Introducing Jo

Jo is a serial philanthropist, dog-walking, chocolate eating coach. 

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She's a corporate accountant escapee, who traded in the 9-5 in pursuit of a brighter, more exciting life.

 

Having project managed a house build, navigated the children through pandemic all whilst developing her coaching practise - Jo loves walking through the countryside with her Labrador Fred listening to the sounds of nature.

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She believes in using her skills to help others and is active in her local community as a Parish Councillor, trustee of 2 charities and a director of a Community Benefit society that oversees the community owned local pub. 

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She loves a trip to the beach and Cadbury's Whole Nut chocolate straight from the fridge.

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Jo's story:

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I’m Jo, a Co-active trained coach working with people (often finance professionals) who want to have more fun, fulfilment or money in their lives.
 
I am an experienced finance professional (CIMA) with nearly 2 decades of corporate experience in Commercial Finance roles in a F100 global tech giant, partnering and influencing Sales & Marketing organisations. I’ve led teams, supported people’s development & made and implemented difficult decisions when needed.

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For a while, I seemed to be living a dual life – Jo Durndell the corporate career woman and Jo Grey the wife and mum. And then I realised…instead of looking at that as a drain, it was actually a great articulation of the growth and change our family was going through.

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My corporate career was built on building partnerships and understanding the people I work with. People development and relationships have always been my passion… growing and developing the talented employees and business partners I worked with is what I take most pride from that time in my life. 

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I have 16 years corporate experience, leading finance teams as a strategic finance partner to Sales & Marketing VP’s in EMEA, working for one of the largest and most innovative technology companies in the world. I am a qualified management accountant, I’ve always said “… but I’m not a traditional accountant”!

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I don’t restrict myself by branding as a life coach, nor a business coach, nor a leadership coach as I think we really need to accept that we can’t segment our lives into nice, neat and easy chunks. Coaching is most real and effective when the client brings everything that’s going on!

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I’m a wife and mum of 2 children, finding my way supporting, encouraging and advocating for a child with SEN. I’ve been a home educator (by choice not covid!), am a passionate advocate for access to technology and community volunteering. I’m a Trustee of local charities, Community Benefit Societies and a Parish Councillor.

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Like many, our path to completing our family was not linear - we had 3 miscarriages between our first and second children. Whilst traumatic at the time, the biggest impact of that experience was the reflection on what I wanted to do with my life.

 

I realised I needed to spend more time following my passions and invest my energy in people that inspire me. So - we tapped into our values, built some big scary plans and took 1 step at a time to get there.

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