Twenty years in life sciences, and not one hour to think.
An uninterrupted hour for women in life sciences, in English or Italian, with someone who already knows the industry.
From the lab to coaching in life sciences
I'm Rebecca Steele. I spent two decades in life sciences before I became a coach, from the bench, then business development and marketing, watching capable people run themselves quietly into the ground while everyone praised them for coping. I was one of them. Getting off that carousel was not one decision, it was a long series of small ones, the kind nobody sees from the outside. So when you tell me about the deal that slipped, or the manager who wants the deck by Friday, you won’t spend the first twenty minutes explaining your job.
How I work
I ask more than I tell, because the answer lies within each of us - that is not a nice sentiment, it is how coaching actually works. So I ask, and then I wait, past the point where most people would step in, because the second thing you say is usually truer than the first. And when you have said the same thing three times, I will say so - once, plainly, and then I leave it with you. You set the agenda, every session. When I do hand something over, it is information, not instruction.
Space to think before the pressure to act. You leave with your own answer, not mine.
Accreditation and industry background
EMCC Global individual accreditation as a Coach/Mentor at Practitioner level. Diploma in Coaching and Positive Psychology, triple accredited by the ICF, EMCC and AC. Thinking Environment Foundation Certification. Member of the General Committee at ELRIG. Before any of that, a doctorate in organic chemistry and twenty years in the life sciences industry, from bench to business development and marketing, covering biotech, seed capital, scientific instrumentation and contract research for drug discovery. The qualifications are what let me sit still and ask; the twenty years are what let me understand the answer.
A native English coach in Italy
English is my first language. Italy is where I live and work, and I coach in Italian too. In Italy, coaching in English is nearly always delivered by a coach whose English is her second language. I don’t translate between the two; each one finds its own shape. Sessions run in whichever is yours, online, in person in Milan and the surrounding area, or by arrangement in the UK and Switzerland when I am there. A woman who works all day in her second language shouldn’t have to think in it as well.