Hi, I'm Vanessa Arends,

I help capable women stop running on pressure and start trusting themselves.

I coach ambitious women leaders who have already proven they can achieve, and know they can't keep achieving the same way.

My story

I'm a certified Life Coach, a master of learning things the hard way and a corporate burnout turned island girl, committed to helping high performers uncover what's stopping them from moving to the next level, to feel fulfilled and inspired again and create the freedom they want in their life and business.

I spent 18 years in corporate in the Fashion Industry as the person everyone counted on to make complex things work. I looked successful on paper. Inside, I was working all the time, overriding myself to keep it going and thinking there had to be more to life.

In 2014, shortly after my dad died unexpectedly of cancer, my body burned out. I couldn't function and I knew something had to change.

What I realized next changed how I work. I had always been able to figure things out, so when I felt exhausted, I tried harder: more planning, more discipline, another strategy. None of it worked, because effort was never the problem. It was how I was operating underneath it.

Since then I've coached 100+ women, from corporate leaders to business owners, and I see the same thing again and again. They aren't short of intelligence, drive or advice. What they're missing is a clear view of what's really driving them, and once they see it, everything gets simpler.

That's why I created the Groundwork Method: a way of combining pattern recognition, behavioural psychology, Human Design, subconscious work and nervous system and somatic work to find the few changes that create the biggest shifts in the shortest time.

My strength is seeing the pattern you can't see from the inside, explaining it in a way that immediately clicks and helping you stop spending years on the wrong solutions, so you can build the career, business and life you're actually designed for.

Now I help ambitious women make that change before their body makes it for them.

What I believe

Ambition isn't the problem. You don't need to want less, and you don't need to become a calmer, more balanced version of yourself. You need to understand how you're operating right now and decide what to change.

You're not broken. You're running a pattern that used to work.

You've probably been solving the wrong problem. Another system, strategy or productivity fix rarely helps when the real issue is the pattern underneath: how you decide, say yes, handle pressure and prove yourself. Whether you lead a team or run your own business, find the few things that matter and the rest gets easier.

Generic advice doesn't fit you. The way you decide, lead, work and recharge is your own. Build around it, not around someone else's rules.

Capable women are often excellent at explaining a pattern without changing it. I won't let you hide behind your own intelligence.

Freedom is the point. Not freedom from responsibility. Freedom from constantly fighting yourself. Freedom to choose, to say no, to change direction and to want more.

How I Coach

I listen closely. I notice what you can't see from inside the situation. I ask the uncomfortable question, challenge the story and connect the dots.

I work with both your mind and your body, because you can't think your way out of a pattern your body still believes in:

• Behavioural psychology maps why you overthink, delay and over-function.
• Subconscious pattern work changes the old beliefs that keep you second-guessing.
• Nervous system and somatic work helps you feel what's happening, so change doesn't stay in your head.
• Human Design and self-leadership shows you how you're actually wired to decide, lead, work and recharge, so you stop forcing yourself into systems that were never built for you, and turn what you see into decisions and action.

I'm a challenger, a guide and a steady place to land. You bring the situation. We find what's really going on.

The work is deep, not heavy. There's room for humour and honesty, and for enjoying the life you're building while you build it.

Background

• Certified Life Coach (2018).
• NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Master Practitioner (2019).
• Breathwork Practitioner (2023).
• 18 years in the fashion industry in international roles.
• Entrepreneur for the last 5 years.
• Coached 100+ women worldwide.
• Based in the Canary Islands, working with clients online.

This is for you if

• You're accomplished and quietly exhausted
• You want more, not less
• You're ready to be challenged, not just heard

This isn't for you if

• You want someone to tell you what to do.
• You're looking for a quick fix or another productivity system.
• You're not ready to look at your own patterns.

If this sounds like you, book a conversation to see if Groundwork is the right fit. 


With love and endless possibility


Vanessa XOXO