About Tessa Armstrong

Award-Winning Accredited Senior Career Coach (IAPC&M) and author of ‘The Tea Model: Slowing down in a fast-paced world to find the career you love’

Tessa is an award-winning accredited senior career and confidence coach, author, founder and Executive Director of the award winning children’s music and wellbeing charity, Voices for Life and governor of Combe Down Primary School. She has extensive experience of working with individuals and young people in the private, public, education and charity sectors with a focus on self-esteem, confidence and wellbeing as well as providing a structured and pragmatic approach to the development of career paths and charity organisational structure.

Her long-standing interest in mental health, wellbeing and the development of future paths with children through to adults begun whilst doing voluntary work with children at a Home-Based Care Centre in South Africa, a primary school in Kenya as well as in India after the devastation of the Tsunami. Realising the impact of background on opportunity, led her to creating a diverse and varied study and career path to build an understanding of the importance of authenticity in both individual and organisational development.

Having begun her career as a solicitor at a leading international law firm, Tessa pursued a career change initially working as a major gift charity fundraiser for a top 10 national charity and then founding her own business providing a career coaching service nationally helping adults and young people improve self-esteem and confidence as well as in schools.

With a degree in music, Tessa also has a passion for her skills to positively impact development and wellbeing through music and other artistic forms. Voices for Life is inspired by Tessa’s children’s coaching programmes and integrates music with coaching and wellbeing models to inspire children to be happy and confident.

Tessa provides coaching, mentoring and training to help those wishing to pursue careers in the arts, charity and education sectors as well as those already working within these sectors to develop and thrive in their careers. Tessa believes passion, authenticity and equality is key to happiness.

AWARDS

Tessa has recently been awarded ‘Most Empowering Career Coach and Mentor (South West)’, ‘Best Individual and Employer Carer Coaching Company 2023’ and ‘Best Career Coaching & Development Services Provider 2022’ in the Corporate Excellence Awards and ‘Career Coaching Service of the Year 2021’ with Corporate Live Wire, specialising in helping individuals to achieve the best career path for them, enabling them to progress into fulfilling careers. She covers all aspects of career coaching (including self-awareness/confidence, career change, job search, returning to work, career break, performance and career path progression). She is author of ‘The Tea Model: Slowing down in a fast-paced world to find the career you love’ and her award-winning career blog also provides guidance for all challenges experienced in the workplace and during people’s careers.

The charity, Voices for Life, which was founded by Tessa in 2021 won the 2023 Bath Life award in the education category. Tessa received the High Sheriff of Somerset award in recognition of great and valuable services to the community in 2023.

PROGRAMMES AND EXPERIENCE

Tessa has created a series of successful career coaching programmes which have developed through her experience in enabling individuals to overcome challenges they face in their career and feel confident about their career choices. These programmes are carefully structured to enable each individual to make valuable discoveries and pursue fulfilling and rewarding career paths.

Her clients include lawyers, teachers (primary and secondary), accountants, web developers, charity fundraisers, managing directors, business owners as well as those from the publishing industry, production companies, property development, marketing, PR, administration, management, the housing industry, the banking and finance sectors, the education sector and schools. She is featured in well-known publications including the Law Gazette and the Life Coach Directory Happiful Magazine and provides group seminars and talks. More recently, she has taken part in podcasts and round table discussions with the International Authority for Professional Coaching and Mentoring.

Her positive focus, dedication and passion ensure that her clients get the maximum benefit from career coaching straightaway and develop their chosen career path more quickly and easily than doing it alone.

“I thought I would send you a quick email update on my progress since our last session. The big news is that as of yesterday I have formally accepted a job offer! I am so delighted and excited and wanted to thank you again for your guidance and support throughout my career change. It has been invaluable and it’s all coming together. I am really pleased!. I felt really confident going into the interview knowing what I wanted and what I was good at. I regularly think back to our sessions and look at the materials we collated together. It has all been so useful.”