Sophia Fromell willingly worked the long hours expected of an investment banking career for years before she realised there must be more to life.
The problem was she could not envisage doing anything else.
“I thought this is not sustainable, but I never knew what I wanted to do and I always thought I don’t really know anything else except finance,” says Ms Fromell, 39, from Greece.
It was while she was working in the UAE, first as the head of the Middle East and North Africa region for Barclays Wealth & Investment Management and later as vice president of the chief operations office with Barclays UAE that things came to a head.
“I wasn’t seeing my family. I was living far away from everybody. I thought what is out there in life that I am missing right now?” she says.
It was a question that led her to embark on a long-distance degree in life coaching and communication from Newcastle University in the UK, which led to a new career. She left banking to become a life coach around the same time she graduated, in July 2013.
“I was pregnant at the time with my second baby. And while I was on maternity I decided I wouldn’t go back. I always thought I would do it in parallel because I wasn’t ready for the big step,” she says.
“But then when I went on maternity I thought no, that’s not going to work doing two things at the same time because I am not going to do either of them properly,” says Ms Fromell, who now runs her own coaching company, Ithaca Life.
Like many who have forged successful careers in their chosen field, the switch to life coaching is often triggered by the experiences of life.
“To become an effective life and wellness coach one must have lived a life,” says Patrick Williams, founder of the Institute for Life Coach Training. “In other words, a 20-something coach could be effective but probably not to an older age group of clients.”
Heidi Jones, 33, from England, became a coach after experiencing her own professional crisis. Having moved to Dubai to take on a teaching position five years ago, she always had the feeling she did not want to be a teacher forever. But after being made a head of department at Jumeirah College, it made sense to stay, so she compromised by pursuing her interest in nutrition on the side.
However, when the stress of work started to get on top of her, Ms Jones consulted a holistic doctor and sought the advice of a health coach, something she had never heard of at the time.
“I thought there had to be someone in the world who can help me. I did’t want to see a psychologist. I didn’t want to see a doctor. There must be someone in the middle. Then I was just typing in coaches, coaches for health, food-related coaching and a health coach in Dubai came up.”
When she saw the health coach, Ms Jones realised it might be something she could also do. She quit teaching to start her nutrition and health coaching company in June at the same time as a colleague, who has coincidentally also moved into a coaching role, albeit in a different area.
Richard Vivian became a teacher after being forced to quit his career as a professional rugby player early because of injury. He later came across professional coaching after hearing about it from a friend, a former rugby international who had to find another career after being diagnosed with a heart condition.
By chance Mr Vivian, 39, from England, met a man in Dubai who set up his own professional coaching company, 2b Limitless. Mr Vivian was invited to join, and has worked there as head of high performance teams and team-building events since the summer. His teaching experience makes coaching a natural fit.
“I love teaching. I am a teacher and a coach. It is a skill that I nurtured and developed. This is just an extension of it,” he adds.
Mr Williams of Life Coach Training says coaches should not be experts on the client’s life or situation, ”but they should be an expert in coaching and reveal a maturity and sense of self that is secure, experienced, and inspirational”.
Ms Fromell may not have come from teaching, but her previous career in banking has also come in handy. As most of her clients come from a corporate background, she can relate.
“The majority of people come to me with the same issue that I was facing a while back – there must be more to life. So many people here in Dubai are very successful. They come here and earn a very high salary, better than they would earn back home. We have beautiful houses and fantastic lives. They work hard but then they reach this point [and think] is it about waiting for the next pay cheque or the next big house? There must be more than that,” says Ms Fromell.
business@thenational.ae
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter