Born and brought up in Sherborne, Dorset, Rachel set off for the ‘big smoke’ in 1972 and never looked back, loving life in London for all it had to offer. Soon after leaving university, she had 3 years as cabin crew with Laker Airways, constantly meeting new people and of course going to new places. Following that, always fundamentally a ‘people person’, Rachel’s career wove a path through Social Services, working with or on behalf of disadvantaged children. It was at this stage that her skills in training and presentation started to emerge as one of her particular strengths.
It was also during this time that Rachel was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in SW London, and at 34 was one of the youngest magistrates on the bench.
However, not being one to turn down an exciting opportunity, in 1991 Rachel left all this behind and went with her partner when he was offered a 2-year contract in Thailand – and came back nine years later, married to him and with 2 children. Throughout that time, she had a wealth of diverse experiences and mixed with a vast cross-section of people from a variety of cultures. Rachel was keen to keep developing her career whilst there – no easy feat for an expat. wife in Asia. For a year she worked for the British Embassy, visiting all the British nationals in Thai prisons. During the same year, she joined a counselling organisation in Bangkok as a trainee, and stayed with them throughout the rest of her time I Thailand, working her way up to becoming a senior counsellor, offering one-to-one counselling and running various workshops.
On her return to England in 2000, Rachel’s priority was to find interesting work that was flexible enough to fit round the family, and to fit that bill, started her own business as a counsellor with Lighterlife offering group counselling as part of their weight management programme. By taking advantage of good training in business development, coupled with her sound counselling skills, Rachel built a successful business, always managing to keep sight of her priority of maintaining a work/life balance.
In 2008, Rachel added a second business to her portfolio, becoming a consultant with the Captain Tortue Group, a French designer fashion company, requiring her to adapt to a completely different style of product but again relying on her ability to work to her own goals and to communicate well.
As Rachel’s professional inclination gradually move towards coaching and moving forward rather than counselling and making sense of the past, she closed the weight management business and set about establishing up her own coaching business, Empower Life Coaching. Part of her marketing plan was to attend local networking groups and it was whilst researching these that she came across the franchise opportunity on the Athena website. After her initial enquiry, Rachel just knew this was something she had to do. ‘I couldn’t believe that such a job existed! It brings together the range of skills I have developed to a high level over the years, including excellent communication skills, an ability for good organisation, adaptability and a talent for giving people the confidence to allow themselves to move forward.’
As Regional Director for Athena covering Haslemere, Petersfield, Bordon and Alton, Rachel is a strong believer in the power of networking with regard to business and personal development.
‘I am passionate about helping people achieve their aims, however big or small, and in particular extending a hand to those who have not yet found the confidence to move towards their goals. A group of like-minded women is wonderfully dynamic, but can also be a bit overwhelming for anyone not used to it, so it is really important to me to make everyone at my groups feel welcome and valued. I love the platform that Athena gives me to help women make the best of their businesses – and of themselves. We owe ourselves this opportunity.’
Rachel Maunder
Regional Director – The Athena Network
Telephone: 07905 101169 / 01428 722193
Email: rachel.maunder@theathenanetwork.com
