Gabriella Goddard wins Coach of the Year at Influencer Magazine Awards 2026

Gabriella Goddard, founder and CEO of Brainsparker Ltd, received the Coach of the Year Award at the Influencer Magazine Awards E2 on July 1, 2026, in recognition of her work in creativity coaching, AI-enabled leadership, and space-sector mentoring. The award spotlights a coaching career that has reached more than 550,000 app users and thousands of leaders worldwide.

Why it matters: - Gabriella Goddard’s win highlights the growing demand for coaching that blends leadership, creativity, and AI readiness. - The award also recognizes work that extends beyond business, including mentoring for space-focused programs and UN-linked initiatives. - Goddard’s profile shows how coaching is moving from one-to-one guidance to broader systems for innovation and team performance.

What happened: - Gabriella Goddard won the Coach of the Year Award at the Influencer Magazine Awards E2 on 1 July 2026 in London. - Goddard is the founder and CEO of Brainsparker Ltd, a leadership coach, innovation strategist, and published author. - The recognition cites her work igniting creativity in more than half a million people worldwide and her use of AI in leadership coaching. - The award also acknowledges her mentoring role in space-focused programs.

The details: - Goddard launched the Brainsparker Creativity Coaching app in 2013 to help people overcome blocks and generate new ideas. - The app has reached more than 550,000 users worldwide. - The app consistently ranks in the Top 10 for “creativity” in both the US and UK. - The app has been mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, and My Modern Met. - Goddard has coached and mentored thousands of senior leaders, entrepreneurs, and teams over more than 20 years. - Her clients have come from aerospace, healthcare, FMCG, financial services, technology, and media. - Her client base has included executives in S&P 500 and FTSE 100 organizations, global high-potential leaders, startup founders, and entrepreneurs. - Goddard has mentored the UK Space Agency Accelerator, UNOOSA Space4Women, the European Innovation Council Women Leadership Programme, and World Space Week Astropreneurs. - She received the UK Space Agency Accelerator’s “Guiding Star” Award in 2025. - Goddard has developed the “AI Catalyst Leader™” program, the “SPARKER Prompt Protocol™,” and the “ROAI Leadership Cycle” for team AI capabilities. - She has personally trained “AI Coach Sparkalino,” an AI Creativity Coach, and implemented AI workflows across Brainsparker Ltd. - Goddard is a regular Forbes.com contributor through the Forbes Coaches Council. - Her recent Forbes articles include “Automate to Innovate: Unlocking the Human Dividend of AI” and “The Creative Edge: 7 Skills That Make Leaders Irreplaceable in the Age of AI.” - She is the author of Gulp! The 7-Day Crash Course to Master Fear and Break Through Any Challenge from Penguin/Bantam. - Goddard is a graduate of The Coaches Training Institute, a Certified Practitioner for Coaching Across Cultures, and a Certified Practitioner in Lumina Spark and Belbin Teams. - Her executive education includes Harvard Business School, Stanford University, IDEO, Darden, and the International Space University. - She holds a Bachelor of Food/Biotechnology (Hons) and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business & Administration from New Zealand. - Before founding Brainsparker, she worked at Atlantic Telecom, Avantel/MCI Worldcom, and AC Nielsen in roles spanning the UK, Mexico, and New Zealand. - Goddard has also been named Best Coach at the 2025 Best Businesswomen Awards. - She is a member of the International Coach Federation and the Forbes Coaches Council. - Brainsparker has received a Globee Women in Business Award.

Between the lines: - The award reflects a broader shift in coaching toward technology-enabled leadership development. - Goddard’s emphasis on AI suggests a view that automation should create more room for strategic thinking, creativity, and higher-value work. - Her space-sector mentoring adds credibility beyond traditional executive coaching and broadens the scope of her brand.

What's next: - Goddard says she will keep focusing on helping leaders build the “creative edge” needed in an increasingly AI-powered world. - Brainsparker’s app, AI coaching tools, and leadership programs appear positioned for further expansion as demand grows for practical AI and innovation coaching. - Her stated long-term mission remains to help more than one million people worldwide unlock creativity and improve performance.

The bottom line: - Gabriella Goddard’s award crowns a career built on coaching, creativity, and AI-forward leadership, with impact spanning business, publishing, and space-sector mentorship.