In 2018 I fell pregnant which caught me by surprise. Whilst I was happy, part of me felt my career would be halted and that was a bitter pill to swallow. The thought of going on maternity leave was daunting for two reasons.
One I needed to fuel my brain with more than just mummy clubs and baby activities, secondly, regardless of how much corporations say that they are doing a lot for women and supporting them through maternity and beyond, it is still a business, and they need to keep things moving. The minute I informed my managers (I had two at the time) I was expecting, the first thing they started discussing was handover and who will take on what.
It surprised me, as I was very clear I was working till my due date. I was still in the business for 6 months or so but they didn’t hold off those conversations. Despite receiving many Star awards, I started to notice I was being overlooked for opportunities. For a driven individual like myself, that was difficult to see, and I knew at that point I needed a Plan B so I was in control of my destiny and career.
"Coaching overall benefited me by eliminating the noises that were surrounding me especially around imposter syndrome."
I have always enjoyed leading and driving highly driven individuals like myself to reach their ultimate potential. I stumbled across the Introduction to Life Coaching course The Coaching Academy offer and I went on to attend 7 months pregnant. Immediately I found my flow.
The very next day, I signed up for the PPD and NLP and built a complete project plan which kicked off from the day I gave birth. When my baby turned one month, I attended my first accelerator day. I had to ensure throughout the coaching diploma, I planned enough supply of breast milk so my husband could feed our son whilst I attended the accelerator days.
Through my coaching journey and being coached myself, I got to understand myself at a deeper level. Coaching overall benefited me by eliminating the noises that were surrounding me especially around imposter syndrome. I grew in confidence in understanding myself and my core values which helped me recognise that when I was in conflict, it was as a result of one of my core values not being met or been shaken. The tools have enabled me to change my mindset and know anything is attainable.
My journey of going through the coaching diploma and building my business has taken me out of my comfort zone. Each time I have faced a hurdle – and there have been many through my business journey - I have come out stronger and have really changed my overall thinking. I am now living a life of full contentment, and I have created a life for myself that is balanced. I love transforming highly driven individuals and working with corporations on their D&I agenda.
"From the outside, they have ticked all the boxes and created a life that looks like a successful career, personal life but from the inside, they are questioning is this it? "
Before I went on maternity leave and once, I enrolled on the course, I built a plan and spoke to my husband on days when I would need his help to take care of our kids. Once I went on maternity leave with my 1.5-year-old and newborn, I kept my focus and drive to attain my own goal that is to become a qualified life coach by the end of my maternity leave.
After the last feed of the middle of the night, which was around 4/4:30 am, I wouldn’t sleep and instead I would be studying through the workbooks during the duration of the course. I then spent an hour every evening finishing anything off I had not between feed times. My plan already had all the accelerator days incorporated and I had listed out all requirements that needed to be met before attending each accelerator day and practical assessments.
3 months in, I grew in confidence, that is when I started pro-bono coaching which I would do early mornings or in the evenings. I wanted to ensure I kept a balance and gave my children time as well. At the same time, I was also undertaking another Diploma in Internal Communications, so I needed to ensure I was managing both diplomas simultaneously.
I made sure I kept up to date with all my paperwork as well as much as I could to avoid a big backlog.
I met some amazing individuals from all walks of life and the tutors were just amazing. Hearing about their journey and how they came about coaching was so inspiring and it illustrated the diverse group of coaches The Coaching Academy has.
The tutors and fellow students brought so much enthusiasm and knowledge, it was great energy to be around. I enjoyed the pace at which the learning was, and at no point did I feel any pressure that I had to do a module by a specific date. I was in control of the agenda and speed I wanted to work at which made it more exciting and liberating.
The idea to set up my practice came about in July 2020. I found myself in an unfulfilled role and thought this was the time to practice what I preach - which is work for passion, not just for financial gain.
I launched my practice, Edge of Reasons, in 2020.
The reason I chose the Edge of Reasons as my business name was because, during my career, I have always been the individual Senior Executives/Leaders, Team members approach when they are stuck or dealing with a challenging personal or professional crisis. I believe the reason they approach me is due to one of my core values being loyalty. All the challenges I have heard, there has been one common theme and that is people are on the Edge.
From the outside, they have ticked all the boxes and created a life that looks like a successful career, personal life but from the inside, they are questioning is this it?
I work with emerging female leaders and current female leaders to not lose their voice and help with their confidence. I have just launched a Female Confidence Coaching workshop, where various female/emerging female leaders join to discuss their challenges especially in the Technology space which is my background. We navigate through the various beliefs that are instilled in them, and how to break down those barriers.
I also work with highly driven individuals & Senior Executives, who understand to make transformational changes, they need to put the effort in. I am their walking-talking diary holding them accountable and at times asking those tough questions or challenging those beliefs utilising my NLP tools & Coaching techniques.
On the Corporate side, I work with organisations on their D&I agenda and Team Engagement survey, helping them navigate through the challenges and building up strategies working with their Executive teams.
I am passionate about helping individuals who are feeling unmotivated, their fire extinguished and feeling unfulfilled. I help them get unstuck and create a more purpose-driven, fun and freedom filled life where they are reaching their full potential. It is all about working on their mindsets, combating beliefs and creating a mind map of the life they envisage.
The power of the Mind is my biggest curiosity - how it influences how we feel and translate that feeling through our communication. I love how we can disconnect from certain behaviours we feel are having a negative impact on us and our future growth and the power of our mind can help break down those negative behavioural traits.
I do believe we all are on the edge of something as we haven’t opened our minds to the many possibilities life has to offer. The be-do-have tool has been an eye-opener for me in my personal and professional life and has opened many possibilities for me to attain my goal.
I am a big believer that we all have it within us, we just need to tap into that inner chatter and communicate positive accomplishments and use our visual sense to build up the future we like to see ourselves in. It all is possible, and I am living it.
Passion. You need to be passionate about people and building rapport. You need to also be passionate about a specific area. As the saying goes, Jack of all trades, master of none. Whilst Life Coaching can cover multiple areas and some coaches cover it well, I feel by focusing on a niche, you are really going into the depth of that area and growing with that community to bring transformational value.
Whilst I was already coaching in my Leadership role, I felt qualifying as a Life Coach helped with my credibility but also provided the baseline structure to further enhance my programme and toolkit to help my clients.
Lastly, have fun on this journey. Do not take it seriously, make sure you course-correct as you go on. As coaches, we never stop growing. We need to keep up our skills and just enjoy the experience of being coached and coaching others.
My fellow coaches, no doubt. We had so much fun learning together but also learning from one another. We tried and tested different techniques on one another and found what worked well for us. Supporting each other with reciprocal coaching, sharing our learnings and experience was just an amazing experience overall. Wouldn’t have got through it without them.
Would you like to have a coaching business you can run from the comfort of your own home? The free Introduction to Life Coaching training sessions are available for you to join. They are interactive, informative and designed to help you understand if training to be a life coach is for you.
Take positive action, project forward and plan for a year to remember for all the right reasons. Choose from available dates here.
The Coaching Academy was established in 1999, and is now the world's largest coaching school.
In that time we have trained over 14,000 people to become life coaches.
We are accredited by the International Coach Federation and the Association for Coaching, and we're rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot.
