I've always loved helping people and when I did my primary coach training I was an Agile team coach for ustwo London, working with digital product teams and clients such as Barclays, Harvey Nichols, TfL, Google Deepmind and Ford. I thrived supporting people and teams doing their best work and I loved this role.

It was here that I received one-to-one coaching and some amazing training, including a resilience course, which gave me new insight into the enormous benefits of coaching and how it could enable a deeper level of support and help for people.

I decided to train as a coach and discovered what I wanted to do with my life and set up Kate Rees Coaching immediately.

As a coach, I’ve included a specialism in resilience coaching because, throughout my working life, I'd often found myself burnt out, with health issues and losing sight of my focus, purpose and self-belief. The effect of this meant I couldn’t manage my stress levels at work and in my personal life. Although this wasn't at all comfortable, I had resigned myself to this being 'normal' for me.

It wasn't until I learned about resilience I realised that I was often just coping with life rather than thriving and enjoying myself. But, more importantly, I could do something to change that. I realised I had many resources to support my resilience such as mindfulness, yoga and diet changes, alongside being supported by some amazing coaches, and I started to focus on improving my physical and mental health.

It's not to say that I now lead a perfectly resilient life, but I understand what it feels like to be really resilient and what it takes to get me back there.

When I'm not coaching, as I live by the coast I spend as much of my time by the sea (in all weathers), sometimes running (though not in all weathers) and enjoying weekly yoga classes. I’m a comedy and music obsessive, have an art school background and I now channel my creative energy into decorating my flat and recently discovered a passion for carpentry and pottery.