Meet your coach

I’m Sarah

And I believe in the power of cultivating a positive mindset to help you and your team truly shine.

I founded Happiness Express Coaching in 2009 with a clear mission: to empower people and teams to find happiness and high performance in both their professional and personal lives.

My own multicultural journey has taken me from California to Amsterdam and Sydney, and since 2015, I’ve been happily based back in my native UK.

My coaching philosophy centres around personal branding, authentic leadership, strengths-based coaching, and workplace wellbeing.

Over the years, I’ve accumulated extensive experience, exceeding 3000 hours of coaching and gaining my Master Certified Coach (MCC) credential with the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

As a firm believer in the importance of continuing to raise standards in coaching, I also support new and experienced coaches in elevating their coaching game and gaining the ICF credentials they need to take their work to the next level.

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My background

Qualifications

Experience

My qualifications

BA(hons) European Business & Languages
Master Certified Coach (ICF)
Diploma Personal Performance Coaching, The Coaching Academy (distinction)
Certified Mentor Coach (CMC)
Certified Positive Intelligence Coach

Conscious Business Coach
Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Practitioner
Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
MOOCs: Leadership through Emotional Intelligence; Nutrition, Health & Lifestyle; Intro to Philosophy; Organisational Analysis, Science of Happiness, and more

My experience

One-to-one life, career and leadership coaching
3000+ hours coaching with clients from 45 different nationalities
Director-level global corporate marketing roles during 13-year corporate life, leading virtual teams in APAC, Europe and USA
Lived and worked in the UK, USA, The Netherlands and Australia
Career/life/leadership coaching programs: one-to-one coaching, design/delivery of workshops, facilitation

Graduate/apprentice career development programme
Expat Coaching (expats and spouses) in the Netherlands, UK and Australia
Associate Coaching: BetterUp (since 2017), Mindbeat (since 2019), Mettacool (since 2020) and Chief (since 2022)
Support of new and established coaches through ICF coach mentoring (since 2018)

See my services

"Sarah helped me focus my priorities and articulate my thoughts at a key time in my career. She is a great listener and I found her help invaluable."

Hannah Severin, senior analytics manager

“Several years after our coaching sessions ended I’m still benefiting - I recently received a big bonus, which was related to a development plan I had created with Sarah and followed ever since.”

Nancy, account manager

"Sarah has been my coach for years now and for good reason. I reach out to her whenever I face a difficult life decision - career moves, starting my business. Sarah's patience and questioning helped me gain clarity and identify hidden opportunities."

Margarita Madrid, wellbeing consultant

“My plans for my business are now real rather than vague thoughts and, more importantly, positive habits have now been formed that will be sustained beyond the coaching sessions”

Liz Aiken, business and personal coach, trainer and photographer

“Sarah was excellent at listening and getting quickly to the crux of my issue. The work was tangible, helping me set goals, find the right tools and check in. The best part of working with Sarah is seeing me succeed at the goals I set, boosting my confidence to reach for more.”

Tauneel McKay, IT director

“Sarah helped me clarify and build bridges between two quite different professional strands - mindfulness training and town planning. She was patient, attentive, professional and friendly while guiding me through mind-mapping, mock interviews and positivity."

Dean Wooding, town planner & mindfulness trainer

“Sarah makes you want to love yourself and everyone else, because the alternative now seems so unappealing.”

Shanelle, digital marketing consultant

"Sarah keeps you focused on the things that matter to you. She provides great resources to help you achieve your goals and is constantly reminding you of the things you set out to do, while listening with empathy and asking the right questions."

David Cuen, VP consumer content marketing

"Sarah's career coaching helped me to improve my strengths and fix my weaknesses. She is a great listener, always demonstrating empathy. She also provided me with useful resources to help me achieve my goals."

Gaia Antonaci, analytics and insights manager

“I was seeking clarity on whether or not to change my career and how. In Sarah, I found a listener who could pick out recurring themes and key topics – helping me see the wood for the trees. Replaying back what I had said in a succinct format really exposed the core issues. I was able to unblock previous thoughts, and define steps to move me closer to my desired outcome.”

Paul, product manager

“I really enjoyed the Happiness Workshop. It was both informative and practically focused. All the tips that Sarah shared can be easily adopted and immediately applied, and the benefits are tangible and quickly demonstrated.”

Niki, senior talent and development manager

“Sarah helped me to develop my own leadership style consistent with my values and aspirations. She is a great listener and quickly understood the challenges I face in leading my business, revealing a wide-angle view whilst at the same time dealing with the day-to-day challenges.”

Gordon, director

“Sarah made me feel comfortable and able to open up and be honest. She pushed me to reach below the surface and helped me find the true answer regarding my future”

Catherine McKinven, airline purser

“Through the coaching sessions, I have become more positive, learning to be kinder to myself, and accepting that sometimes performing at 90% is also OK. It really feels like the burden on my shoulders has been lifted.”

Nancy, meeting manager

“I wanted to remove barriers in my thinking and change my negative beliefs. I am now more positive, avoid procrastination and get out of dips quicker. Sarah's powerful questions helped me see what I really want, probing deeper than I would myself! I always left the session with one or two really good take-aways that have stuck with me. I have a better sense of my goals and they’re more authentic to me, bringing a much clearer direction for my business.”

Inge Woudstra-Van Grondelle, expert diversity & inclusion, W2O Consulting

“I am amazed to look back at how my self-perceptions have evolved in only six sessions!”

Rachel, consumer testing manager

“The sessions gave me energy, motivation and self-confidence. Sarah helped me find the right answers, simply by asking the right questions”

Mieke Bruins, event manager

“This is the first time that I’ve re-read my notes immediately following a workshop. I’m transferring the most important take aways to post its and putting them around my screen as reminders. I am back at work and energized!”

Tauneel McKay, IT director

“Prior to the sessions, I tended to second guess myself and give myself a hard time, but the coaching helped me to overcome my confidence wobbles. And the more I got on and simply did things, the more I achieved”

Joanne, legal advisor

“Sarah helped me to zero in on key problem areas, such as setting boundaries, delegating and prioritising. I now feel comfortable managing my team, I’m better at giving and receiving feedback and I’ve freed up more time to do what’s important.”

Anthea, assistant to director

“The mantras and visualisations were very powerful and helped me to move from a negative to a positive mindset. I’m much more grounded in the present, I’m more positive and confident, and I’ve even gained some new clients for my business.”

Zena, professional organiser

“Sarah is gentle, warm and persistent, with a gift for identifying the 'big rocks'! She acted as a great anchor, rigorously holding me accountable to what was most important to me. As a result, I have been more present to my values when making decisions and prioritising.”

Rachel Dungan, The Pharmacist Coach

“I see so much clearer now and don’t waste time on things that are not urgent or important. I now have the right tools to set my priorities even in the crazy times. I am a happier person!"

Andrea Kaltenbrunner, financial controller

"Sarah's approach is as results-driven as it is human, with a deep personal commitment to achieve the targets that we defined together. At this crucial crossroad in my career, Sarah has challenged me, or slowed me down, as necessary, helping me develop my unique personal brand and a new perspective on a healthy work-life balance.”

Tina Solos, global business applications manager

“Sarah was my career coach facilitating my transition into the UK. She is an expert at her subject with very high level of integrity., possessing the most invaluable attributes – trust, transparency and initiative. She has added great value in helping me reach closer to my goals.”

Amitaabh Bakshi, senior general manager

“Sarah’s coaching is results-oriented. Our sessions were highly focused on my objectives and tailored to my individual motivators and concerns. A thorough, intelligent, resourceful and focused coach.”

Jill

“I’ve surpassed all previous efforts. I can now realise my potential in a long-term, manageable manner.”

Cliff, dentist

Ethics and privacy

All clients should expect a high standard of practice from their coach. To ensure that this is achieved I comply with the International Coaching Federation’s (ICF) Code of Ethics.

As an ICF Master Certified Coach, I acknowledge and agree to honour my ethical and legal obligations to my coaching clients and sponsors, colleagues, and to the public at large. I pledge to comply with the ICF Code of Ethics and to practice these standards with those whom I coach.

Happiness Express Coaching takes your personal information seriously and we’ve created this Privacy Policy to make sure you’re aware of what information we are collecting and how we’re using it.