Isaiah Goodman
Life Management Advisor, Founder of Auravate
Maple Grove, Minnesota, United States
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Hi, I'm Zay.
I'm Isaiah "Zay" Goodman, an entrepreneur, personal trainer, business consultant, creator, husband, and father of five.
I've always been fascinated by human potential and a simple question: How do we make the most of this one life we've been given?
My journey has been anything but ordinary. I've experienced exciting opportunities, meaningful accomplishments, painful setbacks, and more than a few unexpected detours. Along the way, I've learned that life isn't about having everything figured out. It's about continuing to learn, grow, and move forward.
Today, I'm building businesses, exploring ideas, and creating solutions that help people navigate life's complexity and live with greater purpose.
Through entrepreneurship, fitness, creativity, and personal development, I'm pursuing a meaningful life while sharing the lessons I learn along the way.
I'm not here because I've figured it all out.
I'm here because I'm getting better.
Area of Expertise
Topics
From Chains to Change. From Harm to Healing. Inside Restorative Justice.
Drawing on his own experience inside the system — a restorative circle where he sat across from someone impacted by his choices — Isaiah "Zay" Goodman takes audiences inside what restorative justice really is, what the research says about it, and what accountability actually demands of the person who caused harm. He walks through the process step by step (preparation, voluntary participation, dialogue, agreement, follow-up), names its limits honestly, and closes with a concrete call to action for policymakers, teachers, parents and community leaders. A keynote about healing that happens in relationship, truth and community.
Preferred length: 45 minutes (keynote or breakout; can be adapted). Audiences: Criminal-justice and reentry organizations; policymakers and courts; educators and school leaders; community and faith organizations; corporate DEI/social-impact events. Key takeaways: (1) Restorative justice is not the soft option: facing the person you hurt, hearing their pain and committing to visible repair is harder, and more accountable, than punishment alone. (2) The five-step process (preparation, voluntary participation, dialogue, agreement, follow-up) and why support after the agreement is what makes it work. (3) No one is the worst thing they have ever done — and every audience member has a role in building justice that heals: policymakers, teachers, parents, community leaders.
Curious enough to Connect
Inclusion is usually treated as a strategy of task forces, statements and trainings, but Zay argues the most powerful tool is far simpler: respectful curiosity. Opening with the one question that made him feel seen, he shows how curiosity interrupts bias, builds psychological safety and lifts team performance, and teaches the art of asking questions that open people up instead of shutting them down. Audiences leave with a five-question framework they can use in meetings, 1:1s, conflicts and at home.
Preferred length: 45 minutes (keynote or breakout; can be adapted). Audiences: Corporate DEI and HR events; leadership and team offsites; educators; community organizers; conflict-resolution and mediation groups. Key takeaways: (1) Curiosity about a person's experience — not labels — is what creates belonging, and it interrupts bias in the moment. (2) The difference between questions that open people up and questions that shut them down. (3) Five questions that build inclusion (discovery, experience, impact, support, future) and three levels of curiosity: stories, struggles, systems.
The Integrity Advantage: Why Values-Based Leaders Win Long-Term
Integrity is alignment you can feel, and the leaders people trust most over the long haul are the ones who live their values consistently. In this talk Zay defines integrity in real terms, explains why values-based leaders outperform, exposes the "integrity gap" that makes leaders drift under pressure, and names the three moments that reveal a leader's true values. He closes with a four-step integrity blueprint leaders can put into practice the next morning.
Preferred length: 45 minutes (keynote or breakout; can be adapted). Audiences: Corporate leadership conferences; executive and management training; entrepreneurs and founders; nonprofit and public-sector leaders. Key takeaways: (1) Integrity is a practice, not a personality trait: values only count when they show up as daily behavior. (2) Three practices of values-based leaders: communicate values clearly and repeatedly, decide on principles rather than pressure, align culture with conduct. (3) The integrity blueprint: name your three non-negotiable values, define each as behavior, audit recent decisions, choose one practice for the week.
Little Wins in Big Storms: Mental Health When Life Won’t Let Up
Most people don't "bounce back" from hard seasons — they inch, crawl and claw their way forward. Zay gives audiences a language, a framework and a simple plan for protecting their mental health when life won't let up, grounded in the science of small wins and four evidence-based tools of resilience. Personal and practical, the talk includes his own story of the day a small win saved him and sends everyone home with a "Little Wins Kit."
Preferred length: 45 minutes (keynote or breakout; can be adapted). Audiences: Corporate wellness and employee resource groups; healthcare and frontline workers; students and young adults; community and faith groups; fitness and wellness events. Key takeaways: (1) Why big storms break our mental systems: routines disappear, thoughts get loud, capacity shrinks — and why that is not weakness. (2) Four tools of resilience: behavioral activation, acceptance and mindfulness, compassion and connection, growth mindset and reappraisal. (3) How to build a mental health "minimums" routine and a Little Wins Kit for the days motivation is gone.
Swipe Past Fitness Fiction, The Real Science of Getting in Shape
Most people don't fail at fitness because they're weak; they fail because the loudest voices online are selling fiction instead of fundamentals. A working personal trainer, Zay strips away the noise, busts the five myths that derail people, and lays out the five things that actually matter according to the science. The talk ends on the real battle — behavior — and a simple, sustainable fitness system audiences can trust.
Preferred length: 45 minutes (keynote or breakout; can be adapted). Audiences: Corporate wellness programs; fitness and health conferences; gyms and athletic communities; students; general-audience and community events. Key takeaways: (1) The five fitness myths that waste people's time (spot reduction, "starvation mode," toning vs bulking, cardio is king, calories don't matter). (2) The five things that actually matter: track something consistently, eat around your true energy needs, keep protein at the center, lift progressively, sleep like it matters. (3) Fitness is a behavior problem, not a body problem — how to build a system that survives real life.
WTF Is NVC? A Real-World Guide to Talking Without Tearing Each Other Apart
Most conflicts aren't about bad people; they're about unmet needs expressed badly. Zay gives audiences a plain-English, real-world guide to Nonviolent Communication (NVC): why conversations go off the rails, what NVC actually is (and isn't), and how it changes relationships, workplaces, parenting and high-stakes emotional conversations. Everyone leaves with a starter kit for turning attacks into honesty without destruction.
Preferred length: 45 minutes (keynote or breakout; can be adapted). Audiences: Corporate teams and managers; parents and family organizations; schools and youth programs; couples and relationship events; community mediation and reentry programs. Key takeaways: (1) Why we communicate so badly under stress, and why most blow-ups are about how something was said, not what. (2) The NVC structure for expressing honesty without attacking — and what NVC is not. (3) Where NVC changes everything: family, work and leadership, parenting teens, and high-stakes emotional topics.
I Knew Better and Did It Anyway: Money Mistakes and the Road Back.
Most people don't wreck their finances because they're dumb; they wreck them because they're human. Zay reframes money mistakes as data instead of destiny, explains why smart people make bad money decisions, and walks through a step-by-step reset from "the moment everything breaks" to stability and self-respect. He also names the emotional work — guilt, shame, fear and grief — that financial recovery actually requires.
Preferred length: 45 minutes (keynote or breakout; can be adapted). Audiences: Financial wellness and employee benefits programs; young professionals and students; community and reentry organizations; entrepreneurs; faith and family groups. Key takeaways: (1) The five reasons smart people make bad money decisions: present bias, social comparison, stress-spending, invisible leaks and avoidance. (2) A five-step reset: face the numbers without shame, budget for real life, automate what willpower can't, build the three foundations (savings, debt, cash flow), rewrite your money identity. (3) The emotional work of recovery — guilt, shame, fear, grief — and the new money rules that keep you out of the hole.
3D Goals: Moving Beyond SMART Goals to a Life You Actually Designed
Most people don't have a goal problem; they have a meaning problem. Zay shows why hitting a SMART goal can still leave life feeling flat, and introduces 3D Goals — Purpose, Process and Proof — a way to design goals rooted in identity, built on habits and backed by evidence of real change. Audiences build their own 3D goal before they leave the room.
Preferred length: 45 minutes (keynote or breakout; can be adapted). Audiences: Corporate goal-setting and planning kickoffs; leadership development; entrepreneurs and founders; students and young professionals; personal-growth and wellness events. Key takeaways: (1) Why SMART goals are flat: outcome-only goals miss the identity and meaning behind the number. (2) The three dimensions: Purpose (identity level), Process (habit level), Proof (momentum level). (3) How to build a 3D goal of your own — and use it to design a life that feels like it belongs to you.
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