About us

What we do

We unlock modern leadership  

Leadership can feel daunting, but we help leaders navigate the challenges with skill. Challenges like running a collaborative team, building a creative culture or achieving growth without burnout.

We enable positive impact 

Modern leadership is a lot about human impact: are you helping yourself and others to succeed? We help leaders create a positive impact in ways that get to great results, with humanity. 

We partner with leaders of all kinds

We coach Founders scaling cultures, seasoned executives, rising leaders and talented people without big titles who want to make an impact. We work across sectors but specialise in creative and entrepreneurial organisations.

We coach, train, write and talk 

We deliver executive coaching, team coaching and leadership training, meeting our clients virtually or in person, in the UK and globally. Alison also hosts the made not born podcast about learning to lead.

Our values

CONTRIBUTION

We are passionate about utility and impact.

CURIOSITY

We look for the learning in everything.  

CHALLENGE

We challenge ourselves and our clients to aim high.

CRAFT

We are committed to excellence.

COMPASSION

We work with empathy and care.

Who we are

  • Alison is Founder and lead coach at made not born. She has been an executive coach and leadership trainer for almost 25 years, helping thousands of talented people learn to lead.

    Alison has gained her deep experience in consultancy, in-house for BBDO and with her own practice, previously growpeople, now made not born. She became a coach after a decade in UK advertising, where she was a Director at AMV BBDO, then the UK’s no 1 agency.

    Alison is driven by the desire to enable better leadership and talent practices in business. She was named in Management Today’s ‘35 under 35’ in 2003 and in 2008 received the Mann Award for Women for her contribution to growing talent in the creative sector.

    Based in the UK but working globally, Alison works across sectors but specialises in organisations driven by personality, pace and performance - often Founder-led entrepreneurial organisations and creative cultures. She divides her time between executive and team coaching and leadership training. In her spare time she also hosts the made not born podcast.

    Alison’s clients value her deep experience and her intuitive and rigorous approach. That rigour is underpinned by a 1st Class MSc in Executive Coaching, Systemic Team Coach Certification, NLP and MBTI qualifications. And, of course, by her belief that coaches, like leaders, are never done learning.

  • Drawing from recent hands-on experience leading successful teams at some of the world’s most creatively-awarded agencies, Jen works alongside Alison to champion the idea that leadership is a muscle you can build. Through made not born, they offer coaching and training to support and develop individuals and teams on their leadership journeys.

    Jen's time spent leading teams at Bloomberg, AMV BBDO, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Droga5 has equipped her with invaluable insights into clients' business contexts and challenges. Known for her ability to quickly build rapport and inspire confidence, Jen’s empathetic yet direct approach helps her coachees navigate challenges and gain clarity.

    Jen has 17 years of industry experience and is also a fully qualified Executive Coach and MBTI practitioner. She is driven by her passion to unlock the talent in others to realise their full potential - particularly those in, or aspiring to, leadership roles.

We have a few trusted, talented, experienced coaches who work as made not born associate coaches. 

  • Rebecca became an executive coach and trainer after spending twenty years in corporate communications, both with Ogilvy PR and BBDO owned PR consultancy Fishburn Hedges. Rebecca coaches teams, leaders and emerging leaders across many sectors, but continues to have strong connections with the creative industries world, where she brings her personal experience of helping teams thrive in these fast paced environments. Rebecca’s approach was best captured by a client who described her as “deeply empathetic with a healthy dose of challenge”. She helps leaders connect with their personal values and style of leadership, to grow their resilience and that of their teams and create cultures where deep collaboration, trust and healthy debate thrive. Rebecca is a qualified executive coach and resilience coach, with further qualifications in team coaching and NLP. Rebecca coaches in her own practice and with made not born.

  • Sara trained to become an executive and personal coach after 27 years of leading creative teams in global media and content companies including the BBC and BBDO. She was CEO of the market-leading content agency RedwoodBBDO and has worked closely with some of the world’s most influential brands. Sara’s broad commercial background means she understands the realities of working in complex organisations and grasps business context quickly. Her coaching clients describe her style as insightful, energising, confidence-building, gently challenging, practical, warm, and wise. She has spoken and written publicly on mental health in the workplace for several national campaigns. She mentors disabled senior civil servants for the government REACH programme and has been a trustee of The Maudsley Charity for three years. Sara is a qualified and ICF accredited executive and personal coach (ACC). Sara coaches in her own practice and with made not born.