“I see pleasing, as a silent disease of this century, where people are overshadowed by others and find themselves in high-stakes situations.”
I had the pleasure of talking with Orian Tal. Orian is a man who lives a fascinating double life in the heart of Tel Aviv, navigating two wildly different professional worlds. By day, he is a sharp, fast-paced public relations executive helping technology startups secure headlines and survive media crises. By night, or sometimes just in the very next hour, he sits quietly in a room as an existential psychotherapist, helping those same tech executives navigate the crushing weight of their own minds. It is a rare balancing act, bridging the loud, hyper-promotional world of tech media with the quiet, deeply vulnerable space of human mental health.
His story starts in the neighborhoods of Ramat Gan, what he casually refers to as Israeli suburbia. He was not always the outgoing communicator he is today. “I was a bit more of a recluse child, and I guess that translated into spending a lot of time playing video games,” he recalls. That early immersion into digital worlds taught him the English language and brought him closer to the machinery of technology. After his mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces, where he worked closely with international organizations, his path seemed set. He found himself mixing human interaction with the political and technological landscape of his country.
For nearly a decade, Tal lived the high-stakes corporate agency life. He worked at a successful public relations firm in Tel Aviv, eventually climbing the ranks to become a Vice President and Chief Communications Officer. He managed crises, navigated embargoes, and represented emerging tech startups. He loved the rush of the industry. “There is something to be said about the thrill of PR, working under deadlines, embargoes, and media crises,” he explains. He learned firsthand how easily narratives can spin out of control, once accidentally hyping up a client’s crypto phone because his team misread the press release. “We ended up announcing the phone incorrectly, making it sound as if the phone was way better than it actually was,” he jokes. The media picked it up, and it was a huge win for the client, but it taught him a valuable lesson about the unpredictable nature of the media machine.
Despite the corporate success, the daily grind eventually lost its shine. Like many people, the global pandemic forced him to hit pause and look closely at his trajectory. “COVID brought a lot of self-reflection and trying to put two and two together to understand where you are in life and what really interests you,” Tal says. He was doing interesting work representing AI and data startups, but simply needing a job felt like a surface-level reason for spending his life there. He realized he was burning out. “At a certain time, as we like to say in Hebrew, there was no more blessing in it,” he admits.
During a quarantine lockdown, he discovered an existential psychotherapy school in Tel Aviv. He took a massive leap, attending classes three days a week for three years, followed by rigorous clinical training. It scratched a deep itch he had carried since he first studied psychology in his twenties. He officially opened his private therapy practice on October 6, 2023. Today, he focuses heavily on the very people he used to work alongside: high-tech executives, expats, and middle managers who are quietly suffocating under the pressure. “Managers in tech are having a hard time in their own way,” he notes. “Being in tech and having to be a leader is very hard for a lot of people.”
Tal brings an incredibly human, down-to-earth approach to his practice. He integrates ancient philosophy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and neuroplastic pain management. He even uses his old gaming habits to connect with clients. He remembers working with a patient who struggled to open up, so he fired up the video game Roblox to play alongside them during the session. “It was amazing to see how tech gets people talking,” he shares. “I used to be a gamer, and it came in handy.” By letting people hide behind a colorful digital avatar, he helps them find the courage to finally speak.
Truth is the core of everything Tal does now, whether he is running his pay-per-success PR firm, The Pitch, or sitting across from a struggling professional. He believes that honesty is always the most effective strategy. “The truth is the shortest path,” he says. In business, it means admitting when you cannot do a job instead of faking it for an easy win. In personal relationships, it means finally speaking up. He views people-pleasing as the silent disease of our century. “A lot of us please people in order to keep ourselves hidden, which is a major problem in business and relationships. We simply do not believe we can get what we want.”
Tal walked away from a comfortable corporate identity to build a life that feels deeply authentic to him. He works out fiercely to clear his head, leans on his own spiritual practices, and listens intently to the people around him. He knows what it is like to feel cornered by life’s demands, and he aims to be the person who helps others find their way out. “When you really start caring about the people you see, it is all about the human connection,” he reflects. It is a heavy responsibility, but for Orian Tal, it is exactly where he is supposed to be.
Yitzi: Orian, it is such a pleasure to do this with you. Before we dive in and talk about your amazing work, our readers would love to learn about Orian Tal’s personal origin story. Can you share with us the story of your childhood, how you grew up, and the seeds, the genesis for all the amazing work that has come since then?
Orian: It is such a pleasure to be here. I grew up in Israel, here in Tel Aviv, technically Ramat Gan, Israeli suburbia. I was a bit more of a recluse child, and I guess that translated into spending a lot of time playing video games. That brought me closer to technology and the English language.
Looking at some of the things I did over the years, I served my mandatory service here in Israel in the IDF and worked a lot with international organizations. My entire trajectory was working with people and technology, focusing on how technology is discussed or how people interact in the English language. That was the bare bones. Put a political landscape on top of that, and that is what I did in my upbringing.
Aside from that, I found myself very much interested in psychology from around high school. It is a big love of mine. I geek out on it. Nowadays, it has brought me to a place where I am fiddling with both worlds. I can say more about that.
Yitzi: Let us talk about the next chapter. Tell us a bit about how you started your therapy practice. Yes, talk more about that.
Orian: Psychology was a big love of mine for as long as I can remember. I majored in it when I was in my 20s here in Israel. I had a lot of other things going on and was also into startups in a different way. I had my own publication with a partner here in Israel about CrossFit, a big American sport and fitness method that we reported on. Unfortunately, that did not take off, but it led me on a very cool journey throughout my bachelor’s degree.
The plan to become a therapist was sidelined. I was not banking on it at all. Then COVID hit, and for a lot of people, COVID brought a lot of self-reflection and trying to put two and two together to understand where you are in life and what really interests you. Back then, I was working in a PR agency where I spent about eight years in total, serving as a VP and CCO. It felt like something was missing for me. I was doing a lot of interesting work representing startups in emerging tech, but I just could not find anything beyond needing a job, which is a surface-level argument for doing things.
That brought me to investigate. During one of the COVID quarantines, I found an existential psychotherapy school here in Tel Aviv. I went there and did courses three days a week for three years, followed by a practicum. I found out that it really scratched an itch that only one thing could answer. Ironically, my practice opened on the 6th of October 2023, which was a bit alarming. Ever since then, I have been working a lot with professionals in tech who need someone who gets it. I work with executives and people trying to navigate high-tech in Israel and abroad, as well as olim, expats in Israel who need to get by, and people from other walks of life. I have been pursuing this throughout the past four years.
It keeps me busy for more than a couple of hours for sure. Sometimes you meet a lot of people in one block, and other times it is more spread out. It walks with you. When you really start caring about the people you see, it is all about the human connection, which keeps you involved throughout the week. It is a responsibility, but I have not had anything quite like it in tech. Sure, you do a lot of things that are high stakes in tech, but this is a different kind of responsibility that has a lot more to do with values or charitable work. You rarely get to scratch that itch in tech. I love that. It is a big part of who I am and what I do nowadays.
Yitzi: I met you through your communications and public relations work. I would love to learn how that practice started.
Orian: For a long time, I was corporate. I worked in a successful PR agency here in Tel Aviv for about eight years. After a while, I understood that I could not keep doing the same thing, although I had a blast and it was an incredible time. I just had to start doing my own thing. It was like slowly stepping into cold water. You make one step, then you step back, and then you take the other step. Initially, I just had a client or two for whom I managed funding rounds.
Then I saw that being a freelancer and solopreneur is actually fun. When you like the heat and start enjoying the responsibility, it really takes shape. It was something I did on the side initially. After I graduated from another startup I worked at, I decided it was go time. These are two things I am passionate about. As much as there is nothing like the feeling you get from doing charitable work, there is something to be said about the thrill of PR, working under deadlines, embargoes, and media crises. I think that is amazing and very interesting. It has you working and understanding a lot of different industries, from defense tech startups to health, data, and AI-related startups. You get to hear so much and meet a lot of cool people.
Yitzi: You probably have some incredible stories from all the different parts of your career, and I am sure it is difficult to single them out. Can you share with our readers two stories that stand out in your mind from your career?
Orian: That is a really good question. I have one that is kind of funny. It was a media mishap. At one time, I was representing a crypto exchange that announced a unique brand of crypto phone with crypto features and a wallet embedded within it. Funnily enough, my team and I read the press release wrong. We read parts of it, but it became a wild beast on its own, so no one really understood what it actually meant.
We ended up putting it out, and the story took on a life of its own, the phone came across as bigger than it was. Everyone picked it up, and the client was happy, but it had run ahead of the facts before we could rein it in. It is a lesson on the media. It is such a funny channel. It just goes to show how much it matters to vet every line, because once something is out there it moves on its own. That misstep was a funny one to live through, and a lesson that stuck
At one point in my therapy practice, without mentioning anybody specifically, I played around with introducing tech into therapy. One part of it involved using Roblox to play with a person who needed extra help getting into a more talkative mode. This person was dealing with certain mental challenges. It was amazing to see how tech gets people talking. It is a colorful setting. I do not know if you have played Roblox, but kids play it, and it turns out it is fun. There was something really wholesome about the entire affair. I used to be a gamer, and it came in handy.
Yitzi: Is it common practice for therapists to use PC games in their sessions?
Orian: Not often, but there have been cases. I even saw a US veteran who suffers from PTSD talking about his experiences in VR. In the virtual reality setting, he appeared as a fluffy little animal while talking to another person. I guess it takes the edge off. It can be hard being ourselves, so being someone else is actually very nice, even if just for a while.
Yitzi: I hear that a lot when I interview actors. They often say they started out because they were very shy, but a parent or someone else suggested they start acting. Playing a character makes it easier to get out of your shell. It is a common story I have heard.
Orian: Exactly. It is funny. I think it also has a lot to do with PR. When we build our persona, brand, or image, we as human beings actually work very well with archetypes. We can convince ourselves and build an archetype that makes sense for us, and suddenly we display abilities that we did not realize we could have.
Yitzi: There is a saying that no is not rejection but redirection. Is there a story where you got a “no” to an opportunity that led to an even better opportunity or greater success?
Orian: Part of my story about being a VP and CCO in an agency and having a more corporate lifestyle, and then becoming a solopreneur, was a lot like that. I think it also has a lot to do with God. I lived a positive life and made a lot of people happy. It is a job, and you try to make your bosses and employees happy while handling your responsibilities. At a certain time, as we like to say in Hebrew, there was no more blessing in it. I felt it was not really happening for me anymore. I felt a bit burnt out.
I initially viewed it as something negative, but two years later, I only see the positives. I live a life that is much more true to my core. I said “no” to a certain lifestyle, which was a definitive feeling that I could not progress in that direction anymore because it just did not work for me. I see that a lot with tech professionals who have to hang up their hats on certain roles or chapters in their lives. There is something very humbling about admitting that a path is not working for you anymore. You hope that God has an idea of what you should do next because you have no clue. Sometimes, you find yourself in exactly the right place afterward.
Yitzi: What has been the most challenging project or role you have taken on so far, and why?
Orian: That is a very good question. When I initially managed a team of five employees, I mentored them from day one and also managed a department. I think middle management is very hard. We never really think about middle management in most companies, but it is a class that is often overlooked. We hear a lot about CEOs doing great, but there is a lot to be said about the people who live in the in-between absorbing the pressure.
Managers in tech are having a hard time in their own way. It is challenging to balance everything out. There is also a lot of burnout in tech. I am seeing this a lot right now with people being replaced by AI. We are really starting to see a bubble burst or cracks in the structure. A lot of it has to do with things we have had to deal with over the past few years, like COVID and initial shifts in tech. Now it has turned into a slow-building work crisis, which we are mostly seeing in Israel right now. Being in tech and having to be a leader is very hard for a lot of people. That was definitely a big part of my career that was very challenging.
Yitzi: Do you have any exciting new initiatives or developments in your company now? Are there any new focuses you want to share with our readers?
Orian: I am getting more into how LLMs shape PR. It is very interesting nowadays to see that. We are actually seeing a PR renaissance. There is a lot more interest in the field. Previously, public relations was viewed as something only accessible if you had the money to hire a top-tier New York or LA firm. Now, it is something a lot of people talk about. You speak to pre-seed or post-seed startups, and PR is much more on their radar. I think it is really interesting, so I have been investing more time investigating and trying to see how I can create results for clients.
I also believe there is a big renaissance in defense tech as a vertical. Unfortunately, the world is at war right now, which is sad. However, out of all the verticals we are seeing in tech and startups, SaaS companies are struggling, whereas cybersecurity and defense tech are becoming the next frontier. The job security we once attributed to old-school technology is going to be found there. This is interesting for me wearing two hats, as someone in the industry and as someone working with professionals to help them find their next step. I think a lot of people will find their next gig in defense tech. It really depends on where you sit, but there could also be moral implications to that. It is very fascinating.
Yitzi: Amazing. This is our signature question, the centerpiece of our interview. You have been blessed with a lot of success, and you must have learned a lot from your experiences. Looking back to the beginning when you first started, can you share five things you have learned over the years that somebody starting out today would really benefit from?
Orian: That is an incredible question. There is one boss-mentorof mine to whom I really owe a lot. He had a saying that translated from Hebrew means there is great virtue in helping someone come down from a tree. Sometimes we find ourselves cornered in business or personal life, and there is something very charitable and honest in helping people out when they are in that position. It could happen to anyone, whether you are an employee or a manager. There is something great in being a good human being, even when people in the startup world can be at each other’s throats. You have to remember who you are.
Another quote I stand by, though I do not remember the source, is that the truth is the shortest path. When you really think about it in business, personal life, and romantic relationships, it is much easier and probably more profitable to just be honest. This applies to micro-situations as a solopreneur. For instance, if you meet a client, you could tell them you can do the job even if you do not wholeheartedly believe it. However, it is actually more profitable to admit when you cannot do the work and recommend someone else or suggest a different approach, rather than going for an easy win.
A third point I bring from my therapy practice is the importance of listening. If you really listen to someone and let them speak, you can learn so much about why they do certain things and what truly bothers them. We do not do that very often. If we took a week to just take the backseat in conversations, it could be life-changing to see how much we miss from people we love and are close to. We think we are good to people, but upon closer inspection, we might find that is not really the case.
Fourth, I think in tech and life, we are often encouraged to be good to our employees, spouses, and significant others. That chatter has resulted in us sometimes becoming people-pleasers. I see pleasing as a silent disease of this century, where people are overshadowed by others and find themselves in high-stakes situations. We are all feeling scarcity due to COVID, war, and the economic climate, but we are hiding in a lot of ways and not speaking our piece. I see this problem in companies and individuals. We are forgetting our commitment to ourselves.
Finally, to connect that to a religious perspective, we all have certain gifts and unique takes on people. There are things that help us shine in our true colors, and there are things completely unsuited for us. You are better off doing the things that complement you, but it is hard to believe and embody that fully. Whether you subscribe to God, Buddha, or the universe, no one would actually want you to hide. You are needed exactly as you are and the way you show up. A lot of us please people in order to keep ourselves hidden, which is a major problem in business and relationships. We simply do not believe we can get what we want. That is the short end of it.
Yitzi: Can you share some of the self-care routines you practice to help your body, mind, and heart thrive?
Orian: That is an interesting one. First of all, I am big into working out. I believe it is one of the best things you can do for yourself. There is so much value in seeing how much you can take and how much you can build yourself up. I think it is almost a virtue. I am a big proponent of physical fitness and find it really helps me, especially before seeing patients and getting to the office.
Unsurprisingly, I am also a big proponent of therapy. I think it can help a lot of people understand themselves and their surroundings better. It is also beneficial to dabble in whatever spirituality works for you, whether that means going to a church, speaking to a rabbi, visiting a spiritual center, or just reading books and entertaining your mind. We lack that nowadays and can become very cynical. On the contrary, you would not be surprised at how many people in tech go to Burning Man and engage in meditation. We really need it as a society. Every time I treat myself on a spiritual or mental health level, it benefits everybody around me. That is one way I like to think about it.
Yitzi: This is our final aspirational question. Orian, because of your amazing work and the platform you built, it is no exaggeration to say that you are a person of great influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can spread.
Orian: It can sound very cheap if poorly worded, but I really think the truth goes a long way. That is what I would encourage most people to act by. It actually diffuses most situations. We can all win in this. We do not really need to struggle as much as we think, and the basis of it is truth. That means being honest with oneself and being honest with others. That is something I would impart, and it is fairly transferable to whatever you are dealing with. I hope that resonates.
Yitzi: Thank you. Unbelievable. How can our readers continue to follow your work, reach out to you to engage your services, or support your work in any possible way?
Orian: First of all, thank you. This has been a real pleasure. I am posting quite a bit on LinkedIn these days, mostly about the intersection of work, tech, AI, and PR, and that is the best place to connect with me. You can read more about my PR firm, The Pitch, at thepitch.media. On the therapy side, my practice is at oriantal.co, and I write about mental health, philosophy, and the things I sit with in the clinic on Instagram. Whether it is PR or therapy, anyone is welcome to reach out through any of those. I would be happy to connect.
Yitzi: It has been a joy to do this with you. I wish you continued success, good health, and blessings. I hope we do this again next year.
Orian: Thank you. I am so happy to have had this interview and this opportunity.
From PR Crises to the Couch: Inside Orian Tal’s Double Life Healing Tech’s Burnout Epidemic was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.