Letesia has enjoyed a 20-year career working in research, future trends, consultancy, and coaching. During this time, she has created and led her own agencies and been an engaging leader in prominent consultancies working with clients all around the world on meaty, challenges and complex change projects.

She brings all this experience, alongside her background in psychology and her unique lived experience lens to help clients develop their leadership, culture and strategy to fit the needs of organisations in the 2020s. With personal experience of burnout, which inspired her focus on changing workplaces from the inside, she has a deep understanding of the aspects of organisational life that are vital for healthy, empowering cultures.

She is a somatically trained coach which underpins her ability to connect clients to tough truths, bring compassion for where they are at, and ensure they stay connected to their core values and purpose. Her style is fresh, creative, collaborative and supportive which creates long-term trusted relationships with the clients she works with.

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Richard grew up in a working-class family during the time of Mrs Thatcher's Section 28, which forbade the promotion of homosexuality in society. As an LGBTQ+ youth at this time, there were virtually no role models, narratives or cultural references to indicate that LGBTQ+ lifestyles existed, let alone were acceptable. Richard understands how a lack of representation can undermine an ability to develop a sense of self and context and feels passionately that positive representation for all is vital to helping them find their voice and be their best.

Richard brings an extensive career in HR focusing on attracting talent and creating workplaces where people choose to stay. With his lived experience, his degree in Communications Studies and a Masters in HR Management, he brings real value to the work of New Ways, and in particular his understanding of the relationship between internal communications in employee engagement is especially appreciated. Now, as a ICF trained coach he works with clients to develop their careers in organisations that share in their values and develop them to become the best versions of themselves. This includes a focus upon authentic leadership, effective management and creating collaborative and impactful working relationships.

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Monica spent 15 years of her career working in environments where being a queer Black woman has always made her the minority. Having worked in construction commercial services as both Quantity Surveyor and Procurement professional, she made her way up to senior leadership level, noticing how there were barely a handful of people like her, also feeling the hardness of the ‘glass ceiling’. It is this experience of constantly figuring out how to prove she belonged at this level that motivated her to leave the industry all together, to follow a vision of supporting people in navigating discrimination and non-inclusive environments to achieve their ambitions.

In living up to this vision Monica is now working full time as a certified life and mindset coach, using both causal relationship and neuro-scientific frameworks to help women leaders tap into their truth and authenticity, empowering them to be unapologetic in taking up space in a system that does not favour diversity. With her warm but direct coaching style, Monica brings her lived experience to support New Ways in delivering anti-racism programmes, designed to help people understand how inaction can be harmful and to support them in stepping up for change as active allies.

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Theresa is an astute qualitative researcher who supports New Ways with unpicking and unearthing organisational truths and the stories and narratives being told about organisations by people, inside and out.

She is the founder of Luminance Insight, which she set up after noticing that narratives about POC and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds were often told from non-diverse perspectives, or were completely overlooked, further fuelling bias instead of transformative insight. She sought somewhere that she truly could ‘bring her full self to work’ and work in a more authentic way, and in an industry lacking diversity, setting up on her own was the answer.

Having lived in 3 continents, with an unconventional career path and working-class roots, she brings a unique perspective to unearthing challenges and spotting opportunities. Her creativity, curiosity and positive energy are vital ingredients that help her to help clients bravely connect to their truths. She has extensive experience in helping organisations understand their narratives and to develop new ones, work she has undertaken with media brands such as BBC, Channel4, EE and VIMN.

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Poonam is a Somatic coach, artist and creative facilitator.

She is the founder of YSM8, which she grew after experiencing burnout and misalignment, while working in the future trends and research and fashion sector.

Poonam brings her creative lens supporting people to feel into the wisdom of their bodies, find their authentic expression, and build restorative healing practices, together in community. She is celebrated for the wholesome, calming, compassionate and healing spaces she holds.

She understands the importance of feeling into our inner worlds and cultivating a deeper connection to Self and the Divine Shakti. She grew up in a nourishing Sikh-Kenyan-Panjabi home, surrounded by diverse intergenerational communities that shaped her values and lens on humanity.

Her love and curiosity of human expression, textiles, sound and movement led her towards training in Somatic coaching.

Poonam's work dances between Somatics, human centred therapy, systems thinking, texture constellations, creative expression and Ancient Wisdom rooted in the Dharmic traditions.

She weaves together threads of craft, movement, rhythm, ritual, reflection, and prayer through her immersive workshops, talks and coaching sessions for whole-being healing, nourishment and growth. She has held immersive workshops, and talks for organisations such as The V&A, Converse, The Prince’s Trust, Lush, EE, Saatchi & Saatchi, UAL and many more.

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Nathan is the son of an Italian immigrant, a descendant of the Ohlone Native American people, an uncle of two, and largely a product of his first 18 years in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

He runs Almost Any How, which is dedicated to coaching and facilitating more honest and compassionate leadership - where relationships and intuition are central to learning, belonging and wellness. That’s leadership coaching, facilitating teams and groups through change, and guiding design and strategy.

Previous clients include the NHS, Home-Start UK, The Mayor of London, UK Youth, Bond, the Trades Union Congress and NCT, among others.

As his belonging quote speaks to, Nathan believes that our greatest challenges hinge on our collective ability to transform our individual selves - to move toward love, toward greater connection and toward a deep hearing and knowing.

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Nikita (they/she) is a writer, published poet, editor & workshop curator who advocates for an intersectional lens and approach. They have a vast and varied background, volunteering and working within the nonprofit sector: from employability and work experience, chronic illness and mental health, humanitarian innovation, and ongoing facilitation of closed, safe spaces for individuals with intersectional identities.

They are dedicated to spotlighting the “other” – people who are chronically unheard within society, and Nikita is particularly interested in the power of creativity and the safe space that it can create for intersectional folks. Nikita is trained in mental health first aid and has lived experience across intersections: as a South-Asian disabled, neurodivergent, queer non-binary person. They currently work within the LGBT+ sector as a Racial Justice Engagement Officer.

They bring a variety of lived experience to New Ways and will be focusing on writing and creative practice: how can we utilise different methods and creative practices to engage folks and empower them to enact radical change? Not only within the workplace but society at large, too!

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Efun is a skilled qualitative researcher who is driven by her desire to understand others’ perspectives and experiences of the world. She brings extensive and varied experience to the New Ways team, and is particularly adept at creating spaces where people feel able to be themselves and express their truths. Beyond understanding others, Efun also strives for moments where people feel understood, believing this to be an important and powerful human experience.

Efun’s research career spans a wide range of contexts across the private, public and charity sectors and academia - she has worked on commercial strategies, helped developed new products and services, and conducted research in hospitals and mental health centres. She also has a Masters in Medical Anthropology, and a keen interest in all things health, healing and wellbeing, including wellbeing at work.

Alongside her study of and professional work on inequity, Efun’s perspective on EDI is informed by her lived experience, particularly as someone whose identity comprises several marginalised aspects. She is passionate about the restorative potential of equitable working environments that truly embrace people’s differences.

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Eloise is our Community Weaver. She joined New Ways as a Project Manager in 2022, with over 10 years of experience managing projects within a range of sectors, including art, design, and education. She has navigated her career while living with chronic pain, which has instilled in her a deep empathy and understanding of the challenges individuals face when dealing with the often conflicting demands of work and one’s health.

Eloise has recently qualified as a Pilates instructor, in an effort to enhance her understanding of the mind-body connection that the practice encourages, and to help others managing chronic health conditions. She feels strongly about creating work cultures in which everyone’s needs are taken into account, and are treated with equal care and respect.

Eloise incorporates this knowledge and lived experience into her work with the New Ways Community, which is about ensuring that change-makers and leaders of organisations feel nourished and energised, enabling them to learn and grow from each other so they are better resourced on their journey towards positive change. As Audre Lorde said, “Without community, there is no liberation.”

Deniz is a Community and Creative Program Manager joining New Ways as a Project Manager, bringing structure and a “can-do” attitude so the team can keep on dreaming and creating work that matters to them.

Growing up in a secular Turkish family with a teacher Mother and an engineer Father, influenced her to use both sides of her brain, the analytical and the empathetic, approaching problems with a systemic thinking without forgetting humility.

Deniz has a diverse background, all rooted in her genuine interest in Digital Culture, blending knowledge of strategic communications, design research and digital product management. She has experience in growing Web2 and Web3 communities for diverse domains such as DAOs, education, music, media, and NFTs as well as leading product innovation projects for creative agencies.

She is energised when she is working with organisations that are exploring the edges of how to work, co-create, collaborate and have a meaningful impact on individuals’ lives. Telling the truth and being practical are her most valued traits and she lives these values in her daily life too.

Besides getting dirty every day as the Mother of a young chocolate Dobermann, she loves hitting the gym to experience the bliss of being able to carry your body weight in hundreds of angles possible.