Active Speaker and Former Film & TV Professional with 14 Years Experience Coaching You To Become a Confident and Authentic Public Speaker

Find out more about Pimmi

• When did you start your personal development? What motivated this choice?

  I started my Personal Development Consultancy in 2011. Previous to that, I had been working in the film and television industry and worked a lot with performers. After this, I was running another business where public speaking was something I needed to do to promote the work I was doing. I realised that much of the work we did with actors, such as exercises and techniques in rehearsals and between shots, would be really useful to anyone looking to improve their communication when speaking in public, during meetings, or in interviews. So I adapted some of these techniques so that anyone could use them and merged them into self designed programs.

• Describe your own understanding of "personal development" and what can it bring in the short and long-term?

  Personal Development is to me all about growth, expanding your knowledge base and your emotional intelligence. I think of it as acquiring new tools of self awareness and growth in order to gain the best out of life and keep up to date with the way our world is evolving. It's all relative, and perhaps personal development is much more necessary in today's world than back in the day. There's an eagerness now to appear capable, successful and to stand out. Nowadays we are also inundated with information, especially digitally, and at work people are expected to know more and to be able totranslate that information quickly, also to a wider forum: gone are hierarchical boundaries when it comes to knowledge sharing. As people get promoted, they have to become socially savvier, presenting information to everyone, face to face, digitally, via audio conferencing, to large groups - this all presents massive challenges to people who haven't been trained to perform, who are growing up in a world that relies more and more onartificial social platforms in which to interact. And the situation is similarly challenging in social spheres, no less when it comes to dating.
  
  
  In the short term, personal development programs provide skills that are highly valuable in people's professional and personal lives: skills that help peoplesocially integrate faster, perform better and produce more efficiently and effectively. In the longer term, they can help to develop a deeper emotional intelligence, enhanceself esteem, core confidence and self awareness, as well as an assurance of one's place in this world that has become so much more open, smaller and accessible. Personal Development helps people broaden their outlook too and can give a feeling of moving forward,ultimately helping an individual achieve greater career satisfaction and foster stronger social bonds.

• What are some practical tips to help improve self-confidence?

  I really believe the inner critic is a malady affecting the majority of people and it can be a huge contributor towards self-sabotaging and low self confidence. So I think engaging in exercises to reduce the inner critic, and eventually learning to silence it and change the inner dialogue, helps incredibly in recognising one's strengths, skills, capabilities and self-worth. A balanced self-confidence can grow well in that internal environment.

• Do you think a teacher can learn from his students? Is there a lesson where you have experienced this?

  I often learn things from my students. Coaching is a great way to share insight, because discussion is so often part of a session, and many of my clients have a perspective on the world that can really inform me too. I have worked with people from all kinds of industries, from finance to steel, entertainment to politics - and their experience is always for broadening my mind.
  
  
  Not forgetting to mention, Coaching is shaped by both client and coach discovering doors of awareness that the client did not realise were already there within them. That old cliché about the answers already being there is true. A coach often unlocks that awareness in a client, and if you remain open to that process, it can offer a valuable insight into different issues and ultimately help you refine your own service.

• What personalities do you admire; who represents personal and professional success in your opinion?

  I think personal and professional success are inter-related. What people do with their professional success - particularly to help others - makes an impact on me and denotes their overall success to me.
  
  
  As a former documentary maker, I was once fortunate to interview the Dalai Lama, a long time role model for me in terms of his outlook on life and humanity. He describes himself as a simple monk, but he has an extraordinary mind and a brilliant humour. I admire how devoted he is to the Tibetan people and to fighting for Tibetan autonomy from China.
  
  
  I am also inspired by people who have used either their experiences of personal struggle, or the professional success and public platform they have achieved for greater causes, people like: Tarana Burke and Malala Yousafzai, on gender equality and women and girls' rights, or former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and his wife Tracey, who used their wealth to open massiveanimal sanctuaries for abused animals and animals saved from slaughterhouses.

• What are your hobbies and what benefits do they have on your motivation?

  Photography; animal welfare; meditation; literature: fiction, social and current affairs blogs; travel; world film; collecting first edition books and music; long walks.
  
  
  I enjoy past times that keep me in touch with new ideas in the world, exploring my own creativity and those that have a therapeutic element, all of which keep me inspired, positive and motivated.

• Who are your classes for, specifically? Is this domain open to all?

  They are really open to all. But people who benefit are normally committed to investing in their own personal development and in moving forward in their lives. They need to feel comfortable having online training, as this is how I deliver my coaching sessions.

• Being a Superprof requires some adaptability. Tell us about your methods in adapting to different individuals.

  Each client I work with has a different background and an individual skillset and capabilities, so naturally my approach has to be adaptive to their needs. I focus on their natural strengths and their personal aims to tailor the training so that it would best serve them. This ensures it is targeted and relevant and also keeps things interesting for me too.