The story you tell yourself is the one you live by

How do I remove the obstacles in my way?

What do I do to be the most “me” I can be?

What patterns am I not seeing — and how do I clear them?

How do I live my most honest life?

Not the Instagram version.
The heart-and-soul one.
The one you’d want in your eulogy.

All my clients come to me with a version of these questions.

How to work with the obstacles, whether they are outside of us, or inside. How to be as authentically ourselves as we can be. How to live our best life — not the Instagram version, the heart-and-soul one, the one you’d want to write in your eulogy.

What is the common thread? Under all these questions are stories. Beliefs. Internal and external narratives. Those imposed from society, family, those that we inherit (epigenetics, anyone?), and those that crop up as if from out of nowhere, declarations we hear in our heads that we take as truths.

Some of these support and serve us. Some, not so much.

Many of our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves are, simply put, fake news.

The story comes before the change. That’s why story coaching is so powerful.

01 A FELLOW TRAVELLER. A LITTLE FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD.

Hey, I'm Anne.

I'm a way seer, or you could say pattern-breaker. Someone who has spent years learning to notice the beliefs running my life from the inside — the ones that kept me from leaping when it was time to, that had me stop from asking for help, that had me hush when it was time to speak up.

I also believe that the most important thing we are here to experience in this lifetime is to be ourselves. The truest version of ourselves. To sing our metaphorical song.

For me, that was more literal. The whole of my twenties was devoted to building my voice and pursuing a music career as a singer. I went against the grain — trying to become an artist in a family of scientists — and that experience of owning a passion that didn’t fit the script is behind so much of what I do now as a coach. I dropped out of university where I was reading English, philosophy and psychology. It’s almost poetic to find me here: writing, studying Buddhist and Asian philosophy, and coaching — while leaning on ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), IFS (Internal Family Systems), self-narrative, and more.

I wouldn’t be where I am had I not also become a meditator, and eventually a meditation teacher. The practice of Metta (Loving Kindness) and mindfulness meditation did much to help me notice the thoughts I was carrying, the emotions moving through me, the physical reactions that either preempted or accompanied those. I’m learning to be with it all — not just living in the head, or the heart, but leaning into the wisdom this body is there to bring.

As a coach, I am not here as someone who has arrived. I’m here as someone who has put in the hours to understand the path, who has built the tools, the training, and the practice to walk alongside you on yours.

My own story is ironic. I used to think I didn’t know how to tell a story. I carried this belief since my teens, after a botched attempt to entertain my extended family at a holiday lunch. It stayed with me for years.

Meanwhile: what skill do you think you need to sell luxury women’s shoes? Storytelling.

In my personal life, this belief had me hold back from sharing myself. At work, it became the bedrock of my career. Over my years at Christian Louboutin, I edited press releases while I never dared write them — and yet I was writing brilliant emails to CEOs of major global brands. Emails that required precision, empathy, strategy, and voice. I was doing the thing while telling myself I couldn’t do the thing.

That gap — between what I was capable of and what I allowed myself to claim — shaped my career for longer than I’d like to admit. It also became the foundation of everything I now do.

I spent seventeen years at Christian Louboutin, rising from the shop floor to Senior Vice President of Global Communications. I helped build a great company. I helped a brand find its voice at a global scale. And then I left — to finally understand my own.

02  WHAT WE ACTUALLY WORK ON

Most people come to me thinking they have a communication problem.

Or a self-expression problem. Or a confidence problem. When we go beneath the surface, we usually find an inner story problem.

Not the story you’re telling others, but the stories running your life from the inside. The ones that edit out your expertise before you’ve opened your mouth. The ones that keep you circling the same patterns. The ones that hold the chapters you’ve quietly set aside, even though those chapters are precisely what make you credible, interesting, whole.

The pieces we’re leaving out are often the pieces that make us most ourselves.

The work is also about allowing ourselves to go beyond what our rational mind tells us we are allowed to dream. Part of what we do together is clear the ground, and then open the space for something new to emerge.

I work with where you're at. Not where you wish you were.

We might work on:

— The parts of you that you have cast aside — they can be reclaimed, through self-narrative, kindness, and a lot of self-compassion
— Your dreams — from vision to goal setting, through visualisation and evidence-backed methodologies, to make the invisible become visible
— Your connection to yourself — call it presence, mindfulness, listening — to develop inner knowing
— Your voice, your self-expression — at work, at home, on the page, on a stage, that authentic tone and the words that are bubbling somewhere under the surface
— The inner dialogue — the inner voice, the other you that lives inside, the words they tell you, what works, what doesn’t, and how we can work with the inner roommate
— The belief systems that shape how you show up: under pressure, in high-stakes rooms, in the world, or in private, when it’s just you with yourself
— The patterns that may be running your life, and the obstacles to get over — or completely remove
— The stories you tell yourself, the beliefs that live under the surface, and the ones you’re ready to reframe and rewrite

03 WHO THIS IS FOR

People who have a sense that something in them wants to shift.

And who are ready to look at what’s in the way.
—  People navigating a transition: personal, professional, or both. A new chapter, a creative block, a life that has quietly outgrown its earlier shape.
—  People who want to be heard — privately, or in the world. Who have a story, a perspective, a voice that hasn’t yet found its full expression.
—  People who think they have a communication problem, a confidence problem, or a visibility problem — and are willing to discover what’s underneath. People who want to take their space, make their voices heard.

Steve Jobs once said: “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation to come.” If that’s true (and I believe it is) then the question of who gets to tell their story, and whose story gets heard, matters enormously.

The inner work of understanding your own story is also, always, the beginning of something that reaches outward. When we understand ourselves better, we express ourselves from a place of inner knowing — and in doing so, we touch something in others. We help them rethink their own story.

That is the deeper purpose of this work.

04  HOW WE WORK

My coach Martha Beck likes to say that the coach is meant to be the window, not the light.

Not to illuminate, but to help you see through whatever you need to see through. That is the stance I bring to every session.

I meet you where you are. You bring yourself, and my intention is to be as present as possible with whatever you bring into the room. Presence, for me, means arriving with all of my senses, my intelligence, and my empathy — somatic, emotional, and intellectual.

A deep listening presence is the main tool I use to guide our time together. Think of this as a form of listening that draws from the mind, the heart, the body, and even the soul. I’m reading the words you say and the energy you bring.

01 — We begin with your story.

Together, you'll establish the arc of your coaching assignment: what you want to work toward, why it matters now, and what success actually looks and feels like for you. Expect me to use a session framework drawn from my training — Topic, Objective, Significance, Success — applied both to the overall engagement and to each individual session. It's a way of making sure the work stays yours, every single time.

02 — We orient, every session.

Life has a way of throwing what the writer Anne Lamott calls "cosmic banana peels." No matter what we planned to work on, sometimes something more urgent arrives first. That's not a derailment, that's also the work. We cannot always stay locked in on an objective, I will bring a flexible approach to help you with whatever most calls for your attention. 

Each session begins with a brief orientation: where are you now? What's most alive? How does today connect to the larger trajectory? Then we go in. The methodology is co-created, every session. Because the most useful tool is the one that you feel curious about.

03 — We go beneath the surface.

This is where coaching with me becomes something different.

With your consent, I may invite you to close your eyes, take a breath, and drop beneath the noise of your analytical mind. I’m trained to notice when someone is speaking from the surface, whether from habit, from fear, from the story they've told a hundred times, and when they begin to access something quieter and truer underneath.

It's in that space that the most significant shifts happen. A new language emerges. Old beliefs loosen. What felt stuck begins to move.

Your engagement is tracked through a simple intake process and mid-point and closing reflection forms, so you can see, in your own words, how far you've come.

05  A NOTE ON WHAT THIS SPACE IS

This is not a space of productivity.

Not a place to arrive having done your homework, hit your milestones, or prepared your progress report.

This is a space of personal discovery, exploration, path smoothing, and connection to yourself. You don’t need to be ready. You simply need to show up.

What I hope you’ll find in this work is a quality of presence, a clearer sense of who you are and what you stand for, and a genuine enjoyment of the process. These things, in time, do find their way into the performance aspects of our lives. But they arrive as a consequence of the inner work — not the goal of it.

06  KIND WORDS

What my clients say

"When I started to work with Anne I was completely lost. With her unique mix of business and spirituality, she helped me transition out of my corporate mindset into believing and doing what is true to myself. I started to trust in myself again. I would not have been able to do it without her!" — Alex

"Working with you has changed my life. You have given me my story — how precious is that? And you have given me the confidence to make this move now, without fear." — David

"If you're waiting for a sign to work with Anne — this is it. When I started coaching with her, I had one clear question in mind. By the time we finished, I had twenty more. And that's a good thing. Anne created the space I needed to untangle my thoughts and stood beside me to explore uncharted territory, always ready with some words of wisdom and a quote or two. Her presence and way of seeing the world absolutely changed mine. And I have no doubt she'll change yours too." — Anonymous

"Anne is a holistic and strategic thinker — and incredibly easy to talk to. Through our conversations she encouraged me to step into moments and experiences where I felt my best. Together, we celebrated my strengths and discussed strategies for carrying that energy into all aspects of my life. In a short time, I've referenced back approaches that we worked on with much success." — Danielle

"She had a deep understanding of both me and my business, bringing attention to details I had overlooked and expanding my understanding of what I had to offer. Anne guided me in reassessing my values and ensuring that how I present myself aligns with who I am and what I stand for. I enthusiastically recommend her to anyone seeking a profound exploration of their business and a meaningful way to articulate their story." — Julia

"I'm not sure words can describe the impact you had on me — I am still digesting the experience, synapses are still firing. You are pure magic." — Sophie

READY TO BEGIN? Start with a complimentary 30-minute discovery call. We'll explore what you're working with, whether this is the right moment, and whether I may be the right person to walk alongside you.

Book your discovery call

07 EXPERTISE, CERTIFICATIONS & QUALIFICATIONS

Credentials

I spent 17 years at Christian Louboutin, rising to SVP of Global Communications, before leaving to found Le Trente — a social learning studio at the intersection of mindfulness, story, and authentic expression. I am a certified mindfulness meditation teacher (MMTCP with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield), a trained life coach (Martha Beck's Wayfinder program), and have studied extensively in nonviolent communication, somatic awareness, and narrative.

I host two podcasts — Out of the Clouds and The Mettā View — and teach weekly meditation on Insight Timer. My coaching draws on everything I have lived, studied, and built. Which is to say, it's entirely my own.

There is nothing I love more than supporting people who are looking for this particular combination: empathy, curious intellect, an obsession with story, curious about finding more purpose and meaning in their life, with a desire to become more themselves.

I have pursued a number of certifications and continues to study to add to my current tools and qualifications in order to be the best possible thinking partner for my coaching and consulting clients.

11  FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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