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 pivots, 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)
Certified professional coach (PCC) by iPEC and the University of Cambridge.
I hold the DiSC, 5 Behaviors of a Cohesive Team, EQi-2.0 and Energy Leadership certifications which allows me to administer top Forbes-listed leadership assessments with my clients.
You have some incredible strengths. My coaching superpower is helping you 'sniff' them out, so you can develop and use those strengths to not just get in the room, but to own the room.
For the past decade, I’ve helped high-performing leaders shed the self-doubt and fears that hold them back from getting the results they’ve wanted, including clients like the female producer who had Netflix say YES to her show, and the male client who became the youngest and first black partner in his firm (and who was promoted again just 18 months later).
I’m also a team coach, retreat facilitator, and help teams design meetings that people actually to attend.
I’m married to the coolest guy ever (even though he owns more shoes than me and takes up all the closet space), and am mom to three littles.
Coaching specialties: building executive presence, strategic communication, political intelligence, career planning and transitions, confidence, resilience, goal-setting, work-life balance, imposter syndrome, and building tools to reduce stress and anxiety before they take over.
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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.