HI!
I’m Katie
I’m a facilitator and coach.
My passion is helping women like you. I want to support you to connect with what lights you up so that you can live a life you love no matter where you are on this planet.
Professional Bio
I’ve facilitated workshops on self-awareness, leadership and overcoming global challenges over the past 20 years in over 20 countries spanning 5 continents, with people from more than 90 nationalities. I’ve worked with individuals in a one-to-one capacity, with small and large groups and clients such as the United Nations, international banks such as ING and Deutsche Bank and multinationals such as Jaguar Land Rover, Diageo and Coca-Cola Sabco. I am a Trainer of Trainers and have worked with creative facilitation company redzebra for over 13 years. I have also worked with Actitud Creativa to develop and deliver the International Creative Facilitator Training programme. I am also a certified Master Trainer of The Passion Test and have worked very closely with transformational leader Janet Bray Attwood all over the world.
So why connect with me?
I have moved countries more than once – big moves from the UK to Belize, Zambia, to South Africa and Spain (I also lived in a few other places in-between). Like many women, I am fortunate that my work doesn’t depend on the country that I’m based in. However, like many of you, I know the energy and conscious effort it takes to recalibrate to a new environment and different culture, create a new community, find work you love, ride the rollercoaster of emotions that come up with moving countries and the challenges of trying to understand a whole new language.
I’ve been there, I get it, and I wish I had more support when I was finding my feet in a foreign land.
Howard Thurman said it best:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive—and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
I’m with Howard. I think the world would be a better place if more of us were focused on the things that make us truly come to life.
That’s all good in theory, but what do you do if you don’t know what makes you feel alive?
That’s exactly what I was asking myself back in 2013, having just surprised myself by being that girl who moves across the world for love. I was living in Cape Town with the love of my life, designing and facilitating workshops for international development organisations. My work involved helping academics, politicians and non-profit organisations tackle global problems like climate change and HIV. I had been working towards these kinds of opportunities for a decade, and finally I was here, doing it, making a difference in the way I set out to.
On paper, everything was wonderful. I had worked so hard towards this and yet, deep down, something wasn’t right. I didn’t feel the same pull to the work I was doing anymore. I felt guilty for not loving the work and quite honestly, I was embarrassed and frustrated that I simply didn’t know what I would rather be doing.
My story
It all came to a head in 2014 when I moved with my partner from Cape Town to Madrid so he could pursue his dream of attending a top European business school. Moving country gave me the space I needed to fill in the blanks. The only problem was… I didn’t know how to fill in the blanks. What was it that I really wanted to do? And how could I figure it out? Then, on an early morning flight back to my family home to the U.K. I met a beautiful woman, Marinma Dorado who said to me: “I facilitate a process called The Passion Test. I help people get clear on their life’s purpose.”
So many things suddenly became clear. By the time I stepped off that plane, I knew what I wanted to do what she did – help bring clarity to people seeking their life purpose.
On the journey from the airport I reflected on the work I had been doing that year and identified what I loved the most about it. I realized then that my favourite moments weren’t when we were discussing the big global issues. My best memories were from ‘after hours’ when participants would confide in me about their relationship issues, breakups, alternative career plans, or some sort of mid or quarter life crisis they were going through. These were the moments in which I felt I could add the most value, and these were the conversations I found the most rewarding, helping people see what was possible for themselves and supporting them to identify what they needed to do to get there.
It was then that I shifted by focus from international development to personal development. I didn’t stop caring about global issues, instead I realised that the thing that truly makes me come alive, is supporting personal transformation – one human being at a time.
Since that moment of realisation, I have been dedicated to developing a system for doing just that.
Using approaches spanning transformational leadership, The Passion Test (developed by my mentor Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood), mindfulness meditation, therapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and personal coaching, I help people through periods of transition so they can design and lead and live a life they love.
If you’re reading this now...
… you too may be going through some stuff.
Maybe you’ve moved countries, your career feels unfulfilling, you’re on sabbatical, you’re adjusting to life as a new mother, dealing with a big breakup, or facing some unknown terrain in your relationship.
These moments can be tough and confusing.
In order to move forward you need to make a series of choices. And when you make choices, clarity = power.
Sometimes we know where we’re going, and at others, we need to stop and ask for directions. What I’m offering is a compass, so you can embark on the road ahead with clarity and confidence. I will work with you to help you get your direction clear and then map the steps you need to bridge your current reality, with the one you want to create.
Whatever your passions are, your journey is likely to involve a good dose of taking action and some serendipity. It can feel like a tough road at times, but we only have one life to live, so why not embrace the thing that makes you really come alive ?
If you’re ready to fill in the blanks, I’m here to help you colour outside the lines and build your own world.
It’s your path, you choose!
