I usually begin these things by saying "I've been working as a coach since 2000". I figure this reassures strangers that I'm experienced and encourages them to keep reading though in fact it's a pretty bland fact and tells you nothing interesting about who I really am and whether I'll be a good fit for you, the potential client. So what would I like you to know?
I'm a child of the 50s. I squeezed into the decade by the skin of my teeth making me 47 now which they tell me is the new 37. I only really feel my age when I notice I'm holding cooking instructions at arms' length to read them clearly, shaking my head at the thongs in Marks & Spencer or wondering fondly what ever became of Victory V tablets and Ovaltine.
After graduating in French and Linguistics in the early 80s and spending a year or two in France, I returned home to London where I worked for 15 years before moving to Dublin in 1998 and to Tipperary in 2003.
In the corporate world, I’ve worked in property management, training and recruitment. I’ve also dipped my square toes in the round holes of a solicitor’s office, a jewellery party planning business, a champagne bar and a burger restaurant. There are possibly other more painful round holes I’ve successfully blocked from my memory. Let it be.
As a coach I’m compassionate, tough, direct, funny, respectful yet irreverent, resourceful and curious; a great listener and your biggest cheer leader – but no pom poms, promise.
One of my very favourite sayings from Michelangelo is:
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free”
That’s how I feel about my clients. I help them set goals that inspire and stretch them and hold up a mirror to show them the angel when their vision wavers or their confidence fails.
I have played and worked with most types of small business owner including solicitors, beauticians, coaches, consultants, interior architects, photographers, writers, web designers and more. Also with executives, managers and full-time mums.
As well as my own coaching business I also coach clients on the ABC business coaching programme with Judith Morgan and The Money Gym with Nicola Cairncross.
When I’m not working with clients, I adore reading and writing. I’m not too keen on hard physical exercise though when I discovered skiing a couple of years ago I considered finding myself a lederhosen-clad husband so I could stay for the whole season and spend days whooshing down mountains and yes, being dug out of snowdrifts.
In real life though, I live in an old stone farmhouse looking out on the Galtee mountains in Ireland. I share my home with my son, several cats and a dog. I'm a good enough mum most of the time with intermittent lapses into brilliance and hopelessness.
