and corporate work into behavioural research, leadership education, public speaking, and online learning. Here is what reliable public sources confirm about her career and current work.
Introduction
Shadé Zahrai is a behavioural researcher, author, speaker, and leadership educator.
She has an unusual career story.
Law came first. Then corporate work. Later, psychology, workplace behaviour, confidence, and self-leadership became the main focus of her public work.
Currently, she is closely linked with Influenceo Global, the learning and development company she founded with her husband and business partner, Faysal Sekkouah.
She is also known for her TEDx talks, LinkedIn Learning courses, workplace programs, and the 2026 book Big Trust.
Quick Facts About Shadé Zahrai
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full professional name | Dr. Shadé Zahrai |
| Known for | Behavioural research, leadership, confidence, self-leadership and workplace performance |
| Profession | Researcher, author, speaker and leadership educator |
| Current company | Influenceo Global |
| Current role | Director of Influenceo Global |
| Earlier profession | Corporate and commercial lawyer |
| Qualifications publicly listed | PhD, MBA, LLB (Hons 1), BA-Psych |
| Other training | Diploma in Positive Psychology |
| Coaching credential | IECL Certified Coach |
| Husband | Faysal Sekkouah |
| Book | Big Trust |
| Book release | 2026 |
| Book co-author | Faysal Sekkouah |
| Known speaking platform | TEDx |
| Former professional group | Forbes Coaches Council |
Who Is Shadé Zahrai?
Shadé Zahrai works around human behaviour.
Her main subjects are clear.
Confidence. Self-doubt. Leadership. Workplace behaviour. Communication. Performance.
She takes research from psychology and organisational behaviour and explains it in a way working professionals can understand.
That has become a big part of her career.
Her audience includes employees, managers, executives, founders, and people trying to understand their own work habits better.
Actually, her career did not start here.
She trained in law.
That makes her professional path quite different from someone who entered coaching or public speaking straight from university.
Shadé Zahrai’s Education
Zahrai publicly lists several academic and professional qualifications.
They include:
- PhD
- MBA
- LLB with First-Class Honours
- BA in Psychology
- Diploma in Positive Psychology
- IECL coaching certification
Her official professional material says her PhD work is connected with organisational behaviour.
That fits her current work closely.
She talks a lot about how people think, respond to pressure, doubt themselves, communicate, and perform inside professional settings.
Law and psychology may look far apart.
In her case, both became part of the same career story.
Her Early Career in Law
Zahrai first worked as a lawyer.
Public professional profiles describe her background in commercial and corporate law.
She later worked across banking, business strategy, culture, and workplace-related roles.
So the shift was gradual.
She did not simply stop practising law one day and become a public speaker.
Her work moved through several professional areas.
That experience later became useful when she started teaching leadership and workplace behaviour.
She had seen corporate life directly.
Move Into Banking and Corporate Strategy
After legal work, Zahrai gained experience connected with banking and strategy.
Public profiles also describe work involving organisational culture and employee engagement.
This matters because her current teaching is heavily workplace-focused.
She often talks about real professional problems.
Self-doubt before speaking.
Poor communication.
Fear of judgment.
Bad habits.
Low confidence.
Leadership pressure.
These topics make more sense when seen beside her earlier corporate career.
She had already worked inside large professional organisations before making behavioural education her main public focus.
Influenceo Global
Shadé Zahrai and Faysal Sekkouah built Influenceo Global together.
The company works in professional learning and development.
Its training areas include subjects such as leadership, communication, wellbeing, workplace culture, influence, and presentation skills.
Zahrai serves as a director.
Her husband also works in the business.
The pair have built their professional work around behaviour, performance, leadership, and practical workplace learning.
They later became co-authors too.
More on that soon.
Work With Major Companies
Zahrai’s official professional profiles say she has designed or delivered programs for major organisations.
Names publicly listed include:
- Microsoft
- LVMH
- JPMorgan
- McKinsey
The wording matters here.
These companies are presented as organisations she has worked with through programs, speaking, or learning work.
That should not be confused with claiming she was employed by each company.
Still, the list gives a clear sense of her corporate audience.
Her work is aimed at professional teams.
LinkedIn Learning Career
A big part of Zahrai’s reach comes from online education.
Her official profiles say her LinkedIn Learning courses have reached more than 7 million learners.
That is a major part of her public profile.
Her lessons cover workplace and personal performance topics.
Confidence is one.
Leadership is another.
Communication, mindset, emotional skills, and professional behaviour also appear regularly in her work.
She has also been recognised by LinkedIn as a voice in career development.
This is one reason many people first discover her online rather than through her earlier legal career.
Shadé Zahrai and TEDx
TEDx helped bring her ideas to a much wider audience.
She has delivered several documented TEDx talks.
What Barbie Told Me About My Potential… As a Woman
This talk was presented at TEDxMonashUniversity.
It focused on gender bias, professional expectations, and women’s perceived potential.
The talk appeared in 2018.
It also connected with Zahrai’s interest in workplace equality and human behaviour.
Master Your Mindset, Overcome Self-Deception, Change Your Life
This TEDx talk was released in 2022.
The subject is more personal.
It looks at behaviour patterns, habits, responsibility, and the stories people tell themselves.
Basically, the message asks people to check their own thinking before blaming every result on outside forces.
The talk gained millions of plays on TED’s platform.
3 Habits That Kill Your Confidence
Another 2022 TEDx talk focuses on confidence.
That subject has become one of Zahrai’s most recognisable themes.
She talks about behaviours that can feed self-doubt and make capable people question themselves.
Short idea. Big problem.
That subject later became closely connected with her book work as well.
Why Confidence Became a Major Theme
Confidence appears again and again in Zahrai’s recent work.
But she does not treat confidence as loud behaviour.
Her material often focuses more on self-trust.
That means trusting your judgment.
Making decisions.
Handling uncertainty.
Trying things without needing constant approval.
It sounds simple.
In everyday work, it can be tough.
People can perform well and still doubt themselves.
They may know the answer but stay quiet.
They may be qualified but second-guess every decision.
Zahrai’s recent research and writing focus heavily on this gap.
Big Trust
In 2026, Zahrai and Faysal Sekkouah published Big Trust: Rewire Self-Doubt, Find Your Confidence and Fuel Success.
The book is based around the problem of self-doubt.
It asks a direct question.
Why do capable people stop trusting themselves?
The book presents a framework built around four main ideas:
- Acceptance
- Agency
- Autonomy
- Adaptability
Each one looks at a different part of self-trust.
Acceptance deals with how people respond to themselves.
Agency relates to acting and making choices.
Autonomy concerns independent judgment.
Adaptability deals with changing when circumstances change.
Zahrai has said publicly that work on the book took more than three years.
Research connected with her PhD also fed into its ideas.
Shadé Zahrai and Faysal Sekkouah
Faysal Sekkouah is both Zahrai’s husband and professional partner.
Their connection is publicly confirmed through their business and publishing work.
They co-founded Influenceo Global.
They also co-wrote Big Trust.
So their partnership runs across both personal and professional life.
Reliable public information beyond that should be handled carefully.
There is no reason to fill a profile with family details that have not been clearly published by trustworthy sources.
Her Work on Self-Leadership
Self-leadership is another common subject in Zahrai’s work.
The idea is pretty basic.
Before trying to lead other people, learn how to handle yourself.
That can mean checking your reactions.
Managing fear.
Building better habits.
Speaking clearly.
Making decisions.
Taking responsibility.
And knowing when your own thinking is causing trouble.
A lot of her teaching sits in this area.
It combines workplace behaviour with personal psychology.
Her Approach to Workplace Performance
Zahrai’s content often takes research-heavy subjects and breaks them into short lessons.
That suits online learning.
A person may not want a 40-page academic paper about confidence before a meeting.
They may want one clear reason they keep second-guessing themselves.
Her work tries to answer questions like that.
Why do smart people doubt themselves?
Why do some people freeze under pressure?
Why does negative self-talk stick?
How can a manager communicate better?
What happens when confidence depends too much on praise?
These questions connect psychology with ordinary working life.
Public Speaking
Speaking is now a major part of Zahrai’s work.
Her professional material presents her as a speaker for corporate and leadership audiences.
The subjects match her broader work.
She speaks about:
- confidence
- self-trust
- leadership
- behavioural science
- mindset
- workplace performance
- communication
- personal responsibility
Her TEDx appearances also helped build her visibility outside corporate training.
Forbes Coaches Council
Zahrai previously contributed through the Forbes Coaches Council.
Forbes now identifies her as a former member.
During that period, her published work discussed leadership, psychology, emotional intelligence, uncertainty, and self-management.
This fits the rest of her career.
The format changed.
The subjects stayed fairly consistent.
Shadé Zahrai’s Online Audience
Zahrai has built a large digital audience.
Her official website reports millions of learners through LinkedIn Learning.
It also reports hundreds of millions of views across her educational video content.
Her newsletter has attracted a large subscriber base too.
These numbers can change quickly.
So they should always be attached to a date or attributed to her official website rather than treated as fixed lifetime totals.
The bigger point is clear.
Her work now reaches far beyond conference rooms.
What Is Shadé Zahrai Known For?
Most readers searching her name are probably looking for one simple answer.
She is known for teaching confidence, self-leadership, behavioural science, workplace performance, and leadership.
Her professional background makes that work stand out.
She has experience across law.
She worked in corporate environments.
She studied psychology.
She completed advanced business education.
She later carried out doctoral research connected with organisational behaviour.
Then she turned much of that experience into public education.
That is the main story.
Does Shadé Zahrai Have a PhD?
Yes.
Her official professional profiles list a PhD, and her current website describes her doctoral work as being in organisational behaviour.
Her PhD research also connects with ideas later used in Big Trust.
Is Shadé Zahrai a Lawyer?
She previously worked as a commercial and corporate lawyer.
Law is no longer the main focus of her public work.
Her career now centres on behavioural research, leadership education, speaking, writing, and professional learning.
Is Shadé Zahrai Married?
Yes.
Reliable professional sources confirm that she is married to Faysal Sekkouah.
He is also her business partner.
The pair co-founded Influenceo Global and co-authored Big Trust.
Shadé Zahrai’s Net Worth
A reliable personal net-worth figure has not been publicly established through the strong financial sources needed to support such a claim.
For that reason, random estimates found on profile sites should not be treated as confirmed facts.
The same applies to salary figures.
Why Her Career Gets Attention
There are plenty of people talking about confidence online.
Zahrai’s background is broader than that.
Law.
Corporate work.
Business education.
Psychology.
Doctoral research.
Public speaking.
Online teaching.
That mix explains why her content can move between personal habits and workplace problems without feeling completely disconnected from either.
She talks about psychology.
But usually through the lens of work.
She talks about work.
But usually through human behaviour.
That connection has become her main professional identity.
Final Thought
Shadé Zahrai did not build her career through one job title.
She moved through law, corporate work, psychology, leadership education, research, speaking, and writing.
Right now, confidence and self-trust sit near the centre of her work.
Her TEDx talks brought those ideas to millions of viewers.
LinkedIn Learning took them to millions of learners.
Then Big Trust gave the subject a full book.
For readers trying to understand who Shadé Zahrai is, that is the clearest answer: she is a behavioural researcher and leadership educator who studies how people think, work, lead, and trust themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Shadé Zahrai?
Shadé Zahrai is a behavioural researcher, author, speaker, and leadership educator. She is also a director of Influenceo Global.
What does Shadé Zahrai do?
She teaches and writes about confidence, self-leadership, workplace behaviour, leadership, communication, and professional performance.
Is Shadé Zahrai a doctor?
She publicly lists a PhD among her qualifications. Her professional website connects her doctoral work with organisational behaviour.
Was Shadé Zahrai a lawyer?
Yes. She worked as a commercial and corporate lawyer earlier in her career.
Who is Shadé Zahrai’s husband?
Her husband is Faysal Sekkouah. They co-founded Influenceo Global and co-authored Big Trust.
What book did Shadé Zahrai write?
She co-authored Big Trust: Rewire Self-Doubt, Find Your Confidence and Fuel Success with Faysal Sekkouah.
What are Shadé Zahrai’s TEDx talks about?
Her documented talks cover gender bias, mindset, self-deception, habits, and confidence.
What is Shadé Zahrai’s net worth?
There is no strongly verified public net-worth figure supported by authoritative financial records, so an exact amount should not be stated as fact.
