I would like to share with you something of my journey so far, from my life as an academic to that of an education entrepreneur and founder of Ithaca Global Coaching Academy.
I have had a long career in music and academia and have faced and overcome some formidable, life-changing hurdles that have led me to my present life and career path. I have lived and worked in Greece and England, I have dual nationality (Greek and British) and I’m an avid traveller and citizen of the world.
I have had a long academic career as a musicologist, lecturer and published author. My early music career in Greece involved both performance and academic activities, and extended across public performance, conservatoire teaching, and university education. In my mid-twenties, I left my Greek world and my career there and went to England to pursue postgraduate studies. And a whole new world opened up in front of me! I gained several academic qualifications, I realised my life’s dream to teach in higher education, and more importantly, I built a nest.
Despite some challenging experiences in both academia and my personal life, I was for a long time content to keep living wrapped in my cocoon and working within my academic ivory tower. Life, however, had other plans, and although it steered me into uncharted waters, it challenged me to set off on a new journey of self-discovery, which revealed strengths I didn’t know I had, and gave birth to dreams that had lain dormant for a long time which led me to my present life and coaching career path. C.P. Cavafy’s “Ithaca”can be read as a poetic representation of my life’s journey and it has been the inspiration behind my company’s name.
Formally, my coaching career started as a result of a real-life experience of the kind captured in the saying, “Before Alice got to Wonderland she had to fall pretty hard down a deep hole”! It was in the midst of the darkest period of my life, when everything around me had imploded and I was facing my own Cyclops, Laistrygonians and angry Poseidon, that I looked for ways not only to survive and adapt to my new reality but also to change direction and thrive again. They say that in times of crisis we show our true character. Afterplenty of reflection, and discovering new qualities of awareness and inner strength, and as the Japanese saying goes, having “fallen down seven times and got up eight”, I decided to sail towards a new “Ithaca”. And I am undertaking this journey through coaching and mentoring people who are on a similar life trajectory to myself, who are experiencing the joys, trials and tribulations of life, who want to overcome obstacles and embrace and optimize opportunities to create positive change that will lead to a more fulfilling life.
I have always been passionate about nurturing individual potential and talent, challenging received wisdom, and empowering, inspiring and supporting individuals to achieve their personal and professional goals and improve their circumstances.
At Ithaca Global Coaching Academy, I can help illuminate the road you decide you take, support you step by step on your journey and make the change manageable and exciting, in a secure environment where empathy, honesty, reliability and confidentiality are the guiding principles and values in our joint adventure. And through my training programmes I can equip you with the knowledge, tools and techniques that will help you to master the process of change and goal achievement, so you can be happier and more successful at work, and enjoy an even better and more fulfilled life.
Contact me for a free 30-minute exploratory call to discuss whether my services and programmes are the right ones for you, and how I can help you.
Visit Ithaca Global Coaching Academy for information on the training, workshops and services offered.
