I am an accredited Senior Practitioner with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and hold the Institute of Leadership and Management’s highest coaching qualification, their postgraduate ‘Level 7’ Diploma. I am also a member of the Association for Coaching.
I work primarily with senior leaders in education, the arts, and private and voluntary sectors, helping them to lead with confidence, celebrating as well as broadening their competence, however challenging the circumstances they find themselves in.
Coaching has allowed me to bring together the two things I care most about – my interest in people and my wish to help – using my experience of a diverse and rewarding earlier career in publishing, management, senior leadership and creating new organisations, not forgetting family life as well.
I equally enjoy working with younger people at the early stages of their careers and with those approaching retirement. Whatever field you are in, and at whatever stage, you can trust me to make a difference to you, or your team or organisation as my client testimonials bear witness.
After a career in book publishing, finally as Editorial Director at William Heinemann, I became Managing Director of one the world’s most profitable and dynamic literary estates, Roald Dahl’s. Film and theatrical adaptations, translation rights, marketing, as well as partnering, liaising and negotiating with creative and professional companies and agencies across the globe – from the largest such as Warner Bros and the Royal Shakespeare Company to the smallest – were just a part of the estate’s fascinating and diverse remit.
An excellent communicator and a supportive and energetic leader, I have over 20 years of management and board level experience. My interest in the literary world is matched by business, the education and charity sectors and the arts. I developed and had responsibility for Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, a grant-making foundation working to improve the lives of seriously ill children, and the Museum and Story Centre which bears the author’s name. It is this extensive and varied experience of business, education and the charity sectors, which informs all my work as a coach. This is a time of complex and changing work and family life patterns. It can be both exciting and daunting – I am explicitly trained and skilled at helping clients work through any particular issues that emerge.
I have two pro bono roles. At HMP Huntercombe, I am a prison representative for the Shannon Trust, which aims to transform peoples’ lives by encouraging prisoners who can read to teach literacy skills to those who cannot. In addition I am a mentor with the School for Social Entrepreneurs. Recently I was an associate of the Mindfulness Initiative, an advocacy project that works with parliamentarians, media and policy makers to develop recommendations on the role of mindfulness in public policy and the workplace.
Recent clients include Bob Books, academic staff and musicians from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the London Boroughs of Islington, Southwark and Wandsworth, Motofix Ltd, Starlight Children’s Foundation and TKAT Multi-Academy Trust.
What people say
I have become more resilient or found my resilience again. I feel stronger and am not afraid to have those difficult discussions with my superiors, and I look at both sides when I am reflecting. Most importantly, I am trying not to be so hard on myself.”
Executive headteacher
I came away with a much clearer idea of the factors affecting some areas of my work and, importantly, with a clear set of actions to take on my return to work from maternity leave. I have had a more confident, positive and productive return to work following our sessions.” Senior manager, national arts charity
I came to coaching somewhat apprehensively, and on the recommendation of my director, at a time when my self-confidence had taken a battering, and my reluctance to push myself forward was not helping me, my work or the company. I need not have worried. Coaching was such a positive experience. With Amanda I worked through what was holding me back, learned a few techniques to help me. I feel the results have been wholly positive.” Group Departmental Manager