ZENDialogue Consulting Services

​ZENDialogue was created in 2007 to help bring into being a world where people come together to listen for possibility, co-creating the new life-serving society that wants to emerge from the current crisis. ZENDialogue aims to facilitate the shift from work as usual to collective learning and innovation for a new humanity. We work with government, inter-government and non-government organizations, community groups, and individual leaders and change-makers working to address complex local and global issues in volatile, complex and ambiguous environments. Services include:
"You conveyed, genuinely, a sense of calm and purpose that was very good. You internalized a lot about us and it showed with the positive comments from participants. The workshop really helped to clarify and move forward our thinking."
- Patricia Erb, President and CEO of Save the Children Canada

"I really enjoyed the way you held the circle of the small group. Your way of leading without leading was so beautiful and inclusive and really gave me an example of how I would like to lead circles in the future, so thank you for modeling that for me."
- Deema Dabis, filmmaker, performer and facilitator

Natalie Zend, MA, Principal of ZENDialogue
IAF Certified Professional Facilitator 
Certified Training and Development Practitioner

A sought-after international workshop facilitator, I've facilitated strategic conversations and multi-stakeholder collaborations toward a better future; trained hundreds of professionals in how to create high-impact, rights-based programs for children; and helped inspire leaders to find the creativity and courage to respond to the current global crisis. I also work one-on-one with change makers to help them navigate uncertainty and find clarity with big decisions, tough choices, crossroads and new beginnings. Depending on the needs of the moment, I partner with trusted facilitator and trainer colleagues for maximum quality and impact. I often work in inter-cultural contexts, whether online, in my home base of Toronto or abroad in the US, Latin America, Africa, or Asia.    
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When I'm not hosting conversations that matter, you can find me dancing barefoot with wild abandon, making riotous sounds, or listening inside for my next step.

My Story

It all began with the Hungarian revolution.
Allow me to explain.
That failed revolt is what brought my dad to Canada in pursuit of his freedom to express himself as a writer.
Hearing his story, I learned young that, as he said, “freedom is everybody’s homeland.” 
Seeing him and his émigré friends struggle with the challenges of discrimination in their adopted home, I realized early on the complete senselessness of labeling people according to nationality, place of birth, religion, class, sex, age, number of pimples, or whatever.
Thus began my lifelong obsession with the fair, the kind and the good.
I’ve been standing up for the possibility of a just, sustainable and thriving human presence on the planet ever since.
And from refugee policy to conflict resolution to international development to children’s rights to deep ecology, bringing about a more life-aligned society has always been my work.

Find out more!

Check out the Services page, or click below for details of my experience, skills and education:

Special Project: The Robert Zend Website

I created The Robert Zend Website to make my father's creative effervescence available to the world. Hungarian-Canadian Writer And Artist, Robert Zend (Budapest ~ Toronto, 1985) was a poet without borders and an explorer of imaginary worlds. His prolific and inventive work includes poetry, experimental novels, short stories, essays, visual and concrete poetry and puns, collage art, drawing, photography, translations, and short films. The website makes all of his published books available, and some of his unpublished works too, including visual art and a flip-book. His work is by turns funny, profound, playful, and inquisitive.  His major themes include the creative process, the immigrant experience, dreams and time, the cycle of birth and death, romantic love, and language and word play.