ISHOO RAJAMOHAN COACHING

Last week I had the honour of teaching a webinar for  The King's Trust . The charity is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding in May, which made it a real privilege for me to be delivering the session at this time. Organised by their gender network, male allies were also invited and encouraged to attend. When I created The Confidence Dynamic™ framework, I was very intentional about creating a safe space where women’s lived experiences could take centre stage, becau

In most specialised professions, career progression was historically handled by guilds. In simple terms, they ensured that the craft was passed down properly to new entrants to the profession - which ensured that best practice and the highest standards were maintained by everyone practising it. However, they differ slightly to the contemporary version of such programmes (apprenticeships, etc.) in that the guilds of old not only focussed on transmitting skills and knowledge,

One of the biggest frustrations I hear women express is of giving everything to their work, but hitting a wall when it comes to career progression. Some of these women have also simultaneously balanced caregiving responsibilities, making huge sacrifices that put their own self care on the line. But they can seldom give voice to the disappointment because your only option really is to put on a brave face and keep doing what you always do. Expecting your past work or a past ac

Image credit: Hinda Ibrahim, MSD UK This has to be the paradox of our time: our collective feeling of "we should be further along or better placed by now" that is permeating almost every aspect of our lives, and often in our careers. Even though we live in a time of unprecedented opportunity, a fraction of which was not available even a generation ago. We are waking up to systems and structures that are day by day failing to meet our needs. And this feels like a turning poin

(Image credit: Spyros Kaprinis, London South Bank University School of Architecture and Planning) Have you attended one of my talks in the past and wanted to share those insights with the women you work with, particularly those  colleagues who might have also struggled at some point with their confidence or imposter syndrome? If yes, I would love to speak at your organisation during Women's History Month. These are the main trainings I deliver: - Building your Confidence: In

Power rarely says no to women directly. It delays, redirects and exhausts them instead.” - Arundhati Roy Today I want to throw out an idea about collective ways in which we people-please. If you’re in my community, you might relate to being ‘the good girl’ - something that shows up in a lot of my clients and is a pattern that I myself identify with. The good girl, as I see it, is how many of our generation of women learned to find our value in our families and communities. M

Those of us who identify as recovering people pleasers (they say that using the word ‘recovering’ is more empowering) are hardly free people. We are constantly leaking energy, which gets trapped in the places and situations where we give our power away. The people and systems that we frequently say ‘yes’ to get used to our easy co-operation, keeping us further locked in to those patterns. Which makes it harder, but not impossible to extricate ourselves from those traps - and

Many of us identify with people pleasing, which is a habit of putting the needs of other people before our own, to our eventual detriment. It might have been a mechanism we learned to adopt right from childhood, or something we picked up later in our journey from an environment that didn't make us feel safe, seen, secure, connected, or acknowledged. So here we are, trying to quickly soothe the emotions that come up whenever we find ourselves in a similar situation or environm

Today I want to share a quick hack for anyone who identifies as a people pleaser. None of us who do ever chose to be that way in the first place.  It is a survival mechanism that we perhaps had to adopt early in our lives or careers in systems and structures that didn't give us our full place or power. And sometimes being pleasing, agreeable, conflict-averse, and the person that always says yes gets us through the day or out of situations that would very quickly prove to us o

I want to start the year with a poignant share dedicated to the clients I worked with in 2025. All of last year I gently pushed them to step out of their comfort zones so that their light could shine brighter than ever. And they all took on their respective challenges bravely, so it naturally falls on me to be transparent about how I live the principles I teach. As a child, I experienced a lot of bodyshaming from the people around me, including family and friends. Thanks in n

Last week I had the privilege of attending the International Citizen Hub Lund’s celebrations of a decade of creating impact in the city, and I can definitely count myself as one of the internationals who have benefitted from their support. What I most appreciated was hearing the experience a female partner who had accompanied her spouse to share her story on one of the panels. Cynthia Sradaputta talked about her journey of returning to focus on her career after the rest of he

Here in Sweden Black Friday is a week-long affair (officially known as Black Week), so I decided I would not send you an email to add to the noise in your inbox. As someone whose products and services are aimed at building confidence, I had nothing to say during a sales event that often plays on insecurity and FOMO: have you bought the latest this or that yet? Sure, I appreciate the discounts as much as you do, and I used the offers to stock up on winter clothing after we h

Yes, you read that number right! A client who started working with me last November has managed to increase her salary by £22000, almost doubling her earnings in less than two years. Is that amazing, or is that amazing? When she first hired me she wanted support to ask for £2000 pay rise. But during our session she recognised that what she brought to the table was worth more, and she learned how to communicate her value and negotiate a higher salary straight away. And she did

One December about a decade ago, my colleagues and I paused on a Friday afternoon to share our hopes and dreams for the coming year. Between us we had the usual milestone birthdays to celebrate, special holidays to look forward to, but there were also some poignant things shared - a partner’s recovery from long-term illness, debt finally paid down, plus my own anticipation of what a new life in London could bring. But one colleague couldn’t see the point: from her perspective

I am teaching a series of Confidence Masterclasses over the next few weeks to give you the opportunity to end 2025 on a high note and to give you a head start for success in 2026 with a mindset of possibility, optimism and clarity of purpose - especially at a time when one year usually blurs into the next as we head into the festive season. This is the perfect opportunity to not just take stock, celebrate your achievements, learn from failures, let go of mistakes, but also to

Sharing the news that I have been included in the Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance Speaker Directory. It's a privilege to be part of this community of exceptional women in Hospitality!

Today's insight is from one of my coaches, who suggests looking at money as feedback, not as a goal, which is such a powerful way to approach your career. How exactly does this apply to you, you might wonder. The next title, the next pay grade, etc. are all things out of your control, especially when those goals are tied to how the wider economy and your particular industry is doing. Not just in the current moment, but say, for the next few years. The metrics you should focus

On Tuesday’s session of the Leadership Lab (my group coaching programme for aspiring women leaders under 33), we discussed why it is important to carefully evaluate what kind of role you apply for, and to create a proper strategy for your job search, rather than a knee-jerk reaction to every opportunity you come across. Like with anything, when you start with clarity, focus and intention internally, you project that kind of energy externally that ultimately increases your ch

“The more important to your soul’s growth, the stronger the resistance will be.” - Steven Pressfield What goal are you shying away from pursuing because you lack confidence, Ishwariya Rajamohan? It’s easily done - when the voice in your mind tells you that you are not good enough, the last thing you want is for everyone else on your team to discover that too. But that voice was never about your growth or expansion. It only cares about keeping you safe, even though there is a

I think we have all gone through this as women: hearing a crushing piece of feedback or a judgement made about you, followed by a sinking feeling (I am going to use dramatic language here) as if your legs have just been cut off. That kind of communication when it comes unexpectedly can completely knock your sense of grounding, not to mention your confidence. Especially when there is no constructive element to it. There is an reason for why you feel the energetic impact in you