I believe that learning changes lives. Through self-driven learning, I broke the bonds of poverty and ignorance and built a life of significance and service. I want to give everyone I meet that gift.
Learning doesn’t have to be formal. Any challenging situation is an opportunity for learning.
I believe that self-awareness is key to building a more enlightened world. I’m driven by a deep love for humans, and the need to encourage every person I meet to discover what they could bring to this world if they were more self-aware.
I possess two powerful competencies. First, I listen deeply. I hold space for what is being said and for what is not being said. I receive and observe, and then I share those observations in ways that bring about deep understanding. When I coach, my goal is to help you go deeper than anyone has ever been willing to go with you, so you can see the stories you tell yourself, and come to new insights that can then be applied in practical and life-changing ways.
Second, when I work with you, my goal is to engage with you on a deep and personal level and to build a mutually beneficial and sustainable relationship. I am committed to loving and serving you always, even long after our coaching time together has come to an end.
The major way in which I shared knowledge and supported others' learning in the early part of my life, was through teaching in higher education. I gradually expanded this to leadership development for young academics.
After a decade of teaching in higher education and training new lecturers and tutors, I left a work environment that had become too toxic. I wasn't living and working on purpose anymore.
I joined an executive search firm where I not only advised the leadership team on strategy, but also took responsibility for internal staff development. I developed staff outplacement programs for large corporate companies, and I facilitated individual career strategy coaching sessions for senior executives who wanted to move their careers forward and/or change career direction.
Years spent studying leadership, trying to understand what drives people at the core and how to engage hands, head and heart in work, led to a Master’s degree in personal and professional leadership and coaching, a PhD in workplace spirituality, and practical training in the science of the Enneagram, and the Co-Active model for coaching and leadership.
The understanding I gained from both my master's and PhD research informed the course contents of the leadership development courses I created and facilitated over the course of my career. The insights and personal growth I gained from the Enneagram and from Co-Active shaped the coaching and mentoring work I do today. I love this work. I believe in it, because I know it has the power to change lives. It has changed mine.
The biggest investment I ever made in my own personal transformation, was working one-on-one with a business coach of my own, and learning the key principles of real service as espoused in the coaching prosperity work of Steve Chandler. This journey, more than anything else I have done, has fundamentally transformed my life and helped me create and live my best life. I have committed myself to service and will do so until I take my last breath.
I grew up in a broken family and was abandoned early on in my life. I learnt fairly quickly how to rely on myself, but it took years to learn how to overcome the trauma of childhood abuse and neglect and how to trust others. I've always had the grit, determination and resilience to see things through when they really mattered to me. I paid my own way through university by working many different part-time jobs. I worked and fought for every inch of my independence. I bring my whole self and I simply don't ever give up. Ever.
Throughout my life, I've had to reinvent myself a few times and every time, I start over with nothing. I always find a way to create something beautiful out of nothing in particular.
The most powerful moments in my life, were when I met my husband and when my children were born. My husband was my first safe place. He gets me on a deep level, and he is my greatest support. So much of what is beautiful about my life, is thanks to the partnership I have with this incredible person who loves me so deeply.
We struggled to conceive, and we had given up on the idea of having children, when I finally conceived. Our daughter is our greatest gift. She brings us so much joy and challenges me daily to live in the present, and to take nothing for granted. She is the best thing I ever did with my life. Four years after we welcomed our daughter into our lives, my son arrived. And I learnt for the first time that it was possible to expand my heart even further.
My children are my greatest gifts. They have helped me rediscover the parts of myself I lost in my own childhood. My daughter teaches me about joy and deep gratitude for the abundance in my life. My son teaches me about inner peace and focused attention, and the value of really slowing down to the speed of life. I have learnt more from them than I could ever teach them.
My greatest challenge to date has been immigrating from South Africa to Canada and building a new life in a foreign country where I knew no-one, had no established networks and had to reinvent myself for the fifth time in my life. This journey is still ongoing.
I have learnt a lot about myself since moving to Canada. I have discovered my calling. It's to serve people like me; resilient, hardworking, gritty, intelligent, and passionate people who believe that there is more to life, and who want to get as much as possible out of this life. I work with people who are willing to show up and do the work; people who know what matters to them, or at least want to get clarity on what matters to them; and who are serious about making sustainable changes to their lives and living their life on purpose.
My core values are authenticity, integrity, compassion, connection, understanding, presence and wisdom. I am the real deal. I am present to your situation and I really care. My own life journey has taught me deep compassion and understanding. I bring awareness, curiosity and courage to every conversation and that serves more than any other skill I might have.
For more on my journey and the insights I've gained along the way, please visit my blog.