About Me
Hi, I’m Victoria – Evidence-Based Integrative Coach
Helping people think better, lead better, live better. For scientists, leaders, teams and organisations seeking more human, evidence-based ways to think, work and lead.
“I support you to get recognised for your unique brilliance without having to sacrifice who you are.”
For 30 years at GSK, I learned how to navigate being the only woman in leadership teams. I learned the rules. I got good at the game.
Then my daughters arrived and taught me everything that mattered.
Through advocating for them – fighting systems that wanted to label and limit them, demanding they be seen as whole and brilliant – I woke up to a truth I’d been living but not naming:
The world asks us to split ourselves. To choose between being ourselves and being successful. To accept ‘the way things are’ as inevitable rather than chosen.
My girls taught me to question everything.
And once I started questioning, I couldn’t stop. If I was going to advocate for them to stay whole, I had to do the same.
In my early 50s, I left GSK. Started Beyond The Noise Executive Coaching. And now I help scientists and leaders do what my daughters taught me: you don’t have to choose between being yourself and being successful. Being yourself isn’t a risk. It’s the strategy.
Beyond The Day Job
I am a Christian, a Wife, Friend and Sister, a Middle Aged Orphan and an obsessive runner... I am sure those that know me well would add a lot of other things to that list too...
You may choose to approach me as a Life Coach, an Executive Coach, a Career Coach, a Leadership Coach or a.n.other type of coach. However you approach me, I will work with you as an equal, a meeting of perfectly imperfect humans. With this approach the changes you experience will be transformational, impacting every area of your life.
My Story
I spent three decades as a scientist in pharmaceutical leadership. I know what it’s like to be told you’re too analytical and too emotional in the same week. To have your expertise questioned while being praised for your attention to detail. To navigate environments where being brilliant at science isn’t enough – you also have to perform a version of leadership that wasn’t designed for how you think, how you work, or who you are.
What is Coaching ‘Beyond the Noise’?
I believe that we were all born truly whole and with all of the answers we would ever need. And then the noise started...
I believe that we all know intrinsically what is right for us and yet over time our voice of truth gets drowned out by all of the noise; the stories we tell ourselves, our limiting beliefs, “the rules”. Add to that the endless advice, opinions, assumptions and expectations of other people.
I believe that via coaching we can get beyond the noise and learn to really celebrate and accept who we really are; to reconnect, rediscover, learn from and build on all of our many life experiences and ‘wins’. To realise that our voice matters just as much as anyone else’s and we have a choice of what other voices to listen to and which we will comfortably ignore.
Using a coaching approach I will work with you so that you are able to find your way beyond the noise; to connect with, hear and follow your true voice once again. The voice that was always there and will guide you to become the very best version of yourself.
How I Work
I don’t do corporate speak. I do direct, honest coaching that helps you cut through the noise and get clear on what you actually want and how to get there. I work with individual scientists through one-to-one coaching, with groups through my Authentic Ambition programme for women in STEM, and with organisations through team coaching and leadership development.
My Approach
My coaching draws from Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment methodology, positive psychology, and three decades of lived experience in corporate science leadership. I specialise in working with scientists and leaders in STEM – people navigating environments that weren’t designed for them, who refuse to split themselves to fit someone else’s mould.
“Maybe the journey isn’t about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you.”
— Paulo Coelho
Background & Expertise
30+
Years at GSK
Senior
Leadership roles
30 years in pharmaceutical leadership at GSK, including:
- ✓Senior leadership roles, often as the only woman on the team
- ✓Strategic partnerships and R&D leadership
- ✓Creating new roles to solve problems others hadn’t named
- ✓Navigating and challenging traditional corporate structures
Now as an executive coach, I work with individual scientists and leaders, facilitate leadership team development particularly in biotech and pharma, and run my signature Authentic Ambition group coaching programme for women in STEM.
Ready to find your voice?
Let’s have a conversation about how coaching could help you.
Book a Free Call