Get to know me.

I'm Vanessa May - Master Certified Coach (MCC), founder of Vanessa May Ltd., and someone who’s walked the path from high-functioning pressure to grounded, courageous presence.

With over 20 years of experience, I’ve coached executives, leaders, and teams to move beyond people-pleasing, avoidance, frustration, perfectionism, and burnout, and into leadership that’s rooted in truth, clarity, and self-trust.

My training includes certifications from The Oxford School of Coaching & Mentoring, the Co-Active Training Institute, ORSC, HeartMath, The Leadership Circle, and Highly Sensitive Persons. I bring a trauma-informed lens, deep nervous system awareness, and a lot of lived experience to this work.

Why I do this work.

For a long time, I thought the answer was to be better.

Better trained. Better prepared. Better at managing everyone else’s needs.
I had the qualifications, the structure, the systems — and still, something felt off.

I was succeeding by most standards, but inside I felt like I was coping, not living.
Like I was performing my life instead of being in it.

I kept thinking the next course, the next habit, the next bit of self-discipline would finally make it all click. But the more I tried to perfect myself, the more disconnected I became.

The shift happened when I stopped trying to prove I was “enough” and started accepting myself. When I began leading from who I am, the quirky free range bird.

That’s why I do this work.
Because I know how exhausting it is to work against your true nature, and how powerful it is to finally stop.

What I believe.

I believe success should include you.
I believe clarity and calm are just as valuable as strategy and drive.
I believe you don’t need to prove your worth, you need space to remember it.
I believe you can lead powerfully without losing yourself.
And I believe the most meaningful changes happen when we stop performing and start telling the truth.

Education

2024
Master Certified Coach

2023
Leadership Circle Profile 360 Certification

2020
The Power of Embodied Transformation

2019
Human Synergistics Certification of Accreditation

2019
Organisational Relationship Systems Certified Coach (ORSC)

2019
Emotional Freedom Technique and Matrix Reimprinting Practitioner (EFTMRA)

2018
Organisational Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) Training Series

2018
Mental Health First Aider Training, MHFA

2018
Kilmann Diagnostic Training in Conflict

2017
Vinyasa Flow Yoga RYT 200 Hours

2017
Breathwork Practitioner

2016
Licensed Heartmath Coach

2015
Shamanic Practitioner

2013
Professional Certified Coach

2012
Realise 2 Accreditation Practitioner Programme

2012
Associate Certified Coach ICF

2011
Co-active Leadership Programme

2009
Certified Professional Co-active Coach

2007
Advanced Coaching Supervision

2007
EQi Accreditation Programme

2007
NLP Business Practitioner Programme

2004
Certificate in Coaching and Mentoring OSCM Oxford Brookes University

1999
MSc Organisational Behaviour Birkbeck University

1994
Managing Human Resources Kingston University