Coaching is a personal experience so it’s important to have a coach that you feel comfortable talking to. A good coaching relationship will involve trust, honesty, and respect so that we can work together to get the best results for you.

As such, here is a little about myself and why I chose to coach South Asian women.

Firstly, I’ve got to be honest, coaching was never really in my career plan, after I left University with a Business Management degree, the general plan (like many South Asian women) was to:

• get a job ✓ joined a graduate scheme with Lloyds Bank
• get married ✓ met my husband, got married 11 months later
• have kids ✓ I’ve got 2 little girls

I did all that but had no idea what would come after… the job just didn’t fit with having a family, the commute was too long and I couldn’t face the corporate world anymore, but I did love working with clients. I enjoyed building relationships, analysing strategies, and management teams so we could assess whether to lend them millions of pounds!

BUT, in the back of my mind, I knew I always wanted my own business. I’ve been studying business since I was 16, surely I could do it, but what in???

I explored lots of options, read books, spoke to people, and eventually figured out that I still wanted to help people in business, but without telling them what to do, (because nobody likes to be lectured).

I came across mentoring and loved it, but my doubts surfaced…

Then along came coaching, I signed up for an introductory course and I was hooked with the philosophy of providing support through goal setting, asking challenging questions, and not giving opinions or advice. So I went on to do the Personal Performance and Small Business Coaching Diplomas, which after 2 years of training I received a Distinction in both.

With coaching I can:

• Help women to move past the noise and busyness of the everyday to find clarity and to prioritise working on the areas that will directly improve their lives.  
• Enable women to become more confident in themselves and in making decisions.
• Help women to recognise what has been holding them back so they can enhance their strengths and development areas, choosing actions that are right for their own situation.

Coaching has proven strategies and the added bonus was that I got to use all the tools in my own life and business, which broadened my thinking and I got to know myself a lot better too.

Then the next dilemma, WHO to coach, here my husband came in, with very real feedback for me.

He said:

This was true.

Like many South Asians, I grew up hearing and seeing the disparity in treatment between boys and girls, and the pressure parents were under to have sons, for reasons that I think just don’t exist anymore in today’s world.

I am the eldest of four sisters, so I heard and saw a lot, and then having had two daughters of my own, I heard it all again and couldn’t believe things hadn’t changed.
Whatsmore, through coaching South Asian women, I started seeing the lasting impact that this aspect of our culture has, I’ve coached women:

• That have great jobs but struggle to make their voices heard or be promoted into leadership roles.
• In business that found it hard to personally promote themselves, to network with others, and to believe that they could be successful.

From speaking to many South Asian women our stories are so similar that I know many of these barriers are due to our culture and upbringing. Therefore I’m on a mission to coach South Asian women that are ready to challenge themselves to work on their mindsets, to improve their careers and businesses to achieve a life that brings them happiness.

I believe these women will become inspiring role models for the next generation who will continue to make an impact in creating equality in business and in wider society.