Exclusive Interview With Transformational Coach Andrée Funnell
- Brainz Magazine
- Feb 3, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 27, 2021
Andrée is a successful transformational coach and trainer, as well as being an author, speaker, loving wife and mother of 2 fantastic and authentic kids. (Well, not kids, as they are now adults in their own right.) She had a career in HR and Training in the corporate world spanning 20+ years. During her HR career, Andrée realized she had a passion for helping others develop and grow. This passion coupled with her stress levels and poor quality of life, led to a recognition that there was more to life than endeavoring for someone else as an employee. With a yearning to help others, a need for a better work/life balance to spend with her family, she walked away from life in the corporate fast line. In 2002 she set up her own Learning/Development and Coaching consultancy called Aspiring Future Competence.
She has been married to her soulmate and husband, Richard, for 36+ years. Meeting him was one of the best things that ever happened as he has made the biggest impact on her life in more ways than one. The reason for this is that he was living some of her values – fun and freedom. He was impulsive, optimistic, and had a yearning for discovery and travel – all the things that she desired but held herself back from attaining. He believed in her more than she believed in herself. He encouraged her to develop and flourish in her career.
Her family is the most precious thing in her life, and she has very strong family values. She is a mother of two fantastic and authentic human beings, her daughter Elisse and son Alex and as a family, they are very close. The family is based in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, living between Cambridge and London. She loves being outdoors and feels grateful and lucky to live near rolling fields and countryside. Early mornings are spent walking their beautiful dog called Archie, who is a Springador (Labrador/Springer spaniel cross). He’s a beautiful chocolate color, with an unbounded energy that ensures we get lots of exercise and is definitely a major part of our lives.
Health and wellbeing is one of Andrée’s key values, meaning that in addition to her outdoor walks, she also attends classes at the gym and does Pilates 3 times a week. In her younger years, her pastime was riding horses and owned a horse for 9 years, however with work commitments and other leisure interests, her horse riding days have come to an end. She is also an avid cook who loves nothing more than spending time in the kitchen experimenting with cultural cuisine from places she has visited.
In November 2011, she experienced a life changing event when she was told she had breast cancer. Her determination, positive mindset and belief helped her to overcome the disease. She has continued to support others who are starting their own cancer journey through a cancer support group she attended in early 2012 and is now keen to reach another goal of publishing a book about her cancer journey to help others. Although a challenging situation to go through, the cancer journey did give Andrée something positive, a new mindset. The situation forced her to carry out a lot of self-reflection and realized that you only get one shot at this life, so what you do with it and the path you go down is entirely of your own making.
She now lives life to the full and loves traveling the world to experience other countries and their cultures. All of these life experiences have helped to highlight her real purpose in life, setting her on a journey to inspire others and share all she can to help others grow and develop.
Personal development is a key priority and has manifested in Andrée being an avid reader of self-help books. In 2019, she reached a momentous personal milestone by publishing her own called ‘Behind the Mask.’ It’s an interactive book that takes the reader on their own journey of self-discovery to live an authentic, happy, and fulfilled life.
How has she faced lockdown?
She has used lockdown to develop and grow and pivot her business from face to face training and coaching to virtual delivery. She is also developing online courses, e-books, audiobooks to support her corporate and personal development products/services. In addition, Andrée has spent quality time with her family/friends often virtually due to the constraints of lockdown and spent time in the kitchen creating some new culinary delights.
What is it that you do for your clients?
I help my clients to get visible, get heard, and get ahead in their career and/or personal life by transformational coaching/training techniques. These outcomes are facilitated both face to face and virtually. I work with both corporate businesses and with individuals for personal development and transformational change. My clients are, therefore, a mix of:
1. Corporate clients/SME’s for the Learning/Development and Executive Coaching across the UK. My specialist areas are:
Leadership & Management
Career Coaching
Authentic Leadership
Influencing with Impact and more.
(Take a look at our website)
2. Personal Development clients for one to one transformational change coaching. My specialist subjects are:
Emotional Intelligence
Core Values and Imposter Syndrome
How to stop self-sabotaging your life (Limiting Beliefs/Inner Critic) and career coaching.
Who should hire/work with you?
In the last 12 months, the world has changed and may never be the same again. We all need to pivot and use a different set of skills and techniques to motivate our teams and ourselves. Organizations and individuals are facing new challenges, which include working remotely and trying to motivate and lead a team or themselves. I’m looking to work with organizations or individuals who are happy to invest in their people and their future to bring about transformational change.
I believe the key to business success both organisationally and personally is to facilitate transformational change and develop Authentic Leaders.
I love to inspire people to develop and grow with new vigor to become authentic leaders of the future, who are trusted and respected by others whilst valuing others contributions. This also is the same for individuals looking to develop themselves either for business or in life.
At AFC, we deliver inspirational, interactive and engaging solutions to help people to develop to their potential. I have a passion for igniting something deep within that engages and motivates an individual to achieve their goals which ultimately will lead to personal/business success.
What is your big goal?
My biggest goal is to create an amazing online presence that helps and inspires others. This environment will help nurture individuals, develop their skillset, maximize knowledge, open their mindset and broaden horizon. My goal is to be the ‘guru’ of authenticity and become the ‘Confidence Coach’ for years to come. My friend/colleague has already called me ‘The UK’s answer to Brené Brown' on the subject of authenticity, so my aim is to ensure others see me that way.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Sitting on a tropical island, sipping a cocktail, writing books, publishing articles and running a successful online global coaching company in semi-retirement. I also see myself speaking at conferences and events both face to face and virtually. My overall drive for 10 years’ time is to be described as the go-to person on the subject of Authenticity and Authentic Leadership.
Follow Andrée on Facebook, Instagram, connect with her on LinkedIn and visit her website for more info!
