
Ghalia Aamer
5.0
(2)
Founder & TEDx speaker | I help founders tell stories that raise money
Studied at Columbia Law School
Works at Optimal Counsel
Available Wednesday at 4:00 PM UTC
Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.
Ghalia's Coaching Offerings
Custom hourly · $49/hr
Get help with Fundraising, Interview Prep, and Venture Capital Strategy.
Ghalia also coaches for Law School and Communication & Public Speaking. View all.
Ghalia’s Startup Founders Qualifications
Coaches professionally
Experience level: Executive
I founded TalkMaze, a public speaking and education platform that grew to 20,000 members, 4 million video views, and over 5,000 participants across North America. I raised $150K in funding, delivered 4 TEDx talks, won the national Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, and placed as a national runner-up in a venture capital investment competition. Every one of those outcomes came down to storytelling and pitching. I help early-stage founders take complex or technical products and turn them into clear, compelling pitches. Whether you're preparing for a demo day, a VC meeting, a competition, or an accelerator application, I help you find the version of your story that makes people lean in. I've coached thousands of people through high-stakes moments where the story has to land. If you have a great product but struggle to communicate why it matters, that's exactly where I come in.
Ghalia can help with:
Fundraising
Interview Prep
Venture Capital Strategy
Ghalia also coaches for Law School and Communication & Public Speaking. View all.
About Ghalia
I help ambitious applicants and founders craft compelling narratives, whether you're applying to law school, grad school, or scholarships, preparing for interviews, or pitching your startup. If your goal requires persuasive storytelling, I can help you get there. I'm a Columbia Law 3L who was admitted to law schools across Canada and the U.S., including the University of Ottawa's dual-degree program straight out of high school, the University of Alberta Faculty of Law at age 19 after just two years of undergrad, and multiple T-14 programs with full-tuition scholarships to two of them. I also successfully negotiated my Columbia Law scholarship up. I know what it takes to build a winning narrative because I've done it at every stage. Before law school, I founded TalkMaze, a public speaking and education platform that grew to 20,000 members and 4 million video views, serving over 5,000 young people across North America. I'm a Princess Diana Award recipient, a national champion in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, and a national runner-up in a venture capital competition. At Columbia, I'm a Davis Polk Leadership Initiative Fellow and Tony Patiño Fellow-Elect, and I currently teach as a TA at UPenn and coach competitive debate in NYC. Across all of this, I've been doing the same thing: helping people structure their thinking, find their story, and communicate it clearly under pressure. That skill translates whether you're writing a personal statement, walking into a scholarship interview, or standing in front of investors. I work best with people who have ambitious goals and a story worth telling well. If that sounds like you, let's talk.
Why do I coach?
I grew up painfully shy. I could barely speak up in class, let alone in front of a room. Debate changed everything for me. It taught me how to think on my feet, structure an argument, and actually use my voice. That experience changed the trajectory of my life, and I started TalkMaze because I wanted to help other young people find theirs. Along the way, I realized that the skill underneath all of it was storytelling. Storytelling is how I earned a full ride for college, how I got hundreds of thousands of dollars in law school scholarship offers including full tuition at two T-14 schools, how I landed 4 TEDx talks, and how I got media coverage I never expected. Every major opportunity I've had came down to the same thing: knowing how to tell my story clearly and persuasively when it mattered. I coach because I've seen firsthand how much changes when someone learns to do that. Most people already have a compelling story. They just need help seeing it and saying it. That's what I'm here for.
Work Experience
Law Clerk
Optimal Counsel
July 2024 - Present
Optimal Counsel delivers top-tier, company-focused legal counsel to venture-backed tech companies across the country and world. Law
Founder
TalkMaze
2020 - Present
73% of people are afraid of public speaking, yet resources to combat the fear are limited. TalkMaze addresses the problem at its root by helping kids aged 5-17 build confidence through public speaking and debate training.
Summer Associate
Vinson & Elkins
May 2024 - July 2024
Awarded the Diversity Fellowship. Rotated through the litigation, tax, and M&A groups. Completed pro-bono work helping small businesses with legal issues. Law
Investment Analyst
Yaletown Partners
May 2021 - July 2021
Assisted with the deal screening process by conducting reference calls, reviewing cap tables, and observing founder meetings. Developed a system for improving equity, diversity, and inclusion at the venture capital firm by compiling and organizing over 200 records of female-founded startups.
Education
Columbia Law School
Doctor of Law - JD
2023 - 2026
Activities and societies: President of the Law and Entrepreneurship Society Davis Polk Leadership Initiative Fellow & Anti-Racism Grant Recipient | Tony Patiño Fellow-Elect | <5% acceptance rate President of the Domestic Violence Project Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic Law
University of Alberta
Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction | Major in Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Management
2019 - 2023
Activities and societies: Entrepreneurship Hub Accelerator Enactus UAlberta Co-Chair of Outrun the Stigma Elected Student Council Representative Elected General Faculties Council Representative Problem Solving, Leadership and +1 skill
Ghalia was also personally admitted to
University of Pennsylvania Law School

Cornell Law School
University of Virginia School of Law
NYU School of Law
Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
2 Reviews
Overall Rating
5.0
Ghalia has helped Leland clients get into Columbia Law School