“Confidence comes not from always being right, but from not fearing to be wrong.”
Peter T. McIntyre
I sought out Michelle after encountering difficulties at my current firm and while considering a transition. She not only provided sound professional advice and helped me shift my perspective on my situation, but also regularly checked in on my mental and emotional health. Due to her coaching, I received the raise and bonus I was seeking. Michelle’s insight as an insurance expert and New York lawyer is certainly valuable, but her approachability and ability to make her clients feel like they are simply chatting with a friend is what truly sets Michelle apart from other coaches. She genuinely cares about her clients’ wellbeing, not just in their careers but also in their personal lives.
— Attorney, New York
I cannot thank Michelle enough for her help and support as I’ve navigated considerable volatility and a range of challenges in my role as GC and CCO of a global hedge fund.
When I first started working with Michelle I could not have predicted the value she would bring. In particular, Michelle’s support and strategic guidance has helped me to solve complex professional problems, negotiate a significant career move, and complete an important side project that I’d long considered but lacked the impetus to undertake.
Michelle brings an astute balance of compassionate support and constructive challenge, informed by a genuine interest in her clients’ life and circumstances. Her coaching style is underpinned by a detailed understanding of the professional world (law firms in particular), the right amount of academic rigour, and her own real-world experience. She’s an inspirational person, always keeps it real, and has become one of the few trusted advisors in my life.
— General Counsel, Investment Management Industry
I have been working closely with Michelle for nearly three years now and I hope to continue my journey with her throughout my career and my personal life. Only after a few months of working with Michelle, I had become a brighter better version of myself and successfully addressed so many of my fears. She has enabled me to navigate through some extremely challenging professional encounters whilst also supporting me through personal growth. Michelle has taught me that you can truly achieve anything you want to with courage, attitude and direction. I would not be the person I am today if it wasn’t for Michelle.
— Madeleine Bryant, Insurance Professional
Having left my employer due to relocation I found myself in the fortunate position of being able to take stock of my career direction, unexpectedly making sense of what to do next proved far harder than I ever thought it would be. The ability to discuss with Michelle my career ambitions was invaluable. Michelle’s mentoring helped me to realise and to focus on the areas important to me, but unwittingly gave me the confidence to pursue and develop the role I had been looking for. I thoroughly recommend Michelle to help you shape your aspirations enabling you to take the next step.
— Neil Evans, Managing Director, Blu Niche Risk Services Limited
As someone who has practiced law for over 20 years, I have a good idea of how to run a practice, including business development and managing junior attorneys and staff. But inevitably there are blind spots and working with Michelle enabled me to see what I was missing. She has a keen ability to look at everyday issues, propose valid questions about usual approaches, and help you develop a more confident attitude and integrate more successful methods. Work with her, you will see immediate and positive results and benefit from learning new and lasting techniques.
— Partner, New York
As a mentor Michelle makes it her mission to provide unwavering support and guidance. She does an amazing job at building your confidence and takes so much time in developing you as a person. Michelle’s background in law and the insurance market means she has incredible insight in the challenges her mentees may face. Her own experience and knowledge gives her all the tools to guide people through and help them carve out a successful career. I could not recommend her mentoring and coaching enough.
— Emily Pilsbury, Solicitor
For nearly 2 years, Michelle has been helping me navigate confronting workplace issues that ultimately lead me to leave a firm I was hugely excited about joining.
I am a legal practitioner of 20 years experience (my second career), and as a woman in her mid-forties, who had been leading teams for my entire work life, I thought I was fairly bullet proof when it came to poor behaviour by colleagues. I was blindsided about 4 months into my new partnership and Michelle was recommended to me.
It is difficult to articulate the journey Michelle has taken me on without it sounding trite. In short, she has been helping me understand that my experience was real, it was unjust and I am not a failure for walking away and starting at a new firm.
Did we talk at length about my upbringing? Yes. Did she push me to acknowledge my achievements that I had dismissed? Yes. Was this uncomfortable at times? Absolutely.
Did it help? Put it this way, Michelle gave me the courage to walk away from a toxic workplace when I had associated that with failure, and concluded that the problem must be me. My lawyers are following me (also coached by Michelle) and I am hugely excited about the next chapter. I now believe we can start and succeed again. Does my journey with Michelle end here? No.
Firstly, Michelle is now my dear friend so there's that. Although I am certainly more aware of who I am and why, my default reactions are still ingrained and I'll need Michelle's help to navigate this and, let's face it, I am a 45 year old female partner in a large law firm. There will be dark days.
I need Michelle to come and share her wisdom and research with my team, firm and clients. My team and I need Michelle's help to keep growing, to keep succeeding and most importantly, to become comfortable with this. I need her to keep telling me that I've got this.
Please don't hesitate in engaging Michelle, even more so if you are senior, experienced and feel like you can't take anymore crap in your life. Michelle will show you the light and make you laugh while she's doing it, as only she can.
— Female Partner in Private Practice, Australia