OUR EXECUTIVE COACHES

Steliana van de Rijt-Economu
Steliana brings twenty years of experience as Sr. Organization Development advisor, HRM and Leadership Development manager while working for Shell, Vodafone, Nike and Kraft Foods. She has been a certified coach since 2011, focusing initially on coaching high potentials and later specializing on the much-needed niche of mothers in executive roles. Her contribution to feminine leadership through her Mothers as Leaders book was recognized internationally through the 2019 Global WIN Award.
Area Of Expertise
- Developing leaders
- Systemic team coaching
- Unlocking the power of parenting
- Behavioural change experimentation
Coaching Style
Steliana has an empathetic but at the same time energetic style to her coaching, focusing on clarifying the client’s goals and uncovering the assumptions that stop progress. She is a good listener but at the same time brings structure and flow to the dialogue. She helps clients uncover their strengths, vulnerabilities, needs and challenges through reflection, feedback and practice. Her unique strength is the intuition to discover the root causes by asking incisive questions and creating the environment to turn limiting assumptions into positive ones. One of her clients told her that she seems to ‘read his mind’ and ask exactly the question he need it. When coaching women in managerial roles she enables them to see the broader picture in the system of expectations they operate in and helps them build the confidence to leverage their emotional intelligence, intuition and life perspective.
Languages
English, Dutch and Romanian.
Training
- Positive Intelligence & Mental Fitness, 2020
- Team Diagnostic Survey (TDS), 2018
- AoEC: Systemic Team Coaching Master degree diploma (2017 – 2019), ICF accredited for PCC
- I-Coach academy: Coaching Practitioner, EMCC accredited (2011)
- Kantor Institute: Structural Dynamics (2016)
- Ken Blanchard: Situational leadership(2016)
- MBTI Step I certified (2011)

Irina Palarie
Irina has over 20 years’ experience as HR business partner and country HR Manager working across industries for major companies such as Citigroup and Danone. Irina has an active career as an executive transformational and relationships coach using her skills to support both businesses and individuals’ success. A life-long learner, she likes to keep learning and stretching herself in new fields. In 2019 she shifted her career focus from people’s growth in companies to people’s emotions and behaviours by starting a four-year Psychology degree alongside her consulting and coaching practice. She continuously enjoys juggling with the complexity of roles in her personal life: happy mother of 2, wife, daughter, sister, godmother, pets’ owner, friend etc. feeling grateful for each day passing-by.
Area Of Expertise
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- Positive Intelligence
- Mental fitness
- Transformational coaching
- Career Coaching
- HR Business Consultancy
- Team Development
Coaching Style
Her passion lies within strengthening our relationships using kindness, building presence and taking courageous actions to reach our potential. She strongly believes that each individual is unique, with a unique path and context he/ she is living in. She has an empathetic approach, creating space for the client to express one self, to develop and grow at one’s pace. She prefers to be an along-side companion, using her skills to accompany you on your own path, because what works for one does not work for all. Each one of us has everything one needs inside the self, so she sees her coach role as to challenge, stretch, bring out in the awareness zone those resources. The tools she masters are specifically used in this direction, with a high level of compassion, confidentiality and focus on the client’s own objectives.
Languages
English and Romanian.
Training
- Mind Learners Coaching School www.mindlearners.ro, accredited by ICF – 2018
- Belbin Team Roles Accredited https://www.belbin.com/belbin-training/accreditation/