Speaker. Trainer. Advisor. Author.

Best-selling author of HarperCollins’ “Say Less, Get More: Unconventional Negotiation Techniques to Get What You Want” Fotini Iconomopoulos is the person Fortune 50 executives call into to help with their high stakes negotiations or to empower their teams through her intensive workshops on negotiation, communication and persuasion. Fotini occasionally returns to the classroom as an instructor of MBA Negotiations at the Schulich (SHOE-lick) School of Business at York University in Toronto. She’s a regular media guest on outlets including CBC, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, CNN , The Globe and Mail, The National Post, and CNBC. She’s also been recognized with a number of awards including a Top 40 under 40 award. She lives in Toronto.

How it all started

Nicknamed “the negotiator” as a child, Fotini has been practicing these skills her whole life. Whether it was school fundraisers or after-school jobs, she’s been honing persuasion and communications for as long as she can remember. Later, after a decade of owning and managing small businesses in the retail sector, she refined my negotiation skills in the corporate world in the consumer-packaged goods industry before becoming a management consultant. Fotini created a successful negotiation advisory practice for another global firm before branching off on her own. Though she didn’t intend to start her own business again when former clients began reaching out it was hard to resist, especially when HarperCollins called asking her to write her first book! As a result of the incredible relationships she has built, Fotini has turned a passion to help people into a career.

A Passion for Purpose

Fotini is passionate about helping people develop the confidence to take on whatever challenges come their way, and she has a particular interest in empowering women and disadvantaged groups. When not with clients or students she looks for ways to offer her experience to meaningful non-profit initiatives such as Up With Women to help recently homeless women to rebuild their careers faster; the Network of Executive women to advance all women; and her own empowerment camps for girls to close the gender gap before it begins. Fotini was named one of the Greek America Foundation’s Top 40 Under 40 and awarded the Network of Executive Women (now NextUp) National Inclusion award for her efforts.

Why clients trust Fotini

An unparalleled commitment to excellence has been the key to millions of dollars of profits for corporate clients who engage Fotini. In consulting and training a one size fits all approach just isn’t enough to help people reach their goals. Theories and models aren’t enough to help people achieve their goals, it’s her practical connections to the real world that make the lessons transferrable to unique circumstances.
Listening to, and empathizing with, students led to consistently high course evaluations from Fotini’s MBA students and accolades from the Dean and faculty at the Schulich School of Business.

Public speaking audiences engage with Fotini’s content because it applies to everyone in the room, not just a dominant group. That commitment to excellence is matched with a commitment to give the audience something they can apply the minute they walk out of the room. The consistent positive feedback, success stories, and personal messages from audience members are confirmation of her insights at work.