about me

Unlocking untapped potential - in people, teams and organisations

My dad used to call me “The Why Kid” because I asked so many questions. I grew up on three continents and went to seven different schools. You could say change is in my blood. All these years later, I’m still a firm believer that powerful questions help unlock untapped potential and opportunity.

Today I coach business leaders and teams to help them reach their full potential. I also help companies assess and shape their culture in support of business objectives.

Helping people and teams step into their full potential

I am a certified Prosci change facilitator and qualified team coach (ORSC). My goal is to help leaders and teams step into their full potential. Twenty years in the corporate world leading teams in matrix organisations means I bring tons of personal  experience into the challenges leaders face and deep insights into how organisations and teams function and how to get the best out of them - even in challenging circumstances.

Trainings I've followed that inform my way of working

• Transformational Presence in Leadership by Alan Seale - 2015 - 2017
• Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching - 2018
• Barretts Culture Change Certification - 2018
• Leading Change with Theory-U - 2018
• Relationship dynamics - The Gottman Institute - 2019
• Holding Space - Heather Plett (ongoing)
• Principles of leadership - Dirk Oellibrandt - 2021
• Dr Joe Dispenza (advanced weeklong) - 2022
• Alchemy of Life - Dirk Oellibrandt - 2023 (ongoing)
• Personal practices:
  • Meditation (Silva method, Dr Joe Dispenza)
  • Qigong
  • Yoga Nidra
  • Personal work around gratitude, abundance and manifestation

Helping to create tomorrow’s leaders

Having grown up in South Africa during the apartheid years, I realised early on that many of the opportunities I was given in life depended on nothing more than the sheer luck of the circumstances I was born into. Seeing the enormous gap in opportunities and possibilities available to me versus children from colored or black communities left an inerasable impression.

My leadership role models were Nelson Mandela an Desmond Tutu. I am passionate about authentic, purposeful (personal) leadership and our responsibility to pay it forward to help transform lives – inside and outside organizations. Since 2008, I have been conducting interviews with leaders for publications in Belgium, South Africa and USA.

In 2013, I founded Dare to Dream Project, a non-profit organization that aims to inspire and empower girls from disadvantaged communities throughout Africa to realise their dreams and lead fearlessly.

Between 2013 and 2018, the organization has reached over 2,500 girls with inspirational events, leadership development workshops and mentor circles in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya.

Some highlights along the way…

• Moved from Belgium to South Africa as a young girl in 1980
• Completed a diploma in Public Relations in Cape Town in 1992
• Owned my first businesses (3 lingerie stores and an Italian coffee shop) between 1991 and 1995
• Moved to Australia in 1996
• Completed a degree in Communication Science between 1997 and 2000 in Sydney, Australia
• Worked at various Michelin Star restaurants to pay the tuition fees
• Moved back to Belgium in 2002 (this weather, what a shock!!!)
• Drove from Belgium to Gambia (7000km) in an old Land Rover Discovery in 2009. Published a series of columns in De Morgen – a Belgian national newspaper’s weekend edition on the adventure.
• Founded Dare to Dream Project in 2013
• 2018 – Founded Thrive now