Gaïndéa

I founded Gaïndéa to ensure that women are recognized, supported and empowered in the workplace, as they go through the most challenging transition of their career.

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In my career as a leader of high-performing teams, I quickly understood that my team members’ engagement and well-being were a prerequisite to their success, and that became the central tenet of my management style.

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A few years ago, I went through severe depression. I was an expat in a country I had never set foot in before, in a job where the pressure to perform was really high. I didn’t have a support system to rely on. I broke down and had to go on sick leave. After a couple of months of recovery, I returned to the office. I pressured myself to get back to “normal” as quickly as possible, trying to push my mind and my body beyond their natural ability to recover from what I’d been through. While I was lucky that my colleagues were understanding, I still felt isolated, vulnerable, and misunderstood. 

 

Too many women experience something similar, when they return to work from maternity leave. Becoming a parent is in itself a monumental, life-altering transformation, and transitioning back to work creates an additional layer of stress.

Yet, there is virtually no support available to new parents, especially from their employers.

 

While there is a significant push for gender diversity in the corporate world, it is still an environment that doesn’t fully cater to women’s specific needs. This is particularly true for new mothers, who are expected to navigate a major shift in their identity, while juggling a new set of family responsibilities, and performing in usually high-demanding jobs. 

I firmly believe that this is why women are so scarce in positions of leadership. 

 

Understanding this, and having directly experienced the devastating effects that a lack of support, clear boundaries, and a strong “why” can have, is what drove me to become a coach, and to support women through difficult transitions. And what more challenging transformation than becoming a mother and learning how to balance work and life as a parent?

 

With Gaïndéa, I am fully committed to providing support to women when they most need it, when their sense of balance is tested the most: when they return to work after maternity leave. My vision is that all women, all mothers, feel empowered and successful on their own terms, while embracing their whole identities.

 

The people who have worked with me consistently say that it’s my unique combination of a “special heart and a sharp mind” that allows me to truly listen and empower my clients. All without judgment or preconceptions. 

 

Whether you are about to return to work after having a child, if you’ve been back but are still struggling to figure things out, or if you are getting ready to go out on leave, its never too early or too late to get started.

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So if you are a mom who wants to make your maternity leave an empowering experience, or if you are a leader or HR professional and you want to make a difference for the parents in your organisation, reach out to me to learn more about how I can help you.