A bit about me and why I do what I do...

I started my career in maritime as a temp to the Head of Operations at the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office and ended it as Chief Operating Officer with a maritime tech company. It’s been a wild ride and I’ve had some amazing opportunities along the way but, very often, I found myself being someone I wasn’t, just to fit in. 

At no point did anyone say “You have to behave in this way or you’re out”, it wasn’t like that at all, but because shipping is such a male-dominated industry, you do find yourself taking on that persona, to some degree. I was so ambitious, I wanted it all, the fancy job title, the big salary, everything. Somewhere along the way, I lost sight of the things that really mattered. Somewhere along the way, I forgot who I really was. 

And then one day the inevitable happened, I burned out. 

I felt like I’d lost everything and it had a devastating effect on me. I could not get happy, no matter what I tried, everything felt so bleak. Eventually, I tried coaching because quite frankly, nothing else was working. I went into that first session thinking that this was not for me. To my utter surprise, after 90 minutes, I was smiling again, something I hadn't done for a long time. 

It took a while to find my happiness but when I did, wow! It was like nothing I'd experienced before, and as I share this with you, it still makes me so sad that I'd lost so many years of my life. Don't get me wrong, I still loved my career but I realised that I had been chasing all of the wrong things. 

It was then that I realised no matter how much I loved my job, it was never going to love me back. 

My coaching came to an end and I was a brand new Emma, full of happiness, hope and a new way of looking at the world. I knew that I wanted to go back to shipping, and I knew that I wanted to do something that would make a difference, so in October of 2023, I enrolled at the International Coaching Academy, part of the International Coaching Federation, and began studying for the Advanced Professional Program. I completed my studies less than a year later and am well on the way to my first accreditation. 

So here I am, still driven, still ambitious, but with a new purpose and a new appreciation for all of the little things in life that come together to shape who we are as individuals. And you know what? I could not be happier.