ABOUT US
Hi! We’re Stephanie and Martin - the work-life-leadership coaches
We help “high-achieving, get-it-done” mid-career professionals like you into becoming deeply confident, influential leaders, without needing to tradeoff your mental and emotional wellbeing.
We’re a married couple with three kids who have teamed up as coaches, because we’ve been where you are and had to work hard to build lives we love and have careers that fill us up.
Where we started:
We played by the rules—great schools, great jobs, more responsibility. But no matter how far we got, it never felt like enough.
The cycle: hustle, achieve, doubt, repeat.
The myth: that this is what the path to leadership takes.
But we were wrong.
Here’s what really happened.
January 2016. We’re living in central London with a chubby newborn and fresh promotions that came with shiny titles. People kept saying we had it all. Perfect family. Dream Job. If only they knew…
Behind the scenes, here’s what really happened:
Weekly Sunday night arguments over who had bigger work priorities and couldn’t pick our child up on time
The nights we’d stay up thinking about the feedback we received, wondering if the client or boss thought we were incompetent, or didn’t know what we were doing
Broken promises and missed family dinners because that’s the price you paid for advancement...right?
Or those moments when the hard got too hard and we felt unsure if this was even worth it
We realized that despite what it looked like from the outside - our careers, our lives, did not feel like our dream.
With support from coaches (and each other), we faced a hard truth: we’d traded our wellbeing and personal goals for the short-lived high of external praise.
We chased validation—and when it stopped, self-doubt rushed in.
So we redefined success on our own terms and took back control.
That’s why we built a coaching program that’s not about “having it all”—it’s about having your all, rooted in your values and your definition of success.
Now, we help high achievers get clear on what they truly want—from their careers, relationships, and lives. We help them build the confidence to speak boldly, set boundaries, and lead from a place of strength and alignment.
Because when you’re clear and grounded, others follow your lead.
We believe your work is important, and the only way to maximize your impact while maintaining life balance is to stop letting your career "happen to you."
Yes, we’ve lived this—but why trust us on leadership and balance? Fair question. Here’s why:
We’re certified coaches, parents of three, and partners in life for over a decade.
We’ve coached thousands of high-achieving professionals across sectors—finance, law, tax & accounting, nonprofit, consulting, and beyond—and walked with them through career transitions, burnout, self-doubt, promotions, and reinvention.
We’ve led teams ourselves and supported leaders at every level, from rising managers to the C-suite.
Through it all, we’ve seen what it really takes to build lasting confidence, communicate with trust, and create a career that works for your actual life—not just your résumé.
Also? We’ve lived, worked, and studied in 9 countries, bringing a global and inclusive lens to every conversation.
Hello!
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The Confidence Wizard (aka: Stephanie Chen Banjo)
Hi! I might be the coach for you if you’re stepping into a bigger role—and everything suddenly feels more complex. There’s more pressure, more politics, more visibility—and you’re trying to lead in a way that still feels like you.
I help leaders quiet imposter syndrome, rebuild confidence, and develop the kind of executive presence that earns trust and influence—without ever feeling performative. Together, we’ll build practical systems so you can delegate and mentor with ease, communicate more clearly, and create the expectations and accountability that help your teams thrive. Doing this frees you up to focus on higher-impact work—like growing your practice, shaping strategy, and creating a version of work-life balance that leaves you energized and grounded.
For over a decade, I’ve worked with high-performing professionals across law, accounting, big tech companies, helping them shed the self-doubt and fears that once held them back. Clients have included a producer who got Netflix to say yes to her show, and a lawyer who became the youngest—and first Black—partner at his firm, later promoted again just 18 months later.
I also work with teams as a facilitator and retreat leader, helping them strengthen trust, navigate complexity, and design meetings that people actually want to attend.
I bring both training and lived experience to the work. I’m a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through iPEC and the University of Cambridge, with certifications in DiSC®, The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™, EQ-i 2.0, and Energy Leadership. I also run my own consulting business and am a mom of three—which means I know firsthand what it takes to lead through competing priorities, high stakes, and real life colliding with work. I do my best to bring that lens to every conversation.
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The Leadership Whisperer (aka: Martin Banjo)
I have made a career of building high trust and high performing teams to tackle some of the biggest problems senior executives want and need to solve.
I’ve launched new products globally, defined how businesses should be restructured, and been a trusted advisor to leaders from the front lines to the C-suite.
I’ve learned that consistently great results come when you help capable people figure out all the things beneath the surface that are holding them back - that is my life’s passion.
As a mentor and coach to emerging leaders for nearly a decade I’ve learned how to help people get unstuck, see their next step, and structure the ‘existential’ questions they have into a plan and process that helps them define and achieve their goals.
I am an apprentice dad, sport and music lover, and married to my best friend.
Coaching specialties: leading teams, enhancing performance, career transitions (leaving, shifting, promotion),
MBA University of Cambridge;
M.A Johns Hopkins University;
B.Bus Queensland University of Technology.
What are we like as coaches?
We’re not passive head-nodders—and we won’t hand you one-size-fits-all advice. With care and candor, we’ll challenge you, surface blind spots, build on your strengths, and hold you accountable—even on the tough stuff you’ve been avoiding.
Our coaching is grounded in neuroscience-backed tools that don’t just give you a quick confidence boost—they help you rewire how you see yourself, others, and what’s possible.
If you’ve ever wondered, “Does it have to be this hard?” or “Why does success cost so much?”—the answer is no.
Yes, there will be hard moments. But the kind of hard we help you walk through has meaning. It’s aligned with your goals, your values, and your love of growth. And that makes all the difference.