The Team

In his career Steve has spent 28 years with a global IT company (IBM); learning through roles in marketing, sales and training that ultimately success is all about people and effective leadership. He has been a professional leadership coach since 2014 and has created a Leadership Academy for a public sector membership organisation (Socitm). He has designed and delivered many national leadership programmes, engaging a high quality team of change leaders, coaches, trainers and facilitators in the process. Steve is passionate about diversity and inclusion and loves to work with anyone who has an 'always learning' mindset.  

​Steve enjoys the risky hobby of wild mushroom foraging and has also recently discovered the terrifying pleasure of performing on the stage in amateur musical theatre.

“Jenny is a seasoned leadership development expert with over 18 years' experience in a variety of industries including logistics, education and building supplies manufacturing. As an HR professional, Jenny considers herself industry agnostic as her focus is always on people and how they perform at work.

Jenny has forged her career specialising in leadership development, supporting & coaching others to discover their potential through group and individual interventions. She has designed & developed leadership development programmes with significant impact on company culture and on the individuals themselves.

Jenny has experience working in different countries and cultures and has found that people face similar challenges wherever they are and whatever they do. This has allowed her to keep it simple, being able to add value quickly without creating overwhelm.

Outside of work, Jenny dabbles in photography and enjoys travelling, meeting up with friends around the world.  As a new mum, Jenny's currently getting to grips with motherhood while juggling all other aspects of her life!”

“As Partnerships Director at Empowering You, Chris is responsible for developing collaborative relationships across government, industry and academia with organisations who share our vision for a more diverse, inclusive and successful tech eco-system.

Prior to Empowering You, Chris had over 20 years’ experience of commercial leadership roles in the media, events and publishing sectors, as well as establishing his own communications consultancy.

Married with three children, Chris’s hobbies are an endangered species but he is a regular runner, keen hill-walker and accidental youth football coach.”

“We all have the resources and internal capabilities to achieve our objectives and own our change, but sometimes we need a little bit of help along the way.  This is where Debbie steps in.  As an experienced facilitator, presenter and executive coach she helps  clients to achieve their goals by focusing on positive growth and mindset shift.  Whilst she can turn her hand to most things Debbie specialises in Leadership Development, Health and Wellbeing, Diversity and Inclusion, and online learning.  She is particularly passionate about developing women and people in minority groups.

Debbie has the dream to find the perfect holiday destination; one where she can ski, scuba dive and sail, all in the same location.”

After quitting the corporate ladder, where she explored the world of marketing and business development in leading international companies, Maria discovered coaching and her heart filled with unprecedented excitement. Since then, she has worked with people in many different areas, from Business coaching, Career Transitions, to Executive and Leadership Development coaching. She loves to support individuals to develop their potential, overcome the inner/outer obstacles and build the confidence to fully step into their most brilliant and authentic self.

Having lived in Spain, the UK, Germany, Belgium, France and travelled to 35+ countries, she now enjoys a quiet life in the country back in Southern Spain, with the two cats who adopted her. She is a passionate tango dancer and travels to different tango events as much as she can.

“Hannah is a certified Co-active and Mental Fitness Coach, empowering women in transition and in their leadership journey.

She comes from a legal background and pivoted her career to follow her passion to support women to find and reach the purposeful life they want to create for themselves.

She is mother of three young boys and, after having lived in different countries, now resident in the Netherlands.

She loves the nature, plays the Cello and sings in a local Choir. She feels that music taught her to take things step by step and grow that way her capacity to love and feel herself.”

Nathalie is a challenging and empowering coach with an extensive background in the executive education sector. As a Leadership Development Coach Nathalie is passionate about working with executives who want to step-up their game as they transition into more senior roles. Her straight-talking yet supportive curiosity allows them to grow their leadership skills through better awareness of themselves and the impact they have on their teams, colleagues, management and other stakeholders.

Nathalie ultimate goal is to empower individuals to have the confidence and freedom to be themselves; to excel at what they do and to inspire others to do the same.

Having lived in Belgium, South Africa, Switzerland and the UK, Nathalie and her husband of 25 years enjoy travelling and exploring the great outdoors. 

Ruth is an Executive and Leadership coach. Her coaching clients bridge a range of roles, organisations and sectors.

Prior to her establishing her coaching practice in 2008 she worked in the corporate and voluntary sector for over 25 years. This included a career in the financial sector, HR Director with a Global Humanitarian organisation, an Executive team member and a Board Trustee. 

Ruth says, “Coaching is one of the best decisions I ever made, I love the work I do. I work to support leaders achieve greater performance, tasting more of their own unique style and success. People’s individuality and confidentiality are two things that I hold dear. I seek to create the environment that works best for each person. Working alongside someone is a privilege, to see what they can achieve perhaps faster or different from what they ever thought possible, whilst overcoming difficulties - with clarity, insight and action being key to achieving change and a tangible difference.  All with a personal touch and care! 

She enjoys wide open spaces and beautiful views, so presently she is also enjoying spending more time of late in Scotland, where she originally comes from. Gardening has also been a long term goal coming into bloom at last!

“We take ourselves everywhere we go” has become Charley’s life mantra, appreciating that we can never get away from ourselves and how we show up in our lives, with others and with ourselves takes constant self-awareness, learning, and heaps of bravery.

Charley has spent over 35 years focusing on taming her own fears and building her bravery muscles and who she is being within senior leadership, management, therapeutic practice and experiential learning roles within UK and USA charities.

Her proudest career accomplishment was being on the four-women peer leader team who founded the revolutionary free confidential telephone counselling service for children and young people, ChildLine Scotland.

She utilises her Coactive coaching to support greater equitable access with women from all walks of life, to live and lead with compassion and self-belief.

When she isn’t accompanying individuals or facilitating groups, she draws, paints and writes.

She is a reminder that our lives and jobs aren’t linear. As a youth, Charley was on her way to art school but didn’t get the math’s grade and so her dreams were dashed.

Almost 38 years later, Charley is now an Art School ‘mature student’.

She lives in Scotland with her saxophonist husband and red and white Border Collie, ‘Wee Kate’.

Nicola is a certified Co-active and enneagram coach, who is passionate about working with women determined to live out their very best lives. She does this through encouraging self-awareness, self-understanding and a lot of self-compassion.  

Prior to becoming a coach Nicola worked in communications, in both the consumer and B2B technology spaces. She now likes to use those communications skills to help people connect deeply with themselves. 

Nicola is the mother of two (very different girls) and through motherhood has doubled down on her determination for women to be encouraged to show up as their whole selves. She loves space and quiet so enjoys finding locations around the UK, and across the world that allow for uninterrupted views and deep breathes — Dungeness and rural Northumberland being two of her favourites.  

As a passionate advocate for gender equality with 20 years consulting, management and entrepreneurial experience in 4 different countries, Eefke supports women in creating the work life they aspire to. 

Because she’s convinced (and has experienced it herself) that when women have fulfilling work lives they are happier, they are financially independent and they are role models for their children. 

With her energy, warmth and challenging way of working she empowers women to manifest their brilliance and achieve their professional and personal aspirations.  

Besides being an internationally certified executive and career coach, Eefke is a proud mum of a son and daughter. In her free time she loves to be active in nature. Running and going on hikes with her family make her happy. 

A senior leader with a background in advertising and communications at two of London's largest agencies, Saatchi & Saatchi and AMV BBDO, Kate now supports executives, leaders and teams to strengthen their impact and effectiveness through coaching and facilitation. 

Kate's approach is rooted in conscious leadership - through expanding awareness of how we're showing up in relationships and tasks, we can gain clarity on areas where we hold ourselves back, waste energy and misdirect our attention. From this place of deeper understanding we can create powerful mindset and behaviour changes, leading to higher performance and improved confidence. 

Her clients describe her as energetic and warm in nature and creative in style. She is highly committed to walking alongside them as they stretch into a higher version of themselves. 

Kate has always had a love of movement and can often be found dancing in her kitchen with her two children, running through the Oxfordshire mud with her dog or connecting to calm on her yoga mat. 

“Meg is a personal and leadership coach who loves accompanying busy professionals on journeys to increase their self-awareness, so that they can take inspired action in their lives.  Prior to becoming a coach, Meg managed a global Learning team in financial services technology, where she created positive cultures for her team and stakeholders.

In her coaching, she partners with her clients to help them achieve a wide variety of goals, from increasing confidence in their leadership or communication, to establishing a better balance so that they feel less overwhelmed by all there is do in work and life.  She incorporates mindful self-compassion as a way of bringing compassion and kindness in times of stress and emphasises the importance of positivity in relationships. Her clients say that she is “warm, supportive, and motivating.”

When she’s not coaching, she loves being active outside – going on walks and being in nature, or playing in her local women’s cricket team. Meg is American and has called the UK home for over 20 years; she lives in London with her husband and two teenage sons.”

Sue is a certified individual and couples coach. She loves working with clients to help them find out who they really are and how they want to live their lives for maximum fulfilment, connection and joy. Sue is a strong advocate of self-care, discovering inner confidence and helping clients to find more ease in their lives. 

Sue is married with 2 children and yet fits in many hobbies. In particular she enjoys NIA dance, yoga and running slowly. Sue has also recently taken up the ukulele, with singing, and is loving it - even if her family are not so keen! 

Prior to starting her own business, Rebecca held several global HR roles across the technology industry, where she coached senior executives, delivered leadership development initiatives, and facilitated virtual and in person workshops across a global audience.  

Rebecca is a trusted and intuitive coach, who is passionate about the power of coaching and the impact it has on people.  As a Career Navigation Coach, she helps people reconnect with their inner compass, make conscious choices about their next steps and overall move through transition with ease. Her clients experience greater clarity and optimism and overall feel more fulfilled because of working with her.  

Rebecca values curiosity, authenticity and the belief that people are capable, at any point in their life, of doing anything they want.  

Rebecca grew up in Germany, has lived in 3 countries and travelled the world solo. She is always on the lookout for exciting travel destinations taking her to new heights and coastlines. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, swimming and connecting with friends and family.  

Kerry is a business coach and facilitator.  Kerry has a business development, marketing and consultancy background specialising in the IT/tech industry. She has 30 years of experience and has been a manager, a leader and a board member and share holder. 

Coaching was a natural choice for Kerry, as someone who has always been naturally engaging and passionate about people. Her strengths are encouraging others, communication and relationship building. She cares deeply about empowering people and seeing them flourish. 

Her clients talk about her kind, reassuring energy and how easy she makes it for people to open up, engage and transform, without any pressure or judgement. She is able to create a creative, warm space to enable people to be courageous, reach new awareness and take meaningful action. 

Outside of coaching, Kerry lives in Manchester in the UK with her husband and son. She loves to read, get out in nature, host family parties and she sings in a local pop choir!