From medieval history to coaching lawyers

"At school, when my teacher asked us what we wanted to do later in life, I sat there and had absolutely no idea, " recalls Alexandra Slack, career and leadership coach in Luxembourg. "Everyone else around me was raising their hands, my friends wanted to be nurses or hairdressers, and it always surprised me because I loved learning, but I didn't really know what I would do with it later." It might surprise the little girl then to know what she has become – after a journey of twists and turns and exploration rather than a highway that has taken her from Leeds, her birthplace in the UK, to Luxembourg, whose nationality she embraced after Brexit.

Alexandra Slack didn't wake up one morning with the bright idea of becoming a coach, as seems to be happening more and more often to self-proclaimed coaches, sometimes with unfortunate consequences. It's a vocation that has emerged over time, like a jigsaw puzzle or a painting whose final look you can't imagine until you've put the finishing touches to it.