A New Life: An embracer of change finds a new career in helping others plan different lives. Susan Calnan reports.
Change can be a daunting prospect for some; but for Natasha Fennell, change represents new beginnings that should be embraced and looked upon positively.
One of the 36-year old's defining characteristics is her almost insatiable appetite for new challenges, matched by her resolute belief in the importance of "gut instinct".
Fast-forward to today, Natasha has combined her experience as a former public relations executive, researcher, broadcaster, political fundraiser, as well as ardent traveller and fluent Irish-speaker, to face one of her biggest challenges yet - setting up her own business as a life and business coach.
"There have been a number of distinct points in my life, when I reached the stage where I knew it was time to make a change in my career and to move on to something new," Natasha explains.
"The last time I felt this was about two years ago when I was working as a political fundraiser; I had been working in this capacity for three years and although I really enjoyed the work, I knew it was time to move on, but I hadn't a clue what I wanted to do next."
But change is nothing new to this West-of-Ireland born woman. After working for a few years as PR account executive, Natasha eventually realised that the PR industry wasn't for her and opted for a number of different career paths - including work as a researcher and broadcaster with RTÉ and as a political fundraiser with Fianna Fáil - as well as taking three and a half years off to travel the world.
After she made up her mind to change her job two years ago, Natasha took on what she refers to as "a positive obsession" about finding herself a new career and way of life. For a while she toyed with the idea of moving abroad but her deep-rooted love of Ireland won out and she realised that her real ambition was to work for herself and to help make a difference to other people's lives.
"One of the things that stood out for me was the fact that, even though Ireland was in the midst of an economic boom, an increasing number of people were dissatisfied with their jobs and with their lives in general; so really, money hadn't brought us all the happiness that we thought it might," she recalls.
"Then someone mentioned the idea of life-coaching to me and the more I looked into it, the more it made sense to me. Because I had made a number of changes in my own career over the years, I felt I would be able to use my own experiences and to help people become better equipped to take a new direction in their own lives."
In June 2003, Natasha left her job as director of fundraising with Fianna Fáil and enrolled in a nine-month course at the Coach Centre in Westland Row in Dublin. A year later, she was qualified as a life-coach, had already built up a number of clients and opened new premises in Dublin's city centre.
"If you're focused and want something badly enough, it's amazing what you can achieve, even in the space of a year," she highlights.
Teaching people how to become more focused and more decisive, she adds, forms a large part of her work .
But before people can do anything, she stresses, they need to find out what they're about and to identify the beliefs and values that are driving them in the first place.
"A lot of people don't know who they really are or they don't even know what they believe in, so it's very difficult for them to go after what they want, or to find out what makes them tick," Natasha says.
"The ultimate aim of the work I do, therefore, is to help people identify what they're really about and to find practical ways to help them take control of their lives and to go after what they really want."
In a sense, this is what Natasha has been doing throughout her own life and although she hasn't always taken the easiest route, she says she has no regrets.
"Of course there have been times in my life where I have felt lonely and frustrated but I have always tried to listen to my gut instinct and to make a change when the time felt right," she says.
"Because when you know deep down that it's time to make an important decision - whether it's in your career or personal life - then this feeling usually won't go away if you choose to ignore it; it will go away though if you choose to face things head on and do something about it."
So, given that this lover of new departures is ultimately passing on to others what she herself has always believed in, does this mean that she has found her true niche in life?
"I absolutely love what I do but I honestly couldn't tell you what I'll be doing in ten years' time," Natasha adds. "There's a certain aspect of my character that loves unpredictability and I think that if I knew now exactly what I was going to be doing for the rest of my life, I'd probably go mad."
To make an appointment with Natasha Fennell, contact 01-6337825 or email natashafennell@eircom.net.