Strongmindfularchitect Anmeldelser 10

Working with Michelle during one of the most transformative phases of my life—relocating from South Africa to Switzerland—was both grounding and eye-opening.

Navigating the shift between two very different cultural contexts (high-context to low-context) brought up biases, assumptions and internal tensions I hadn’t fully seen. Michelle had a remarkable ability to hold up a mirror in a way that was both honest and constructive, helping me confront and unpack these in real time.

What stood out most was her ability to create a sense of structure and clarity during what felt like a very turbulent and uncertain 15 months.

I’m deeply grateful for her presence and support during that time.

Thanks Michelle, for your professionalism and care.

I started my coaching sessions with Michelle at Strongmindfularchitect as a founder managing a co-founding team from different nationalities, all based in the same city, but with different perspectives that were starting to create misunderstandings around activities, direction, and ways of working.

Michelle supported me by being fully present in every session, taking the time to understand my context, my needs, and how I operate day to day. Based on this, she brought practical tools that helped me identify what I needed to improve as a founder, and what systems I could introduce to the team to create more clarity around team synergies, company goals, and existing gaps.

Michelle really cares about your improvement. She provides thoughtful follow-ups, helps you keep the learnings with you, and gives quick tasks that I really recommend doing so you can get the most out of the sessions.

I would say Michelle brings a very professional, human, and transparent approach, always with a forward-thinking attitude. Every process is different, and she really tailors the coaching to your needs. I especially appreciated how she remembered every step of my process and helped me connect the dots as I moved forward.

What I learned has not only helped me in the start-up, but also in my day-to-day life. I would highly recommend working with Michelle.

From our first call I felt understood by Michelle, she had a way to read and listen to people in a very unique way. Although I was skeptical at first on whether it would work for me, I took the plunge and am now forever grateful for the difference it has made in my life.

Michelle is an experienced professional with a great capacity to understand the type of person she is working with and adapt her approach to provide the best possible support. She pushed me out of my comfort zone a few times without going too far. This allowed me to better reflect on myself and work on my personal and professional development.

Working with Michelle was my first experience participating in coaching. At the beginning, I did not have particularly high expectations, but I have to say that after these six sessions, my perspective has changed significantly — it has truly been a transformative journey.

Even though I have read some psychology books before, coaching sessions are able to focus on my own real-life situations and use relevant theories to guide my actions — helping me understand what is happening, how to interpret situations, and how to identify the next steps.

What I especially appreciate is how practical the sessions are. They always connect back to my work in a very concrete way, giving me clarity on what I should do next and how I can improve. This has provided tremendous insight and support not only for my career development, but also for my life more broadly.

I am truly very grateful to Michelle.

Michelle always with me in every situation that we dicsussed - with tips, examples, action points - and a lot of positiviy. I felt understood and supported by her - and she always saw my strenght and guided me how to apply them to my own best - at work or in private life.

I worked with Michelle for over a year, on a weekly basis.

When we first met, I had just started a great job at a large company. But as with relationships, it’s not just about “landing” something - it’s about staying there and feeling comfortable in it. And I’m sure I couldn’t have done that without Michelle.

That period coincided with a deep reevaluation of many things in my life. There were topics I didn’t like, but ones I even forbade myself from thinking about. In the background, they were draining so much of my energy - so much that I barely had any left for work.

Michelle has a rare skill - she asks one or two “uncomfortable” questions that gently shift your perspective, even if just by half a degree. And that’s enough to get to the real cause, to the painful spot - and therefore, to start working on it.

Over this year, I’ve gone through a profound inner transformation. My life now looks less and less like the one I had a year ago. I have a job, I have energy, I have plans, I smile. I was able to resolve personal issues that had been poisoning my life for decades.

Of course, I did all this work myself. But Michelle was by my side the whole time - and she was an important part of these changes.

I came across Michelle's offer on the Imperial College alumni group at exactly the right moment. I'd just watched someone make the point that gold medal athletes all have coaches, yet business professionals rarely do. It landed. I signed up.
The first session was on unconscious bias. Michelle took me through exercises I had actually done before at work years earlier, and I still fell for the exact same traps. That was my first real lesson: doing something once doesn't mean it stays with you. We go back to our defaults. The work has to be ongoing.
Something I didn't expect was how much value came from a simple question Michelle often asked at the start of the session: what went well since we last spoke? I was somehow always slightly dreading it, but that forced pause to reflect turned out to be one of the most useful parts of the whole experience.
Over the next six weeks we covered a lot of ground. On personal branding, we dug into why I cringe at certain LinkedIn posts and feel uncomfortable talking about my achievements. Turns out it wasn't modesty, it was the language. some words felt like exaggeration. When we shifted to factual framing, it felt so much more natural. We also surfaced some core values that explain why I sometimes react on instinct rather than stopping to think.
Having Michelle as an accountability partner was genuinely valuable. She kept nudging me to follow up with people, to make use of the goodwill that already existed around me. Two real opportunities have come out of those conversations. I'm planning to continue the sessions.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Michelle to anyone who thinks they don't need a coach, because that's probably exactly who does.

Michelle coached me over a couple of months and I’ll be honest her approach just works.

What stood out straight away was how inquisitive she is. She doesn’t spoon feed you answers, she challenges your thinking in the right way and helps you land your own clarity. It’s not surface-level coaching it actually makes you pause and think properly.

What I also rate is how simple and practical everything is. No fluff, no overcomplication…just clear, actionable takeaways you can apply immediately. That made a big difference for me because I could see the impact in real time.

She’s also got a creative edge to her style, which keeps sessions engaging and tailored and intentional.

Overall, solid experience and definitely valuable. I’ve taken a lot from it. I’d recommend Michelle without hesitation.

Michelle coached me for 8 weeks beginning last October (2025).

For context, in 2025, I became a new father. In addition, I was approaching the 10-year mark of my career. When we started the coaching journey, I was feeling stressed and anxious about balancing my career goals, my new role as a dad, and my personal hobbies and aspirations. In particular, some of my unhappiness at work had started to spill over to my personal life, and affected my day-to-day emotions.

Michelle was a fantastic coach for me in many ways. The aspects that stood out to me most were: (i) Firstly, Michelle effectively guided me to trace backwards from my emotions, and examine my assumptions and beliefs. This process helped me to recognize and deal with some of my unconscious biases; (ii) Secondly, through exercises such as mock interviews and role play, Michelle helped me to better understand and reconcile with my energizers and strengths, which I seemed to have somewhat forgotten over time; (iii) Thirdly, Michelle gave me challenging assignments (e.g., speaking up about a workplace incident) that pushed me outside of my comfort zone, while reinforcing what we have discussed. These experiences helped me to reexamine my beliefs and assumptions.

As I am writing this, 3 months have passed since my last coaching session. I feel that I am making better decisions, exerting more control of my emotions, and generally feeling more positive about my personal life and work. I am really grateful to Michelle for the coaching journey, and would highly recommend her services.