This is me
in a nutshell
I believe that at times we could all really benefit from some objective support. Times of change, choice, hardship, insecurity, doubt, ‘stuck-ness’, ‘is this it-ness?’ could be so much more manageable or dare I say ‘enticing’ with a neutral, non-judgemental thinking partner.
I am an accredited coach with a degree in Psychology and a Post-Graduate in Coaching and I’m a member of the International Coaching Federation and British Menopause Society. My special interest and passion is coaching through change. I will help you find the courage, clarity and conviction to work out the changes and choices that are BEST for you and implement them with confidence, intention and poise - welcome to the Striped Leopard philosophy.
In a nutshell I’m a creative, client-centric, intuitive and solutions-oriented coach who values and takes enormous pride in building strong relationships.
I provide my clients with a safe, non-judgemental space to think independently and using my skills, experience and approach, I support them as they:
• Explore and identify their own unique goals
• Work out exactly how they are going to get them
• Achieve progress through committing to pace and change
My career route started as an HR Consultant and developed into managerial and strategic roles in business development, commercial management and, closest to my heart, client relations. I have always been equally curious and fascinated by how we all behave! I was lucky enough to start as a fledgling in a FTSE utility sector and then went on to spend most of my career to date working with many leading galleries, museums and visitor attractions, building strong relationships – supporting my clients to identify clear goals and thus creating and delivering the most effective, innovative solutions to optimise their visitor experience.
I now want to mix-up my foundations in coaching and psychology with my golden experience of working with professionals across diverse industries. This mix allows me to help unearth goals, and to set in motion the MOST effective and creative solutions so you can truly realise your desired choices, dreams and lives.
If you feel ready – please get in touch at diane@stripedleopardcoaching.com
Me with all
my stripes
So many of us are fearful of change, choice and expectations – do we know what we want? Maybe we’re expecting too much? Maybe we are happy ‘enough’? Are we too old? Is it too late? … need I say more.
I’ve had so many points in my life where change has been all of these - a welcome surprise, a seismic shift, a gentle nudge, a niggle, a tsunami, or…. change has been lurking, filled with shadows of ‘should I’, ‘nope, not brave enough’, ‘now is not the time’ and I’ve chosen to let possibilities gently pass me by.
Then, as I was cruising along with life being ‘nice’ - BAM – life changed for me. I was very suddenly made redundant and instantly felt terrified, lost, panicky, grief-stricken, angry and more than half-full of self-pity and shame.
I knew I had that now was my time to dig deep and to work out exactly how I could continue to support my kids and live the life we’d all become accustomed to.
Lucky for me I knew of a great coach and started working with her to gain a little perspective, insight and clarity and to plan (with precision!) my next move. Very quickly it became quite clear to me that my initial driver was to “continue to support my kids and live the life we’d all become accustomed to”.
But, what if…? What if I could live the life I dreamed of, aspired to? A life that would fulfil me and my children? A life that I designed, not designed by others’ expectations…What if I took control and made the changes?
I started thinking about my dreams of old, of what my younger self had envisioned. Yes, many boxes had been ‘ticked’, but a couple weren’t just empty, they were great, big, gaping holes. I’d dreamt of a career filled not just with success but with fulfilment, pride and passion…hmmm…I quickly realised I would have to unbury my head from the sand and focus on my career as a goal (welcome to being 18 again, except with a little more hindsight this time round).
With my coach, I trawled back through many memories and landed on the reasoning behind choosing psychology to study, and it became clear that my younger self’s aspiration to simply be of help to people was still running first and foremost in my older self’s aspiration list. The next challenge coming up was that there were so many how-s, who with-s, what would it look like? Then one day…
“I’m stuck” my oldest friend whispered so quietly…”I feel like I want to change so much but a leopard can’t change its spots”
This was the start.
I realised that so many of us are cruising, silently fearful of life changing, our floors shifting – kids being born, kids leaving home, menopause, divorce, redundancy - and silently questioning our ability to cope. Wondering if life could be ‘more’, what ‘more’ could look like and how it could ever be achieved. Wanting things to change, even slightly, but feeling overwhelming uncertainty of what that change may bring.
This was my AHA moment. The (very brief) purpose of coaching is to help people progress in their lives in order to attain greater fulfilment – this is how I could help.
I sourced the best possible Coaching Post-Graduate courses and was delighted to be accepted by the prestigious Barefoot, successfully completing my qualification in 2021.
Following a few more changes (some planned, some unplanned and rather seismic) I was delighted to launch Striped Leopard Coaching (gratitude and kudos to BB for the name, she knows who she is!).