about
Ana
Baldaia
I've spent my life paying attention to roles.
On stage. In classrooms. In leadership. And inside the human psyche. I trained first as an actor and theatre director, drawn to story, presence, and the invisible agreements people make with the roles they inhabit.
That curiosity led me into education, and later into senior leadership and advisory work inside complex organisations. Alongside this, I continued to write, direct, and create. Creativity was never an indulgence — it was a way of thinking.
"I know what it's like to lead while feeling overwhelmed and disconnected — and to begin looking for a more conscious way of being in the role."
Where it came together
Coaching became the place where everything converged. I trained as a coach and became PCC-accredited with the ICF. I deepened my practice through Internal Family Systems and trauma-aware training — because leadership does not happen outside the nervous system.
I'm drawn to the inner life of leadership. To the moments people don't talk about — when responsibility weighs heavily, when authority feels lonely, when competence masks uncertainty. How we lead, create, and change externally is deeply shaped by the condition of our inner world. Our beliefs, emotional patterns, fears, imagination, and sense of meaning quietly organise the way we show up in every room we enter. Leadership is rarely just strategy. Creativity is rarely just talent. Transformation is rarely just behaviour change. Most of it emerges from consciousness.
Real change tends to happen when the inner life and outer life stop being split apart. When what we believe, value, feel, and long for internally becomes integrated with how we live, work, create, and relate externally. Inner work expands capacity — it allows people to respond rather than react, to create from truth rather than compensation, to lead from presence rather than performance. This is what gives my work its direction. And its depth.
My 
Approach
My work draws on a range of psychologically informed approaches — integrated thoughtfully depending on what each person needs, rather than applied as a formula.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
A framework for understanding the different parts of ourselves — the protectors, managers and firefighters- and strengthening the Self energy that can lead them with clarity, compassion, and calm.
Trauma-Aware Practice
Leadership does not happen outside the nervous system. I work in ways that are attuned to how stress, past experience, and survival patterns shape how we lead, relate, and create.
Somatic & Gestalt Approaches
Working with what is alive in the present moment — not just what is thought, but what is felt and held in the body- as sources of insight and change.
Narrative & Depth Approaches
We examine both: the narratives that have formed around leadership, creativity, and worth, and what lies beneath the surface driving them- patterns, defences, and unconscious dynamics.
Systemic Coaching
I use a systemic lens to attend to the wider field — the relationships, dynamics, and invisible forces shaping how individuals and groups function together within teams, organisations, and the systems they inhabit
Education 

& Credentials
Accreditation:
PCC — Professional Certified Coach
International Coaching Federation (ICF)
Education:
BA Acting
MA Performance Studies
ESMAE, Porto, Portuguese Conservatoire
New York University
Postgraduate Certificate in Education
University of Cumbria, UK
Specialized Training & Certifications:
Internal Family System
A Deepening | Richard Schwartz & David Hitchings (Coaches Rising)
Conscious Leadership
Jim Dethmer, Conscious Leadership Group
Relational Life Therapy
Terry Real, Relational Life Institute
Cultivating Aliveness: Desire and Its Disruptions
Esther Perel, EPGM, LLC
Professional Memberships:
International Coaching Federation (ICF)
Professional Indemnity Insurance | Holistic Insurance
Continuing Education:
I am committed to ongoing learning — through supervision, psychological study, and specialist training. I continue to deepen my practice in IFS, trauma-aware approaches, conscious leadership, and the intersection of leadership, creativity, and human relationships.
Professional
Experience
Organisational & Leadership Advisory
Diverse & Inclusive Practice
Senior Leadership
Business Mentorship & Consultancy
Senior leader and trust advisor with over twenty years' experience working across education, arts, and the cultural sector — advising on strategy, culture, leadership development, and organisational change inside complex systems.
I have supported founders, creatives, and independent practitioners to establish and grow their own businesses and practices — working at the intersection of strategy, identity, and sustainable growth.
I work with people across a wide range of backgrounds, identities, and life experiences. I am LGBTQ+ affirming and have worked extensively with disabled artists and communities from minority and marginalised backgrounds. I bring cultural humility to every coaching relationship — shaped by my own experience of living across cultures and navigating questions of identity, belonging, and difference. Everyone who comes to this work deserves a space that is genuinely safe, not just theoretically inclusive.
What clients say
The trust my clients place in me is something I never take for granted. Here's what some of them have shared about our work together.
"Ana's coaching challenged my limiting beliefs. "
Ana's coaching challenged my limiting beliefs. She has a razor sharp questioning style that raised my self awareness in ways I'd never experienced before. The impact of her coaching has stayed with me for life.
Yasmin Ariff — Leadership Coach
"I came to Ana expecting career advice. What I received was so much more — a holistic recalibration of my entire life."
I've shifted from constantly doing to prove my worth, to simply being — proud, calm, and genuinely content with how I've designed my life. Ana has this powerful ability to listen deeply and reflect back what matters most — clearly, succinctly, and with heart.
Sandrine Herbert-Razafinjato — Sustainable Design
"Through coaching I've gained profound self-awareness, learning to identify and understand behaviour patterns."
Ana's insightful, conversational approach and her deep understanding of the creative field have made our sessions invaluable. I feel more confident, especially as I transition from my leadership role, recognising my past successes and feeling prepared for future opportunities.
Kumiko Mendl — Theatre Practitioner (Actress, Director)
Beyond the coaching room
A Little More About Me
I was born in Portugal and have lived across several cultures — India, the USA, Brazil — before settling in London over twenty years ago. Moving between worlds shaped how I see people, belonging, and difference. Being elsewhere has always helped me see more clearly — about myself, and about the systems we inhabit.
Family matters deeply to me. I share life with my wife, our son, and a very observant cat. My faith is Christian — held with conviction and openness. I'm curious about other traditions and how different belief systems make meaning of life, suffering, and love. I am also a writer — currently working on a memoir.