Dear AmCham members, 

We hope this message finds you well!  

In April we celebrated the closing of the 1^st edition of the UnlockYourPower Project, in which 35 experienced Coaches and professionals supported pro-bono 54 women leaders employed with member companies of AmCham, through a series of pro-bono coaching sessions. We are heartedly grateful to the professionals and Coaches who donated their valuable time to support women in business to advance further their professional & leadership growth, refining clear and actionable plans as an outcome of the coaching interactions. 

We are excited to announce that in 2025/26 we will organize
the 2^nd edition of the UnlockYourPower Project,
which will take place from September 18^th, 2025, to March 2026

We invite you to express your interest in joining the project as a Coachee.  

In the 2025/26 edition of the project, 48 Coaches have opened their hearts and registered for the project to offer pro-bono coaching support. You will find out who they are in the coming weeks, and you will also have the opportunity to meet them (if you qualify for the project as a Coachee) on September 18^th, 2025, 15.30 h, at American Corner on Slaveykov square, Sofia. Please mark your calendar for that date, as you might very well be one of the selected Coaches receiving the pro-bono coaching support. 

Thanks to the generous commitment of our volunteer Coaches, we now have 91 pro-bono coaching slots available for Coachees. 

Project Background

• The Unlock Your Power project was generated as an idea by member companies of AmCham Bulgaria, as one of the initiatives under the Empower Her Program of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Bulgaria. The whole Empower Her Program was also generated as an idea by AmCham members, who felt the need to engage further with women equality and empowerment.  
• The Unlock Your Power initiative 2025/26 edition is a 6-month project (from Sept 2025 to Match 2026) that aims to support 91 (ninety-one) female (and male) leaders in business to advance further their professional & leadership growth, refining clear and actionable plans through the support of an experienced Coach. We invite interest/applications from aspiring or current leaders. Although initially piloted for female leaders, the project is open to all who meet the eligibility criteria and would benefit from the experience. 
• Coaches and Coachees join voluntarily the initiative. Coachees work with a Coach of their choice for a total of (up tо) 6 hours (1 foundation/get to know meeting + 5 individual coaching sessions) for a period of up to six months.  
• In the 2025/26 edition of the initiative, a total of 48 Coaches have generously volunteered their time to provide pro-bono coaching: 
• 17 of the Coaches also took part in the pilot 2024/2025 edition, offering their pro-bono support. Thank you for your continued trust, for opening your generous hearts once again and for giving your valuable time! 
• 41 certified Coaches and 8 experienced professionals without formal coaching certificate, as the project welcomes both certified Coaches, and business professionals with demonstrated coaching experience.  
• Of the certified coaches, 11 are accredited by the International Coaching Federation, a globally recognized professional body: 5 of them are Associate Certified Coaches (ACC), 4 are Professional Certified Coaches (PCC), and 2 are Master Certified Coaches (MCC). Others have been certified by coaching education organizations, or internal company certifications. 
• The professional certified Coaches and the business professionals with experience in supporting colleagues internally with coaching bring a wide range of coaching experience: from 1 year up to more than 20 years. On average, the registered Coaches have 6,7 years of coaching experience. 

Who can apply for Unlock Your Power Coaching Project, to work pro-bono with a Coach? 

• We invite interest/applications from aspiring or current leaders who believe that their personal and professional growth could be further empowered through the support of a Coach.  
• Although initially intended for female leaders, the project is now open to all who meet the eligibility criteria and would benefit from the experience. 
• To apply for the project as a Coachee, you are required to be employed with a company that is a member of AmCham Bulgaria. If unsure, please check the provided link with all active members of the Chamber. 

What is the commitment the applicants should be ready to make? 

• Coachees applying for this opportunity to work with a certified Coach or an experienced professional with coaching – but without a formal Coach certificate – should be committed in their personal self-development and be available between 18 Sept 2025 – March 2026 (the latest) to benefit from the pro-bono coaching relationship (up to 6 sessions) with dedication. 
• The Coachee is responsible for driving the success and the progress of the work towards the achievements of the coaching goal(s). 
• The Coachee will be responsible for:
  • time scheduling of the coaching sessions, 
  • showing up at the assigned coaching sessions, 
  • active participation during and between the coaching sessions. 
• The Coachee uses the coaching service voluntarily. 

What is Coaching?

Coaching is a temporary individual, professional help aiming to support the Coachee to increase his/her performance and development. This is achieved through a series of individual sessions, where the Coach supports the Coachee to sharpen his/her focus, to boost his/her confidence, to nurture his/her energy and/or commitment or to “get unstuck”. 

Coaching is not: 

• Training – it is not about training a specific skill or behaviour, nor is it a knowledge transfer. 
• Mentoring – it is not about providing advice and guidance for reaching the goals. 
• Therapy – it is not about dealing with specific issues such as depressions, panic attacks etc. 

Next steps: 

1. Deadline: Apply till 12 Sept 2025, the sooner the better, as a first-come-first-serve rule will be applied to fill the 91 slots for Coachees. The selection criteria that will be used for selecting the Coachees: 

• you a current or aspiring leader; and 
• are employed with a company which is a member of AmCham Bulgaria; and  
• you have registered for the project

The first 91 Coachees will be selected, on a first-come-first-serve basis. 

2. Mark your calendars for 18 September 2025, 15.30h@American Corner, Slaveykov square, Sofia city (a F2F meeting). If you turn out to be one of the selected Coachees, you can meet all registered Coaches on that date, to have your F2F impression of them. (Note that we do anticipate not all coaches will be able to make it for the F2F meeting. Written profiles of all coaches will be shared). 

3. A waiting list will be formed (in case we have more than 91 Coachees meeting the eligibility requirements). The waiting list will be used to replace any of the selected 91 Coachees who fail to establish contact with their Coach within 3 weeks after they have been introduced to each other (introductions are expected on 1 Oct). 

4. The selected 91 Coachees will meet all Coaches: 18 September 2025, 15.30h@American Corner, Slaveykov square, Sofia city (a F2F meeting). Profiles of the Coaches will be also shared offline on 18 Sept 2025. If you are selected as a Coachee for the project, and cannot make it for the 18 Sept face-to-face meeting, don’t worry – we will provide you with all profiles of the coaches (see next step). 

5. The selected 91 Coachees will be asked to share their preferences (in ranking order) for a Coach: starting 19 Sept – till 26 Sept. Offline profiles of all Coaches will be shared with you on 19 Sept, so that you can review them and indicate (ranking your preference) which are the coaches you would like to work with. 

6. The project team matches the clients with the Coach by 30 September and communicates (expected on 1 Oct) to both the Coach and the Coachee their contact information.  

7. The Coachee has the responsibility to establish contact with the Coach within a 3-weeks period, and to schedule their foundation/get-to-know meeting. If the contact has not been established within that period, the Coachee will be replaced with another Coachee from the waiting list. Thus, we ensure that all Coaches who have offered their pro-bono support are working with engaged and active Coachees. 

8. Coaching Sessions End: up to end of March 2026 (as per the timeline agreed within the coaching diads). The maximum number of coaching hours to be donated by the Coach is 6 hours (1 foundation/get-to-know meeting + 5 individual coaching sessions per Coachee).  

If you have any questions regarding this next phase of the project or related details, please contact the project managers: Zlatina Kushkieva at zlatina.kushkieva@hrcp.bg or Victoria Vakova at victoria.vakova@merck.com. You can also reach out to AmCham at iva@amcham.bg. 

Thank you for considering this invitation. We look forward to the possibility of empowering more individuals through UnlockYourPower!