About
Hi, I'm Katarina
I didn't set out to become a coach. I set out to understand people, what makes them thrive under pressure, what makes them break, and what it takes to lead well when the context keeps changing.
From Finland to the UN to New York
In 1998, I moved from Finland to New York City. Before founding my coaching practice, I worked in HR, Recruitment, and Staff Development at the United Nations. Those years gave me an inside view of what it takes to lead in complex, high-stakes, multicultural systems, not only the theory of it, but the reality of it.
Since founding my practice, that work has taken me to Helsinki, Rome, Bangkok, and Bonn. I've coached leaders based across four continents. Cross-cultural leadership isn't a subject I only studied; it's a system I've also lived inside for 25 years.
My approach
I'm an ICF PCC-certified coach with a graduate degree in Mental Health Counseling, which means I'm built for the harder conversations, the ones that live beneath the surface. My work is rooted in systemic thinking, psychological depth, and cross-cultural experience.
I don't use a fixed curriculum; I focus on the whole person and the specific environment they're in. I don't just coach the skills; I coach the self-awareness and resilience required to make those skills stick. Well-being isn't a side note; it's the foundation, because leaders who neglect it lead from empty cups.
Sisu is a Finnish word with no direct translation. The closest is resilience, but it's sturdier. It's the capacity to keep going through genuine difficulty, not by ignoring it, but by facing it directly. My own experience as an immigrant, building a career and a life in a country and language that weren't originally mine, shaped the belief at the center of my practice: people have a real capacity to grow through difficulty and lead with purpose, even when the path isn't the one they expected.
