A Beacon of Inspiration and Motivation
Born in the beautiful city of Madrid with Indian roots and brought up with traditional Indian values, Goldie Uttamchandani gained her secondary and higher education in the United Kingdom. She is a person who has absorbed and embraced both the Spanish and British cultures. Education was always a priority in her family where her father was a self-made entrepreneur who had immigrated to Spain in his early 20s. Married at the age of 23, Goldie conjoined her husband’s family business and it seemed an obvious choice for her after gaining her degree in Management. This experience helped her learn and grow, especially in the field of marketing but looking back made her realise how she was battling an inner conflict with what she was doing and where her passion lay.
It kickstarted with what was merely a hobby earlier, but eventually, Goldie ended up writing her first book in 2013 and hosted a few motivational conferences in schools. Coming from a boarding school she wished to have been offered better opportunities to talk to a person that was not a therapist or psychologist. She observed and connected with young people and then, certifying as a professional coach felt like the correct step toward a change in her career. Bridging that gap between a person and their parents or teachers, was what she decided to end up as.
In Spain youth coaching still remains a minority niche where coaching in three languages endows Goldie with an added leverage to capture clients in schools. Her school workshops and conferences provide her with insight and much-valued information which helps her to work with a more three-dimensional vision. “I believe standing out in a crowd requires a person to be their authentic self and I precisely advocate this in my slogan ‘be a better you’ and firmly exercise it myself as a professional.”
Prioritising her family has been key for facing challenges in her professional and personal life. She feels being around her two teenagers is an absolute priority and she’s lucky that her work is aligned with the values that she believes in. This leads her to set a better example for her own clients and empowers her as a coach whilst keeping her tuned in to the reality of youth coaching. A blessed pair who encourage each other to pursue and achieve their objectives, Goldie Uttamchandani is grateful to her husband and the support he has bestowed.
A purpose-driven mindset thrusts her hunger for business with a clear mindset that coaching is a value-adding experience for anyone and shouldn’t be seen as a prescriptive remedy to opt for, but rather a complimenting feature to their academic, professional or personal growth. An overflowing repertoire and potential remained untapped when Goldie was younger and she claims that having a youth coach as a teenager would have opened for her a new world full of opportunities which could challenge her conventional beliefs and help her step outside the box. Coaching certainly enables one to believe in their radical ideas and affirm how brave one is.
The onset of COVID-19 challenged every fibre of her mind and she immediately realised the increasing demand for coaching, where she even offered pro-bono sessions to her existing clients as a way to give back to those in need. Implementing digital online coaching enabled an international market to seek her services as well. All the work done with teens and young adults helps them carve into future leaders, managers, team players and entrepreneurs who will turn out to be pivotal to shaping and strengthening the world economies. Goldie claims her values over the years have woven into her work ethic that acts as her strength. Exposure to different cultures and ethnicities empowers her to understand people better and thus she has organically managed to coach people from over 25 nationalities. A weakness that served her as a learning curve was not knowing her own value back when she started in this profession.
Professionally, her highest accolade is having completed her PCC credential in a year when the pandemic took center stage, yet this didn’t stop her from reaching her mark of over 500 hours of coaching experience by September 2020. Though she believes her biggest achievement is the differences she’s able to make in the lives of her young clients and all those sessions contain these beads of joy. Goldie’s mantra is that one must exercise their radical curiosity and spurts of growth occur when she overcomes critical hurdles while asking herself how she can perform a task differently or what she can learn in order to find better solutions. Lastly, she exclaims “never dismiss any form of learning or hobby. Don’t ever forget your roots, especially your mother tongue if you are taught it as a child, keep speaking the language. It is surprising how you are able to extract value from the most unusual experiences in life.”
