Today we’d like to introduce you to Hasani Pettiford
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
About Hasani Pettiford
Hasani Pettiford is the co-founder of Couples Academy, a relationship based learning institute committed to placing couples on the path to fulfillment. Hasani is a marriage coach and infidelity recovery specialist who has spent 17 years working with high profile clients, entertainers, professional athletes, Hollywood and corporate execs, small business owners and professionals.
Hasani Pettiford has privately worked with couples throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America, Caribbean, the Middle East and Africa. His private and group intensives, retreats, coaching programs and weekly counseling sessions are making an impact globally.
His expert advice has been sought after by national networks including NBC, TLC, CW Network, BET, TV-One, TBN, and the Wall Street Journal.
Hasani has published an array of educational materials which include: The Audacity of Marriage, 101 Ways To Love My Wife, 101 Ways To Love My Husband, 7 Days of Extra-Ordinary Sex, Intellectual Intimacy, Black Thighs, Black Guys & Bedroom Lies and Pimpin’ From The Pulpit To The Pews, Why We Hate Black Women & Why We Should Love Them and many more.
Hasani and Danielle Pettiford have been happily married for 21 years and have four beautiful girls.
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About Hasani and Danielle Pettiford: A Marriage Story
Danielle and I met at a pivotal moment in my life, just as I had embraced my purpose as a professional speaker. She attended one of my events after being invited by a friend and was so inspired by what she saw and heard that she decided to sow a seed into my ministry, aspiring to do similar work herself. This initial connection led to me mentoring her, and over a few months, our relationship blossomed. After a year and a half of dating, we knew marriage was the obvious next step.
What drew us together was a shared faith, a mutual entrepreneurial spirit, and the ability to challenge and inspire each other intellectually. We also had undeniable chemistry—highly attracted to one another—and complementary personalities. Danielle brought fun and lightness to my serious nature, creating a perfect balance in our relationship. Marriage felt like a natural choice, and soon after, our family began to grow. We welcomed our four daughters—Paris, Madison, Savannah, and Sydney—naming them after cities because we knew they were destined to go places in life.
But like most couples, our journey wasn’t without challenges. We faced the “big five” marital struggles: financial hardship, sexual misalignment, communication breakdowns, parenting differences, and in-law issues. On top of that, we dealt with deeper wounds, including emotional betrayal. Life threw curveballs at us—losing loved ones, failed businesses, job losses (I was fired from two jobs on the same day), a foreclosure, and even friendship betrayals.
For years, I resisted seeking counsel, but when our marriage hit a breaking point, I finally humbled myself and enrolled in an intensive marital course. That decision marked the turning point in our relationship.
Through the process, we learned that marriage takes intentionality and effort to thrive. Emotional connection and physical attraction alone weren’t enough to sustain a lasting partnership. We realized that God had to be at the center of our marriage. We committed ourselves to continuous learning, attending seminars, retreats, workshops, and reading countless books to rebuild our foundation.
This transformative journey inspired us to become marriage and family coaches—not only to secure our own marriage but to help other couples find healing and restoration.
As a couple, we initially felt isolated, like we were on an island. To change that, we began hosting social events for couples to build a sense of community. However, it became clear that many of the couples we met were struggling. They were public successes but private failures—smiling on the outside while crying on the inside. What started as casual gatherings turned into heartfelt counseling sessions around our kitchen table.
It was in those moments that we realized our pain had a purpose. The lessons that took us years to learn could transform another couple’s marriage in minutes if they were willing to listen.
We found our purpose as partners: helping couples in crisis. That realization led us to form an organization called the Touch and Agree Family Institute, which we later rebranded as Couples Academy after relocating to Atlanta, GA.
During this transition, we began encountering couples struggling with infidelity. Recognizing a gap in our expertise, we pursued specialized training and became certified Infidelity Recovery Specialists. Today, Couples Academy has become a global leader in affair recovery and divorce prevention, making an impact on countless marriages around the world.
Our story is a testament to the power of resilience, faith, and purpose. What began as our personal struggle has become a mission to help others heal, grow, and thrive in their relationships.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Here’s a strong response that aligns with your bio while maintaining authenticity and inspiration. It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Like any meaningful journey, there were challenges that tested both my personal resilience and my marriage. we believe marriage and family is the foundation of all civilization. if you have a strong marriage, you have a strong family. if you have a strong family you have the makings of a strong society, therefore, it advances all of civilization. so, our mission is to help heal, restore and transform relationships. this mission has taken us all over the world. we’ve spoken on stages, been featured on television and radio, trained and hired practitioners to counsel people. we’ve written book, etc. it has had a toll on our time, our finances, etc. when you are dedicated to a mission, you give your entire self (all of who you are) to it. that has at times cause personal and professional struggles during certain seasons of life: being on the road for long lengths of time, working long hours, missing special moments/celebrations. professionally: launching initiatives, investing significant money, creating content, developing production projects, hosting events, that weren’t always successful or didn’t gain the traction you initially planned and hoped for. questioning yourself, asking “is this worth it?” are we really making an impact? does anyone care? we’ve been very successful but the road has been paved with hardships, struggle, setback, doubts, etc.
We’ve been impressed with Couples Academy LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Hasani Pettiford is a life coach, best-selling author, co-founder of Couples Academy, and the nation’s #1 Infidelity Recovery Specialist. For more than two decades, thousands of couples have enjoyed the warmth, intensity and transformational power of Hasani’s relationship and personal development programs and events. Mr. Pettiford is the author of 18 books, including THE AUDACITY OF MARRIAGE: 10 Principles To Lifelong Partnership (2016).
Hasani, along with his wife, Danielle, are the co-founders of Couple Academy, a private practice specializing in affair recovery and divorce prevention. Their private and group intensives, retreats, coaching programs and weekly sessions are making an impact globally. Hasani has privately worked with couples throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America, Caribbean, the Middle East and Africa.
With twenty-eight years of experience, he has worked with high-profile clients, including entertainers, athletes, corporate execs, and professionals. His expert advice has been featured on networks such as ABC, NBC, TLC, TV-One, Lifetime, BET, and TV-One. He’s been featured in Black Enterprise, Essence, and WSJ.
we have hired and trained a team of practitioners who are certified marriage coaches and infidelity recovery specialists. i am known as an ‘Infidelity Recovery Specialist’. Ninety-five percent of my clientele come to us because they are 1. couples in crisis, 2. on the verge of divorce, or 3. have experienced infidelity. What sets us a part is that we go beyond the traditional textbook approach to therapy. We incorporate a number of modalities into our practice that helps heal/restore the individual, marriage and family. Why most practitioners rely on the traditional model of the ‘weekly hourly session’, we specialize in Intensives. We do a group or private marriage intensive. The group intensive, otherwise known as The Last Chance Weekend is a 3 day (12 hours a day) group experience that guides couple through recovery. The Private Marriage Intensive is a 3-day to 7-day experience. Three days is equivalent to 8 months of counseling. Most couple quit traditional counseling after 5-6 sessions. It’s called pre-mature termination. They are then convinced that counseling doesn’t work. In many instances, it doesn’t. So we created a method that has been extremely effective. It’s called the QLT Method. Quantum Leap Transformation Method. In short, we have collapsed time and given them 8 months of counseling in 3 days. It allows for them to address 80% of their issues, experiences healing and transformation at a much more rapid pace. Couples have a much higher probability of staying together. The rate of divorce is significantly cut with an intensive vs traditional methods of coaching/counseling. i want readers to know that we are one of the top infidelity recovery specialists in the world. There is a small handful of practitioners who are skilled in this work. Almost every counselor has worked with couples who have experienced infidelity because its such a prominent issue. However, very few are trained and specialize in it. It’s 95% of our clientele. We are the go to for Affair Recovery and Divorce Prevention.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
It think the quality is FOCUS. Focus is an acronym. Follow One Course Until Successful. It’s so easy to get distracted and caught up in new trends, opportunities, new areas of focus. But you can’t be all things to all people. You have to focus and specialize in a primary thing. I have directed all of my energies towards this one thing. Distraction leads to destruction. If you still with anything long enough eventually you will experience breakthrough. whatever your focus is, its the one thing you are saying YES to. In order to be successful you must protect that YES by surrounding it with a bunch of NOs. So, you have have to say no to a lot of new ideas, opportunities, etc. that don’t align with your YES. saying yes to too many things is a distraction and will lead to your drift. it also create brand confusion and you will eventually lose your audience.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.couplesacademy.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hasanipettiford/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CouplesAcademy
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CouplesAcademy
