Getting to Know Ani
Ani Moller is an autistic ADHD leadership coach, keynote speaker, and workplace strategist based in Melbourne. They specialise in supporting neurodivergent professionals in complex careers, including executives, senior leaders, technical specialists, consultants, and founders navigating high-responsibility roles.
Ani works as an ADHD and autism executive coach in Melbourne helping professionals who are highly capable but struggling with burnout, executive function challenges, or workplaces that don’t align with how their brains operate. Their work focuses on practical strategies that improve sustainable performance, decision-making, and leadership effectiveness without pushing people into exhaustion.
Before starting their coaching practice, Ani held senior leadership roles including Executive Director positions managing large teams, complex programs, and multi-million-dollar budgets. Following their own experiences of burnout and stroke recovery, they retrained as an ADHD coach and built a practice focused on helping neurodivergent professionals thrive at work.
Ani now works across one-to-one executive coaching, group programs, keynote speaking, workshops, and organisational training programs designed to help individuals and workplaces develop practical skills for working with neurodivergent thinking styles.
Their work moves beyond awareness and focuses on equipping professionals and organisations with concrete tools to reduce burnout, improve executive functioning, and create workplaces where neurodivergent talent can perform at its best.
Leaning Into Coaching
Before starting my coaching practice, I worked in senior leadership roles where I was responsible for managing large programs, teams, and complex strategic work. One of the parts of leadership I enjoyed most was helping people think through difficult situations and find a way forward when work felt overwhelming.
Around the time I was completing my ADHD coaching training, I had a stroke in 2023 that required a long recovery period. My ability to manage the intense cognitive load of program management was affected for a while, but one thing that remained unchanged was my ability to work with people 1:1 to support them in solving their challenges at work.
That experience pushed me to fully lean into coaching as a career.
I was diagnosed autistic and ADHD at age 41 when I was on an executive leadership team and had spent a lot of time learning how to come to terms with that. Earlier in my career I had experienced repeated burnout, but I struggled to find support that actually made sense for what I was experiencing. Traditional workplace advice and even mental health support often didn’t recognise how neurodivergence can shape someone’s experience at work, particularly for high-performing professionals.
What I’m most passionate about now is helping people avoid the long and difficult path that many neurodivergent professionals go through before they get the right support. My work focuses on practical strategies that help people manage executive function, reduce burnout risk, and design ways of working that allow them to perform well without constantly pushing themselves into exhaustion.
Starting A Small Business and Managing Fatigue From A Stroke
One of the biggest challenges has been learning how different running a small business is compared to working in senior leadership roles inside organisations.
In corporate environments I was very comfortable with strategy, program delivery, and managing complex work. Starting a small business meant suddenly having to learn about things like marketing, sales, and visibility in a completely different way.
Another layer of challenge has been managing fatigue following my stroke. It means I have to be very realistic about my capacity and pace, which is quite different from how I used to work earlier in my career. I worked long hours and “pushed through” regularly.
What has helped me most is learning to simplify and focus. Instead of trying to do everything at once, I work with very clear priorities and break things down into manageable steps. Reducing friction, barriers to entry and making hard things easier.
I have also learned to get support in areas that are not my natural strengths. For example, I now work with a corporate sales coach who helps me navigate the business development side of running a coaching practice as a solopreneur.
That combination of simplifying the work, focusing on what matters most, and getting help where needed has made the biggest difference.
Authenticity and Aligned Values
Embracing true authenticity. The hardest lesson I had to learn after my autism diagnosis is that the feeling of some people not liking my vibe was a scientific proof point, not just a low self esteem. I learned that ableism can take the form of people instantly not liking you for your disability, whether they are aware of it or not – in my case they might find me too direct, not like that I don’t see or follow every social norm or expectation and sometimes “say the wrong thing”. Or with my ADHD, they might get frustrated that sometimes I’m late or forgetful.
Because the people I work with also struggle with these challenges, for me to be extremely open about it and model radical acceptance and self-compassion shows them that it’s possible to be disabled and still love yourself.
And because I’m on an unmasking journey, alongside my clients who are trying to unmask their neurodivergence and reclaim their energy and authentic selves instead of hiding who they are with shame and self-flaggelation – by being authentic I attract the right clients, and they in turn get to work in a space of authenticity themselves.
Another strategy which is one I encourage clients to make is moving from a mindset of forcing productivity to designing work that naturally supports motivation.
Many professionals operate with what I call a “push” model. They create long task lists and try to push themselves to complete everything through discipline or pressure. When that inevitably doesn’t work, it creates guilt and frustration.
For many ADHD and autistic professionals, that approach actually increases resistance.
Instead, I encourage people to move toward a “pull” model of work. That means getting realistic about capacity, energy levels, and priorities, and then choosing the next meaningful action that moves things forward.
When people start working this way, they often feel a greater sense of autonomy. Work becomes something they choose to engage with rather than something they constantly feel pushed by.
That shift tends to create far more sustainable momentum.
For me, that means getting clear on what are the important parts of my business required to grow that I have to force myself to do, and instead of procrastinating or feeling like my business is failing, I redesign them in ways that let me pull them instead. For example, I hate sales. I’ve always hated being “sold to” because it’s so obvious when it’s happening. My autistic pattern recognition can’t not notice it.
So I go into sales calls in ways that honours my personal values, importantly: (1) emotional connection, (2) fun and laughter, and (3) learning, personal growth and sharing knowledge. That means I do sales and marketing to ensure we’re a good fit energetically, and when I met people I’m curious about them and have my sales process set up to share knowledge and help them grow personally. Aligning with values makes a hard task easier.
On The Risk of Burnout
Interestingly, motivation itself is not something I tend to struggle with. I genuinely find the work I do very meaningful, and helping people navigate difficult professional situations is incredibly rewarding.
What I do have to manage carefully is the risk of burnout.
I use many of the same mental fitness practices that I teach in my programs, particularly techniques from the Positive Intelligence framework. These help me stay aware of cognitive patterns that can drive overwork or perfectionism.
Movement, mindfulness, and regular mental health practices are also important for me. I treat those as ongoing habits rather than something I only turn to when things become difficult.
I’m also very fortunate to have strong support from the people around me, including my partner and close friends who understand the realities of running a business. They are great cheerleaders and gee me up when I need it.
When things feel overwhelming, I often step back and externalise everything I’m thinking about on a whiteboard. That helps me see the bigger picture and identify the one next action that will move things forward. It sounds like such a simple action, but it’s a skill and a practice I learned and honed in my career in advertising.
Expanding Resources for Neurodivergent Professionals
One of my main goals over the next year is to expand the resources I offer for neurodivergent professionals.
One-to-one coaching can be incredibly effective, but it is also limited by time and accessibility. Not everyone has the ability to work with an executive coach individually.
Because of that, I’ve been developing group programs that focus on practical skills such as mental fitness, sustainable productivity, and task management for neurodivergent professionals.
I’m also increasingly working with organisations through keynote talks, workshops, and training programs that focus on practical workplace strategies rather than awareness alone.
Neurodiversity awareness is an important starting point, but what really helps people thrive at work is learning concrete skills and creating environments where different thinking styles can succeed.
Over the next 12 months my focus is on continuing to scale those programs so that more neurodivergent professionals and organisations can access practical support that is designed specifically for them.
Get In Touch with Ani
Ani runs programs designed to help neurodivergent professionals develop practical ways of working that reduce burnout and improve sustainable performance. Upcoming cohorts include the Neurodivergent Professionals Mental Fitness Program and Overwhelm to Action, a coaching program focused on neurodivergent-friendly task management. (both start in May)
Ani also works with individuals and organisations through executive coaching, workshops, and training.
Learn more at www.animoller.com, or connect with Ani on LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram for practical insights on neurodivergent leadership and work.
