I am a linguist 🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪🇪🇬🇪🇸🇷🇺🇸🇰 by training, a humanitarian (and a former international aid worker) by experience, a human rights defender by conviction, a seeker by curiosity ever since I realised that everything is interconnected at my tender age of 15, a yoga and meditation teacher by passion and a life coach by calling. I have about 20 years of experience in listening and understanding people’s most intimate and vital concerns and needs and supporting them in addressing and solving them. I am also a totally unaccomplished writer, a poet in disguise, and a world traveller on a break.
I was lucky to have a happy childhood yet in a country where freedom of expression was among many things banned and so was standing out in the crowd. I deeply longed to be able to express what I felt and how I perceived the world but I could not for I risked that my family could be hurt or even persecuted.
So, after a super brief academic career, I felt a strong urge to assist less fortunate ones that have been born into wars and destitution as well as to see the world off the beaten track and so I became an international aid worker. I worked for the protection of civilians, detainees, refugees, separated children, and all those who are subjected to enormous suffering in armed conflicts. I loved my job. But, there were many people and things that I was missing. Having served mostly in the Middle East and some parts of Africa, I ended up in the HQ job in Geneva 18 years later. By then, my passion and conviction have suffered a bit and I felt a strong urge to redirect my attention to something even more humanely connecting. I longed for deeper and more meaningful work, away from bureaucracy and politics. I wanted to nourish not only my mind but my heart, soul, intuition, and body too. The choice of life coaching was an easy one.
20 years after having left home, I returned back to my roots, entirely reshuffled my life from scratch to live more consciously, simply, sustainably, and with my loved ones right next to me. I am sustained by my connection to nature and use every free moment to either walk in the forest, jump into a lake, take a walk, or jog and express my gratitude for the gifts Mother Nature is giving us every day. This is why sustainability, recycling, reusing material, and minimizing the purchase of new items are some of my core values.
I also love all the dogs and cats that show up on our porch ( and even if I occasionally scold them for bad behaviour), doing practically anything in the vicinity of the sea, indulging in tasting great foods and wines, discovering small historical towns, meandering through cobbled alleys, stone beaches but also Alpine life, downhill skiing, hiking and biking into the unknown; small theatre plays, cozy family establishments, restaurants, and boutique hotels, small budget non-special effects movies, getting lost in reading a captivating story but most of all enjoying presence of family and friends.
Most importantly, it’s the human in all its forms and from all its angles that interests me the most and that’s why my personal and professional relations have key importance in my life. The relationships, the interactions, random encounters, the words, what is being said, how it’s being said, and what is left unspoken are crucial elements in one’s life.
I am deeply convinced that people are smarter and more resourceful than they believe to be and I love supporting and seeing them getting unstuck from the rut, improving their relationships, finding their true voice, life purpose, or just simply advancing in life. I have realised that contrary to my previous job, life coaching gives me energy! What better job is there to have?
I studied at several universities and having obtained my first M.A, from Arabic and Islamic Studies at Comenius University, I continued my education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem ( M.A. Programme of the History and Culture of the Middle East), Birzeit University ( PAS Programme). After several years of humanitarian work, I obtained my 2nd Master’s Degree from Human Rights at the LSE. My engagement in aid work and drive to make people’s lives more tolerable was inspiring me to improve my skills in Humanitarian Leadership and Management School ( HLMS), humanitarian negotiations skills, and many others.
What are my coaching qualifications?
I am a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, CPCC, after having completed my coaching certification and education at Co-Active Training Institute (CTI), and also an Professional Certified Coach, PCC, as recognised by the International Coaching Federation, ICF. I am also trained Organisation and Relationship Systems Coach, ORSC that allows me to be able to better address systemic and team issues. Needless to say, I continue to learn from the world’s leading “humans” such as Simon Sinek, Esther Perel, John and Julie Gottmans’, Brené Brown, Tim Robbins, and many others.
I am also a certified advanced yoga teacher( Sampoorna Yoga, RYT-500, 2012, 2014) and a meditation teacher( Sarvaguna Yoga, 2015) and I am happy to have attended and learnt from Thich That Hanh and many other spiritual teachers .Â