1) Did you always want to be a life coach? If so, why did you choose this career? 

 

Interestingly, it wasn't until 2 years ago that I'd even heard of coaching, let alone decided to pursue it as a career! It was definitely a result of moving from the UK to Dubai for work and finding myself in a position where my job choices kept bringing up the same challenges over and over again. 

 

I kept encountering organisations run by people who were out of touch with millennial aspirations, driven by the bottom line and completely uninterested in nurturing potential, improving the environment, cultivating the culture or respecting the relationships that drive individuals to succeed. 

 

I felt like my personal growth was continuously stunted by my professional environment, and I knew I wasn't alone. Everyone around me seemed unhappy, unsatisfied or was living out a life that was full of compromise because they had given up on what they REALLY wanted to pursue. 

 

It was at this point that I decided I wanted to shift and be a part of the solution and support people like me, who felt lost in this big old city where so often, your personal development is neglected...so this definitely set in motion my career trajectory.

 

Coaching provides an empowering alternative for people who feel stuck, lost or disillusioned with where they are in life. I loved that I could work with people to develop and challenge their boundaries, and work towards who they want to be. 

 

 

2. What was the biggest challenge you faced to get to where you are today? 

 

It wasn't that I lacked confidence, self-esteem or belief. What I lacked was a value system that I could respect and honour. 

 

When following money was my motivation, I felt like a hamster running on a wheel, constantly chasing an unattainable feeling of satisfaction, because the money would always run out. When I flipped my value system and made personal happiness my motivator, everything began to fall into place, because happiness didn't get deposited into my bank account by an external source I couldn't control, it came from me. 

 

Removing the pursuit of money from my concept of a good life was a total game changer, everything I have accomplished on the other side of this challenge has been full of joy because I can cash-in happiness whenever I want! 

 

3. What piece of advice would you give to those who you usually help? 

 

"If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first." - Mark Twain

 

This is my favourite nugget of advice because it goes back to a challenge that all my clients face; the motivation to get started. The idea is that if you tackle the WORST thing you have to do that day first thing in the morning, your day can ONLY get better from that point on.

 

 

4. What's the best part of being a life coach, or the best part of a normal day in your life? 

 

On a normal day, having the time to work on my blog and pursue my love of story-telling in-between clients is great. Getting calls and messages from my clients telling me about their progress and how they've managed to move forward is the most rewarding feeling I get as a coach. 

 

In my mind, coaching has always been Beyoncé: it lifts you up, reminds you of your worth, challenges you to walk away from haters and walk towards who you want to be. I love the idea that I'm somehow channelling Beyoncé, and I feel very blessed to be able to work in a field that constantly challenges me to grow.