About Me

Hi, I’m Astrid. I’m an accredited Executive Transformational Coach.  I’m also a wife, a mum, a friend, an active community member and a life explorer.

Since 2019, I have been coaching leaders in the UK and around the globe. I offer 1:1 executive coaching, group coaching (within organisations and across organisations), and team coaching, and I design and deliver resilient leadership and organisational culture professional development programmes. 

I sometimes work in partnership with other leadership development and coaching providers, including Education Development Trust (NPQEL), Maximum Performance, and Katherine Powell and Associates.  

Becoming a coach was the most natural career move I’ve ever made. Before qualifying professionally and transitioning to coaching full-time, I had an 18-year career in education and international development, the latter half in leadership roles. I worked with senior leaders in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors around the world, helping them to define, articulate and achieve their goals. I coached my teams, individuals and clients, knowing that they would have the best, most contextually appropriate solutions to their own problems. 

I’ve been and will always be on my own journey of discovery and growth, enabled through coaching, mindfulness, meditation, therapy and acupuncture. My gremlins include imposter syndrome, fear of failure, anxiety and people-pleasing. Coaching helped me find my purpose and showed me how to take responsibility for who I want to be, what I want to achieve and how I want to show up. I am finally ‘ok’ with who I am - warts and all! 

My ambition is to be someone who is remembered fondly for having made a difference in people’s lives.

I’m also deeply human

I love:

  • Unstructured family time at home with music playing

  • The beach AND the mountains - don’t ask me to choose

  • Malbec in the winter, G&T in the summer

  • Finding connections between seemingly unrelated things

  • Yoga, running, swimming, acupuncture, osteopathy

  • Catching intrusive thoughts and coming ‘home’ to myself 

  • The stillness and grounding of meditation

  • Walking and talking with a friend and a coffee

I don’t like:

  • When I find myself judging others & when I feel judged

  • Loud, busy places with too much stimulation - is that a 40’s thing?

  • Oysters

  • Christmas! I know, I know. Thanksgiving, however, I love 

  • When I/people take my/their privileges for granted

  • One-upping 

  • Being manipulated

  • When my kids are mean to each other, and I don’t know how to help them stop

Why is courage and compassion central to my work with leaders?

I believe that courage and compassion hold the keys to effective leadership and peaceful living. 

Why courage?

Because a lot of the time, it’s easier to stay in our comfort zone, to stick with the status quo, to say ‘yes’ when we want/need to say ‘no’, to agree when we want to disagree, to keep quiet when we want to voice our opinion, to ignore our mistakes and hope no one notices, to pretend that we understand in case anyone discovers that we don’t… 

When we choose to be courageous, we:

  • Maintain our boundaries and understand that meeting our needs is an act of love for ourselves and those around us.

  • Express our thoughts and opinions with dignity and respect for others, acknowledging that our voice holds value without discrediting anyone else's.

  • Pursue our genuine desires, understanding that we deserve to chase our dreams.

  • Take ownership of our mistakes and imperfections, realising that we are all fallible, imperfect human beings doing our best.

Why compassion?

We are all flawed humans who sometimes get stuck, make mistakes and feel out of our depth. We are all shaped by our life experiences, the culture in which we grew up, and the people around us. We all hold limiting beliefs and make untrue assumptions that influence the way we show up in the world. When we judge and criticise ourselves and others, we denounce these facts - we create unnecessary suffering and disconnection, and we solve nothing. 

Being compassionate means:

  • Honouring our suffering and challenges, allowing ourselves the necessary time and space to heal, and understanding that processing our emotions is vital for living authentically.

  • Valuing understanding and connection with others as much as the tasks that need to be accomplished, acknowledging that we are human beings, not merely human doings and that our purpose includes fostering love and connection.

  • Letting go of what is beyond our control, acknowledging that we deserve to experience less unnecessary suffering.

Courage and compassion have become my internal compass - I strive to live by them every day, and that includes accepting myself when I don’t! 

If I sound like someone you would like to work with, send me a message and let’s chat. 

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