Who is Helen Appleby?

I’m a NJ/NYC based Executive Coach with a strong track record of leadership and commercial success.
Prior to becoming a full time coach, I was a VP and Global Business Leader for GlaxoSmithKline where I led the $1bn Respiratory Health business in Consumer Healthcare. 

My career at GSK and Unilever spanned 6 countries and I lived and worked in Canada, the UK, Cyprus, Dubai, Malaysia, and the USA.

 

Why?

When I was little, my dad taught me that "girls can do anything that boys can do!" and I believed him. But he didn't tell me that at work I would often be the only woman in the room. That I would struggle to be seen and heard and not interrupted in meetings. He didn't tell me that I would find conflict at work difficult because I took it so personally and I would cry silently in the bathroom. That I wouldn't know how to ask for the mentorship that I needed from the senior (mostly men) around me. Or that once I had children, I would always feel like I left work too early and got home too late, even though I lived close to work.

I guess he didn’t tell me any of that because he didn’t know...because he was a man.

Through my career I went on all the courses that 2 big companies sent me on. Those courses taught me a lot but they didn’t teach me what I really needed to know to navigate my leadership journey as a woman. I eventually figured out how to navigate effectively and how to do both my job and my 'other job' at home but it took me years. Too long. That’s why I now teach and coach "The Unwritten rules of Women’s Leadership." It’s what I wish I had known earlier in my career. I want it to be different for you, and for all of our daughters.

 

Personally I am

• A Mother

• A fabulous shopper

• An average Yogi

• A terrible cook

Professionally I am

 

• A Global Business Leader turned Executive Coach

• A Women’s leadership trainer

• A Podcaster

Professionally I have

 

• Run a $1bn business

• Lived and worked in 6 countries

• Helped hundreds of women navigate their version of success at work

Right now I'm focused on

 

• Sharing my book

• Sharing my course to help other women succeed

• Building a sisterhood of successful women who will help other women rise