When I was woken at 3am to deliver a baby in war-torn South Sudan, it was a shock. All eyes were on me as the new and only doctor in the devastated area. I quickly searched for a WHO field manual, unearthed a pair of forceps, and tried to be as reassuring as possible. The mother lived but the baby was stillborn. It was hard but I earned some trust and respect.
That was how I approached life - see the challenge, figure it out, solve it. Do it again. I looked strong on the outside but, over time, something was starting to fray on the inside. There was no end to the climb. The constant pressure, lonely decision-making, and increasing ethical complexity were slowly draining the well, even while the achievements accumulated.
Hi, I'm Amina - I'm a recovering overachiever.
In 2016, at the height of my career, and having skipped the graduation ceremony for my second doctorate, I took a career leap into uncertainty. I needed to know what it was like off the achievement treadmill and what was possible beyond elite institutions and corridors of power. I knew I could do hard things - I had asked challenging questions in UN rooms, was becoming known in health inequalities and disaster risk reduction, and knew how to simplify complex science into interventions that save lives.
I left it all to start again from scratch. The budding vision was to create a coaching and consulting practice. I did it through conversations, honest writing, and doing my own deep work. The coaching took off and now it's a decade down the line.
It turned out I wasn’t the only one asking questions about the cost of success in a demanding system. Many were and are still asking, now at organisational and global level as old institutions are increasingly unfit for the challenges of the 21st century.
I captured some of this in my book The Success Trap which won the UK Business Book Award in Personal Development in 2021. In 2024, I received a leadership in coaching and education award at the House of Lords, which all struck me as pleasantly ironic.
This past decade, I’ve worked with some of the most ambitious, purpose-driven and quietly kind leaders, from multiple cultures and industries, to shift beyond competence and into coherence.
Whether it’s a room of 600+ leaders going through reorganisation or a 1:1 exploratory conversation on a big career decision, coherence is always available. It emerges when we drop the mask and meet what’s underneath with a sense of presence, power, and possibility.
Other things about me:
Meditation is my main medicine.
I once kissed Stephen Hawking.
I played volleyball for Cambridge University.
I bought my first coaching book at 17 - on dating.
My roots trace back to the mountains and plains of Algeria.
I play guitar, covers mostly, and occasionally my own songs - for my plants.
My most difficult relationship to date has been with a Ficus Ginseng bonsai.
