I grew up in Italy, where I studied Classics, and then Chinese and Japanese culture at university. For good measure, I also did a master in Indian mythology. Yup. Then I had to find a job… and I got very lucky in that a job found me. I built a lovely life in London, working in fundraising for an international medical charity, the arts and the business school of a world top-10 university. It was just when I got my dream job for a national museum, and a dream relationship, that I experienced a summer of intense anxiety.

That set me on a quest to first manage that anxiety - thank you meditation - and then to explore why it had exploded like that. Eventually, that led me to coaching. My coach helped me see for myself how my perfectionism, control and sense of responsibility were not serving me. For the record, friends had been telling me that for ages and I agreed with them, but for the first time I was REALLY getting it, I EXPERIENCED the truth of it, and that I HAD A CHOICE. It was liberating.

And then I was able to start looking at the WHY of things – including my career choices. I discovered that I CAN build a fulfilling life for myself, now that I know what I really value. That applies both to my career as a fundraiser, and to having the courage to become a professional coach, something that I love and fills me with joy.

Don’t get me wrong, I keep ramming my head against old patterns and making mistakes. But I now have a vision for my life, the tools to navigate the changes that inevitably will come (including perhaps a change of vision), and the confidence that I am on the right track.

As a coach, I love being part of the process that helps someone discover the power to make choices that serve them, that it is possible to forgive and learn from fall-backs, and own the confidence to experience a truly fulfilling life.

Image: Yayoi Kusama, Pumpkin, 1994, Naoshima