Hi there

I’m iacob*. 10 years ago I started out as a graphic designer determined to not design for Coca Cola. (though I drink it sometimes!) I knew early on that I needed to do work that I thought mattered to the world and trained in service design in the public sector. And yet, I was stressed and unfulfilled. My journey with therapy reconnected me to what I cared about: one-to-one work with people. I coach because I care that people experience equal and empowering relationships, especially when they have experienced deeply oppressive systems and relationships before.

I have coached for two years and have worked for Simply Coaching for over a year. I have a 50hrs coach certification from the MOE Foundation in London and currently train and facilitate on Simply Coaching’s 30hrs Transforming Conversations course. I also have completed Mental Health Aware and Suicide First Aid half-day trainings with Mental Health First Aid England.

Iacob@simplycoaching.net

About

My focus as a Coach

The core of coaching for me is the working relationship we build together. This includes trust, collaboration and readiness to work through disagreements. I find the stronger our relationship, the better the results. I continue to grow these skills through significant personal work in therapy and supervision.

I come to coaching with a set of beliefs about the relationship between inner change vs systems change. I don’t believe you can do anything you want if you try hard enough. And yet, I do passionately believe and coach you to equally design the life you want and choose how you might effectively relate to and manage the ways in which the world is not currently designed for all of us to flourish and express ourselves fully through our lives and work.

How I work in Coaching

As a highly perceptive person, my main tool in coaching is sensing, naming and inviting you to notice the emotions that arise as you pursue your goals. I find that naming these emotions leads to clarity, energy, motivation and creative thinking.

I believe that with each person, my approach will change but I do recognise that I have a tendency towards one particular style and target group than others. My go-to coaching style is highly supportive, gentle and yet, quite direct in naming the difficult-to-admit things. It works really well for those who might self-identify as introverted, quiet, highly sensitive and wanting to feel more confident.

My background

Originally from Romania, I have lived in London for ten years. I am a white non-binary and transgender person and my pronouns are he/they. As an LGBTQIA+ person, a migrant and a career changer, I understand first-hand how hard it is to live into who you are and make and live by life-changing decisions. In my coaching practice, I lean on this lived experience bringing both realism and creativity to partnering with you in navigating to the other side - carefully, sensitively, and with kindness.

* Iacob is a preferred name and is different to my legal name

'I never really understood how useful coaching could be until I worked with Iacob. They have this super-human empathic ability to reflect back on what I said in a way that allowed me to see things in a completely different light. ‘

- Kat, Director of Innovation

Iacob’s style as a coach is skillful, responsive and encouraging. I felt that they were quickly able to establish an understanding of what I was trying to explore and to guide the conversation in a way that helped me become more aware of my patterns, priorities, and next steps.
- Louise, Facilitator and Researcher