At Ease in Any Room

The rooms that test you

You know your subject. But some rooms make you smaller, faster or more careful than you want to be.

• The senior room. Everyone is older, more established, or used to having the last word.

• The sceptical room. Someone is working against you, or every question feels like an exam.

• The room where you are the exception. You are the only one like you at the table, and you notice how you are being read.

If you over-prepare, fill every silence, or over-explain the moment you are challenged, this is for you. Some people call it imposter syndrome. Often it is a reasonable reaction to rooms that make you prove you belong. We work on both: how you show up, and how you navigate the room.

What people tend to notice

Some of the changes people I’ve coached have described, in programmes and over years of coaching at work:

• You hold a pause without rushing to fill it.

• You answer pushback without speeding up or over-explaining.

• You speak to the most senior person in the room as an equal.

• Your stories carry the point, so people remember what you said instead of forgetting it as soon as you’re done.

• Your charts support what you say instead of doing the talking for you.

• You walk in with a routine that settles you.

• You sound like yourself, even when the stakes are high.

Why I do this work

People often tell me that when I walk into a room, others want to listen. I didn’t learn that from a script. It comes from years of standing in front of rooms that weren’t always on my side, and from learning to stay myself in them.

I help you find your own version of that.

I have spent almost two decades in communications, strategy and leadership, most recently as a partner on the board of Scholz & Friends. I have spoken at TEDx, lectured at ESCP and led hundreds of workshops. I have pitched to clients, moderated on large stages and small ones, and sat in high-stakes meetings with audiences that ranged from curious to openly sceptical.

I grew up in Montréal and have lived in Germany for twenty years, and I have often been the only woman, the only non-German or the only one disagreeing in the room. I know what it takes to hold your place in a room that doesn’t expect you.

I coach in English, German and French.

How we work

• No scripts. You write your own sentences. I give you direct feedback on what I see.

• Your real presentations. We work with the decks and meetings in your calendar, not practice speeches.

• Body first. Composure starts with breath, stance and tempo, before it reaches your words.

• Between sessions. You try one thing in a real meeting and send me two lines on how it went. That is where the habits form.

This is not generic speech training.