ABOUT TESE
Hello, beautiful soul! I’m Tese Mascari, Artist, Certified Mindfulness Coach and fellow human being. I want to live in a world where women are kinder to themselves. A world where women support other women.
A little about my path:
I hold a BS in Psychology, am a PCC-certified coach, and have trained with teachers including Gabor Maté, Ann-Marie McKelvey, and Coeleen Kiebert. My approach weaves trauma-informed coaching, expressive arts, and embodied mindfulness to support meaningful personal growth.
When I’m not holding space for others, I’m in the studio—hands in clay, surrounded by creative possibility. Or out exploring the redwoods near my home.
Hi, I’m Tese Mascari—artist, mindfulness-based coach, and founder of Studio Emaho in Soquel, California.
I have been a meditation practitioner since 2006 and a lifelong learner with a deep interest in how people grow, change, and make meaning of their lives. My work is grounded in evidence-based approaches, nervous system awareness, and reflective practices that support emotional regulation, self-understanding, and sustainable change.
I bring a trauma-informed, culturally responsive lens to my work. I believe context matters. Our histories, identities, relationships, and social environments shape how we move through the world. I strive to meet each person with curiosity and respect, honoring their lived experience rather than applying one-size-fits-all solutions.
I am also an artist, and my creative practice has taught me how powerful non-linear exploration can be. Art has been a gateway into deeper self-awareness, helping me listen beneath the surface, tolerate uncertainty, and trust inner wisdom. That perspective shows up in my coaching style. I make space for reflection, insight, and discovery, not just problem solving.
As a parent of adult children still finding their way into adulthood, I understand life transitions from the inside out. Identity shifts, changing roles, and the quiet questions of “who am I now?” are familiar terrain. This informs my ability to support clients navigating their own transitions, boundaries, and evolving sense of self.
My approach is collaborative, warm, and grounded. I work well with people who are thoughtful, emotionally aware-or seeking to be so, and motivated to understand themselves more deeply. Together we focus on building awareness, expanding choice, and developing practical skills for navigating stress, relationships, and change.
I am open to the complexity of being human and to the fact that not everything meaningful can be easily explained. In our work, we blend evidence-based tools with curiosity, compassion, and honest conversation to support growth that feels real and sustainable. Read testimonials here.
Things I know for sure:
True Belonging begins when we learn to belong to ourselves.
When we are kind to ourselves, we radiate kindness towards others.
Meditation can change your brain and your mind.
Human connection is an essential nutrient.
Connecting to nature is medicine.
Boundaries are Beautiful.
Creativity heals.
Education, Relevant Training, and Credentials:
BS in Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), my interests and research are focused on the impact of emotional awareness on individuals and their relationships.
Art & Spirit Certification, Coeleen Kiebert
I completed the Art & Spirit certification in 2025—a deeply experiential program that weaves together depth psychology, expressive arts, and spiritual inquiry. Coeleen’s approach offers both structure and spaciousness: a repeatable process that blends collage, journaling, guided visualization, and self-inquiry to support the unfolding of your own unique creative voice. For me, this work deepened my relationship to clay, but the process is equally powerful for painters, printmakers, writers—anyone seeking a more intentional, meaningful connection to their art or inner life. Art & Spirit is ultimately a practice for bringing the unconscious into form, helping what’s below the surface rise with clarity, creativity, and purpose.
Certified Paint From Your Soul™ art facilitator, Michelle Baker's Paint from Your Soul™ (PFYS) process is a creative, intuitive painting approach designed to help individuals tap into their inner wisdom and self-expression.
This training offered tools for exploring intuition through expressive mark-making and emotional presence. While I no longer teach this method directly, the experience helped shape my own approach to painting as a meditative and revealing process. My current work integrates intuitive art with personal inquiry, storytelling, and symbolic meaning—rooted in authenticity over aesthetics.
Certified ICF PCC - (International Coaching Federation Professional Coach Certification)
Compassionate Inquiry Training, I completed a year long training program in trauma in October 2022. Compassionate Inquiry is a psychotherapeutic approach developed by Dr. Gabor Maté that reveals what lies beneath the appearance we present to the world. Compassionate Inquiry gently uncovers and releases the layers of childhood trauma, constriction and suppressed emotion embedded in the body, that are at the root of illness and addiction.
Mindfulness Coaching School, 2022 Graduate, PCC certification. MCS was founded by Master Certified Coach, Psychotherapist, and Buddhist Chaplain Ann-Marie McKelvey, LPCC, MCC. Mindfulness Coaching School was created to offer the integration of: Engaged Mindfulness, Positive Psychology, Right Speech, Wellness Practices, EMDR, and Somatic Coaching Skills.
Cultivating Emotional Balance (CEB) training. Cultivating Emotional Balance is a 42 hour, secular, emotion and mindfulness skills training program designed to help participants improve emotional life through the cultivation of constructive emotional experiences, decrease destructive emotional experiences and developing mental balance.
CLCC I am a 2019 graduate of Courageous Living Coach Certification program, it’s a rigorous life coach training program modeled after all of the International Coaching Federation core competencies, developed by author and coach, Kate Swoboda, aka Kate Courageous.
Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) with Stanford University’s Center for Compassion And Altruism Research And Education.
Teacher training with Creating Compassionate Cultures
