Coaching
Talent was never the problem. So why does the system treat it like one?
Coaching for mid-career women in STEM – and the managers who want to give them a reason to stay and opportunities to grow.
The reality for STEM professionals
You’re technically excellent. Your track record proves it. But somewhere around mid-career, the system starts working against you. The promotion goes to someone less qualified. The stretch assignment goes to someone more visible. The culture rewards behaviours you weren’t taught to perform – and penalises the ones that got you here.
The problem isn’t your confidence. It isn’t your ‘personal brand.’ It’s that the structures weren’t built with you in mind. You and your manager have been left to figure it out – usually without the necessary tools to do it well.
I’ve been there, and it can feel like giving up is your only option. But you’ve already invested years in your career. Why not try investing in coaching, and see what happens when you get unstuck instead of just getting through.
The reality for organisations
UK STEM organisations lose talented women at mid-career at significantly higher rates than men. The cost isn’t just cultural – it’s also financial.
The Lovelace Report (2025) estimates that 40,000 to 60,000 women leave UK tech and digital roles every year, costing the economy £2–3.5 billion annually.
Replacing a single mid-career professional costs 100-150% of their salary (Oxford Economics). And the women who stay face a promotion bottleneck that’s barely moved in six years – for every 100 men promoted to their first management role, only 81 women make the same step (McKinsey/LeanIn, 2025).
The research is consistent: the barriers are not about capability. They are about culture, recognition, and the behaviours of the managers closest to the problem. Gallup’s 2025 data puts it plainly – managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement. They are the single biggest variable in whether your best people stay or leave.
If you employ managers or are in this position yourself, why not try coaching and see the results for yourselves. Together we can give your best people a real reason to stay.
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The Business Case for Coaching Mid-Career Women in STEM
How I work
I offer coaching that works at two levels — with the individual and with the system around them — because addressing only one doesn’t solve the problem.
For STEM professionals
My coaching is grounded in proven best practice. I trained at Henley Business School and work to the standards of the International Coaching Federation (ICF). I combine that foundation with Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) and narrative techniques – applied with the same rigour I brought to engineering – to help you work out what’s actually in your way, and what to do about it. That means getting clear on what you want, understanding how the structures around you operate, and making strategic moves rather than waiting to be noticed.
Coaching is delivered in structured programmes, with flexible scheduling to fit around demanding roles. Every engagement starts with a connection call to make sure the fit is right.
For organisations
I work with leaders and managers within organisations to build coaching programmes that treat retention as a strategic priority, not an HR initiative. These include individual coaching for high-potential women at career transition points, coaching for the managers and leaders responsible for their progression, and group programmes that combine individual development with peer accountability.
I offer a range of approaches – from short-term individual engagements to long-term organisational programmes – depending on the scale of the problem you’re trying to solve.
If you think coaching could help your organisation, get in touch through the contact form and tell me about your situation. I’ll come back to you to arrange a conversation – no obligation, no scoping or costing until we both know there’s a fit.
Why me
I’m not a coach who’s read a book about how engineers think. I’ve spent 20+ years in STEM – in labs, on shop floors, in boardrooms – leading innovation programmes, managing teams of 50, and writing multi-million-pound funding bids. I’m a Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3). I’ve smashed through glass ceilings and climbed safely down glass cliffs, and have the battle scars to prove it.
I know what it’s like to be the only woman in the room, and I know what it’s like to walk out. In 2018, while I still loved engineering, I fell out of love with engineering organisations. I came back: not just to coach, but to fix the systemic issues that push people out.
As a Henley Business School-trained coach and NLP practitioner, I understand the technical culture you work in, and I have the coaching methodologies to help you – or your organisation – do something about the structural problems that stall good careers.
I’ve also sat through enough well-intentioned corporate initiatives to recognise the difference between bullsh*t and the breakthrough ideas. I’m not interested in ticking boxes. I’ve made my career solving problems no one else could. So, let’s have a go at yours.
CEng | FIMMM | NLP Practitioner | Henley Business School
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