foxonthego

Fiona Pape

Creative, Coach, and Consultant

About

Hey there! Please don’t be put off by the rather silly site name. It’s a play on an old nickname which came from my email sign off – just a little joke! Got to keep a sense of humour and perspective…

My story… I have had a long professional corporate career in senior leadership roles. Shortly after completing my MA in comparative literature and gender studies in Canada, and after working as a university lecturer and then as a TEFL teacher in Canada, the Ukraine, and Singapore, I joined the British Council which is the UK’s cultural relations organisation – a registered charity, a non-governmental public body, and ranked in the top three of international English language teaching providers.

Over my 23 year career with the British Council, I spent

• 7 years on 5 overseas assignments in the teaching centre network as teacher (Tunis and Barcelona), senior teacher (Madrid and Rabat), and marketing manager (Naples);
• 6.5 years on 3 UK based assignments including
• 3 years as national Head of AccreditationUK (a quality assurance scheme for UK ELT providers in partnership with EnglishUK) based in Manchester,
• 3 years as global Head of Market Insight in Corporate HQ based in London,
• and a final posting as ‘Senior Consultant – Marketing’ for the global English for Education Systems department based in London;
• 9.5 years on 3 overseas assignments on the programme side of the business in International Development as a Regional Director for English for Education Systems (6.5 years in MENA based in Cairo and Rabat, 3 years in SSA based in Nairobi and Addis Ababa). These leadership roles involved technical, operational, and managerial responsibility for a portfolio of large, national scale, donor and ODA grant funded projects and programmes across the region with Ministries of Education.

It was very humbling and fulfilling work and also offered lots of opportunities for learning and development. Over the years, I earned several certificates in project management, including MOP and MSP, and hold 3 professional post grad diplomas in RSA TEFL, Education Management, and CIM Marketing. Marketing is a field I enjoy tremendously. My marketing qualifications and experience proved invaluable in all roles held and is the focus of my current consulting practice. I have been a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (MCIM) since 2005.

I also led and managed large geographically dispersed teams of over 100 people at a time . Nurturing talent and mentoring more junior colleagues gave me such joy that in 2018 I invested in becoming a certified coach (ACC) and member of the International Coach Federation (ICF).

In 2020, after a couple of years working as an internal coach alongside my day job, I decided to strike out on my own and focus exclusively on coaching and consulting, build my own practice (see links on right). Helping others to tell their stories, connect with their values, realise their unique talents, and creatively resolve their challenges, get unstuck, is something I’m passionate about! 

After a little stroke in 2021 – no doubt burnout catching up with me after over 20 years as a working mom in a highly demanding, stressful job with frequent international travel and in an increasingly toxic work culture – I started making art as a kind of therapy and my appreciation for the need to make time for creativity, to take time out to recharge, has grown. (see links on right) This too is something I feel resonates with many of my coaching clients and often a focus for exploration in our sessions on what this means for them.

I like to be busy and I like variety. You can’t pour from an empty cup though, right? So, these days, I balance my time with a mix of things that give me joy and recharge my batteries. Alongside coaching, consulting, and making art, I cook and garden and experiment with making various artisanal stuff. My husband and I have a little farm here in Sardinia, The Citrus Grove.  It’s a great source of joy and I’ve started a separate seasonal living lifestyle blog to share our farm life adventures (see links on the right)

Thanks so much for joining me here. Have a beautiful, blissful, creatively inspired day wherever you are in the world! 

Be good to you. Live well.

Fiona (aka F ox)

GET IN TOUCH

If you want to chat about art, life, marketing and/or coaching, or just have a general question, comment, or feedback, please don’t hesitate in reaching out. I’m always curious about potential collaboration opportunities. Would love to hear from you!