Why work with me
My name is Lyndsey and I help successful professionals like you to redesign their careers and leadership around who they have become.
Before becoming a coach, I spent over 20 years building my career in financial services, risk management and compliance - working in complex organisations where high expectations, constant change and increasing responsibility were part of everyday life. Those experiences shaped not only my leadership journey but also my understanding of what sustainable success really looks like.
For years, I believed success meant meeting everyone else's expectations. Eventually I discovered that real success comes from intentionally creating a career and life that align with who you are.
From living by expectation to leading with intention
The Pursuit of Success
Like many ambitious professionals, I spent much of my early career believing success meant working hard, progressing quickly and meeting the expectations of those around me. From an early age, resilience became part of my story. After losing my father, I threw myself into education and later into building a successful career. I achieved promotions, increased responsibility and the outward markers of success, believing that was what I was meant to do.
The Turning Point
Eventually, the pace caught up with me. Burnout and a period of clinical depression forced me to stop in a way I never would have chosen for myself. Looking back, it became one of the most significant turning points in my life. For the first time, I stepped back and asked questions I'd never really considered:
What matters most to me?
What does success actually mean?
Am I building a career that reflects who I am—or simply who I think I'm expected to be?
Reinvention
Returning to work wasn't about going back to the way things had been. It was about moving forward differently. I consciously redesigned my career around my values, my family and the kind of leader I wanted to become. Along the way, I found myself becoming what I often describe as an "accidental manager"—learning to lead through experience, curiosity and continuous development. Completing my Level 7 qualification in Strategic Management and Leadership became another defining moment, giving me the frameworks and confidence to lead with greater intention and authenticity.
Why First Forward Coaching Exists
Looking back, I can see a clear thread running through my journey. I spent years living according to expectations before learning to lead with intention.
That's why I created First Forward Coaching.
I know what it's like to feel overwhelmed by responsibility, to question whether your career still fits who you've become, and to wonder what's next. I also know that meaningful change doesn't start with updating your CV or chasing another promotion.
It starts by putting first things first—understanding who you are now, what matters most to you, and intentionally creating a career and way of working that reflect that.
My career has taught me that success isn't about becoming more of who others expect you to be. It's about becoming more of who you already are—and having the confidence to build your work around that.