About Christelle
Hi!
I’m Christelle,
your Self-leadership Awakener Coach / Facilitator,
and the founder of Pistachio-Cassis Coaching.
Let’s start with some storytelling…
I used to see my Life as being at the top of a cliff crumbling more or less slowly (depending on the day), with the crumbling representing Life moving forward… and leaving me with 2 choices: “falling” with the crumbling cliff (letting life happen to me), or “jumping” ahead of time and doing my best to reach a specific “landing” point (doing what I could to “control” where my life was heading to)… And no, there wasn’t the option to walk back to more stable grounds, because Life only moves forward…
As a child, I dreamed of a life of adventures, traveling the world, meeting people from all over the place, trying many different activities, earning good money (of course!)… completely ignoring the fact that I was quite an introvert, with no connections in the world to help me along that path, and no role models to look up to! – I wanted to be able to “jump” from one “landing” point to another… without any idea about how to make these “jumps”!
But when came the time to decide what to do with my life, I pushed those dreams aside and concentrated on addressing my basic needs (like getting some professional qualifications, finding a career with opportunities for evolution, being financially independent…). That’s how I got into the construction industry – which is an unconventional career for a woman, but not a career that appeared aligned with my dreams! – With no idea about how to make the “jumps” I wanted, I started to follow the “standard guide” of getting some education, hoping to find a “good” job…
However, my dreams were still somewhere within me, because I literally grabbed the 1st opportunity to get back on track with those dreams: I said “YES!” to the opportunity to continue my (construction technology) studies in the UK - although I barely spoke English… - It’s around that time that I started to compare Life to the flow of a river: I could choose to be a leaf floating along the Flow of the River of Life OR I could do my best to Design and Build a “vessel” that would take me to where I wanted to get to… even though my destination wasn’t completely defined!
From there, I had many ups and downs, trying to stay aligned with my dreams but struggling many times to find the courage to put myself into the uncomfortable situations that would take me there… But I still managed to create my own non-traditional professional profile, thanks to a rather non-linear international career… - Designing and Building a “vessel” made-to-measure for myself wasn’t easy… but I found that experience much more satisfactory than using a “ready-made” vessel…
20+ years in the construction industry (a woman in a male-dominated industry)
- Wide range of construction and engineering projects
- From construction sites to corporate world
- From general contractors to consultants
Diverse experiences, non-linear and non-traditional career path
- Project Management
- Scheduling
- Quantum & Delay Analysis
- Contract & Claim Management
International and multicultural experience
- Lived and worked in France, UK, Spain, Gibraltar, Germany and Canada
- Projects worldwide (Europe, North Africa, Asia, Middle East, Canada)
- Diverse and multicultural teams
Languages used: French, English, Spanish
Despite this, I still got to the point where I felt stuck. I knew I had to make changes, but I didn’t know what else to do with my life… It was time to re-design my “vessel” with specifications based even more on who I really was…
So I went on an exploration journey to discover what I could do to create the life and career I wanted for myself.
That’s when I realized I was actually following a life coaching process…
That fascinated me so much that I trained as a professional life coach, joined one of the main coaching organizations, and set up my own practice to empower others like you and me, to also design, build and then lead THEIR life and career – all the while still doing the same for myself!
Yes, I’ve now done a lot of the re-design, and the retrofitting work is well underway…
But this is a life-long project, upgrading the design specifications to incorporate my own evolution as well as the evolution of the needs, availability, and readiness to invest of the professionals I work with...
>>>> By the way: Do you recognize Your Life Story in mine?
Adapting to the world of hard-working busy professionals
Deciding to go in a different direction to the one I followed for 20+ years is absolutely not a reason to “forget” what it was like to be a hard-working professional in the construction and corporate world, especially as a woman in a male-dominated industry:
- Trying to "balance" professional and personal life responsibilities;
- Aiming to be a high-achiever and high performer, and to show high potential;
- Worrying about the many changes rapidly occurring in the world, and in the workplace;
- Too often feeling tired, depleted, stressed, burned out, overwhelmed, and even sometimes depressed;
- And really, really, not feeling like having the energy, the time, and the willingness to invest into another development program…
That’s how I came up with, and I’m now developing, the “Partner-based” Development Approach:
- Infusing life coaching principles and techniques into facilitated conversations;
- Adjusting programs’ “format” to suit YOUR Needs, Availability, and Readiness to Invest in YOU;
- Building a bridge between the “real life” of busy professionals and the “coaching” worlds;
- Ignites sparks of self-reflection, leading to firing up the momentum for self-leadership.
And that’s how, as a Self-leadership Awakener, I’m this partner who supports you in your professional / personal development, navigating alongside you so that you’re not alone on this discovery journey, while still letting you be the captain who decides the where, the when, the how…
Note: If you’re curious about this “Partner-based” Development Approach, check out the articles I’m writing on this topic on LinkedIn and Medium.
Interested in going “deeper” right now, or simply curious? Take a step forward, and… Book yourself a free 45-minute “exploration” conversation:
Why choose me as your coach?
You may look at my “specialization”, my training, and my experience…
But, more importantly, you want to ensure that you’ll be “comfortable” speaking to me, often opening up your mind and your thoughts in a way you never did before… like feeling that:
- I can relate to your situation thanks to my own journey;
- I can understand your goals – especially if your goals are slightly “unconventional”!
- I have similar values to you;
- You can be “YOU” in our conversations, because you see that I did my best to stay “ME” in my journey…
So, what do you see in my profile, my speaking, and my writing that attracts you to working with me?
And the best way to “check” this is by booking yourself a free 45-minute “exploration” conversation:
Check out what others have experienced during their time with me:
Sharing and giving back
While the best way to get the best Return On Investment (ROI) from a “Partner-based” Development experience is through one-on-one (1:1) coaching sessions, not everyone is ready or able to commit and invest:
- Time (preparing for, and attending the sessions; taking action between sessions; etc.)
- Energy (saying NO to fun and relaxing times; etc.)
- Money
Therefore, I’m sharing my thoughts, knowledge and experiences through:
Speaking:
- May 2023: Panelist “Coaching in STEM Industries”, International Coaching Week, ICF Toronto
- Dec. 2022: Speaker “Empowering Yourself to Create the Life and Career You Want in 2023”, Women in CGS, Canadian Geotechnical Society - Southern Ontario Section
- Aug. 2022: Panelist - Coacharya webinar “Being a Coach Series - Challenging the Status Quo: The Coaching Way!”
- Mar. 2021: Panelist, “Women in Project Controls Panel Discussion – Reflection on Career Development”, AACE Toronto
Writing:
Pistachio-Cassis Newsletter / LinkedIn / Medium / Brainz Executive Contributor
Volunteering and participating in students’ coaching and mentoring programs:
- 2023 - Present: Advisor, GOTARA – Advising women in STEM+ fields to empower them to achieve their career goals and close the gender gap
- June – Sept. 2023: Executive Coach, ICF Toronto Coach Connect 2023 volunteering with March of Dimes Canada
- Dec. 2022 – Feb. 2023: Life Coach, Flow Coaching Institute – Coaching Business and Marketing students, Turkish university (English / French)
- Oct. 2022 – Feb. 2023: Leadership Coach, Women of Influence, Schulich School of Business (York University) and Flow Coaching Institute - Leadership coaching for Business students with the ultimate goal of supporting female leadership skills to create future female leaders
- May - July 2022: Life Coach, WSTEM TO and Flow Coaching Institute - Coaching young women in STEM in developing goals and strategies to enhance their transition from academia to the professional world (MentorSHE program)
- Apr. 2018 – Dec. 2019: CAWIC (Canadian Association of Women In Construction) - Board of Directors, Treasurer
Education
- Ongoing: Enriching Professional Identity, Self Worth Academy, UK
- Ongoing: Professional Identity Facilitator, Self Worth Academy, UK
- ACC (Associate Certified Coach), International Coaching Federation (ICF)
- FCPC (Flow Certified Professional Coach), Flow Coaching Institute, Canada (an ICF Accredited Coach Training Program)
- Contract and Commercial Management Practitioner, World Commerce & Contracting (online)
- MSc Construction Law & Dispute Resolution, King’s College London, UK
- MSc (Eng.) International Construction Management, University of Leeds, UK
- BSc (Eng.) Building Technology and Management, University of Glamorgan, UK
- Certificate (equivalent) in Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Universite C. Bernard, Lyon, France
Professional and networking memberships
- International Coaching Federation (ICF)
- Women Executive Network (WXN): Meaningfully propels and celebrates the advancement of professional women at all levels, in all sectors, and of all ages.
- Lean In Canada: A community of professional women empowering each other to build purposeful and fulfilling careers.
- Ellevate: Redefining networking: Ellevate believes that navigating a sea of faceless connections is a waste of time. That’s why Ellevate prioritizes real, authentic relationships that can make a difference in our future.
- World Commerce & Contracting
Industry recognitions
2022 Official Honoree Brainz 500 Global award - Recognition for entrepreneurial success, achievements, and dedication to helping others
Interested in going “deeper” right now, or simply curious? Take a step forward, and… Book yourself a free 45-minute “exploration” conversation:
Or prefer to just stay in touch for now? Then simply subscribe to the Pistachio-Cassis Newsletter below:
