Light Up Your Talent
Empowering People to Thrive and Develop in Ways that Matter
With 25+ years across corporate organisations, government and education, I help organisations build on the strengths and potential of their people, through L&D advisory and leadership and team programmes. I also coach individuals through career and life transitions.
Two ways to work with me
For Organisations
L&D Advisory, Leadership & Team Development
I advise, design and facilitate: from learning and talent strategy and learning paths to leadership and team programmes, so your people grow in the direction your organisation needs.
- HRD Advisory & Freelance Projects: Designing learning architectures, managing talent mobility, building digital inclusion initiatives, and aligning L&D investment with people’s talents and potential.
- Programmes & Workshops: Designing and facilitating leadership and team programmes, integrated with assessments and personal coaching, to build the human skills that change and AI ask of people.
For Individuals
Career and Transformational Coaching
I coach you through career choices, challenges at work and major life changes, so you can move forward with new energy and make choices that fit who you are.
- Career Navigation: Discovering, developing and applying your core strengths and potential, so you move forward with confidence.
- Transformational Coaching: Navigating life events with clarity, momentum and purpose. Finding inner peace and emotional balance.
For organisations
What is your organisation navigating right now?
Leading through constant change
You and your leaders are expected to give direction, drive performance and support growth and wellbeing, while roles and priorities keep shifting.
Teams that don’t work together at their best
Trust, roles or collaboration across functions, cultures and locations are under strain, and it shows in results and atmosphere.
AI is in place, but not yet in daily work
New tools such as AI are rolled out, but skills, confidence and managers’ ownership lag behind, so the change doesn’t take hold in daily work.
Retaining and developing talent
Good people leave or stop growing when they can’t develop, find meaning or use their strengths and potential.
Training that doesn’t pay off
Training is planned around role requirements, not people’s talents and potential, so engagement, learning and performance fall short.
More L&D work than your team can carry
Your courses and workshops need updating, and there’s no capacity in-house to do it. Or a specific project needs an experienced L&D advisor, without a permanent hire.
Recognise one of these? Let’s talk it through.
Talk through your challengeFor individuals
What are you navigating right now?
At a career crossroads
Perhaps a reorganisation means you have to move on. Or you’re still in your role, but it no longer feels right, and with daily work taking most of your energy, your own career planning keeps moving to the bottom of the list. Either way, you need to decide on your next step, and it’s hard to see which direction really fits you.
The right role, but not at your best
Collaboration with colleagues feels strained, your performance is under pressure, or your strengths aren’t fully recognised and used. You put in more effort than necessary, and your energy and motivation drop, even though your workplace and role still suit you.
Carrying weight from the past
Old experiences, self-doubt or emotions you’ve carried for years weigh on you. You want to let go of what holds you back, see your own worth again and find inner peace, so you can face each day with confidence and joy.
A major change in your life
Your life has changed: you’ve become a parent, moved to another country, or a relationship with your partner or family has changed or come under strain. What used to work no longer fits, and finding the right next step on your own is hard. You want to regain direction and momentum.
Sessions are mostly online, in English or Dutch, so you can join from anywhere.
Recognise yourself in one of these? Let’s explore your next step together.
Plan a free introductory call
Why I do this work
Throughout my career, one belief has remained constant: everyone has more talent than they realise. Like the petals of a flower, some talents already shine as strengths, while others are still potential, waiting for the right awareness, the right environment or the right moment in life.
I have seen what happens when people discover them. Clients tell me they learned to see their true value, to be proud of who they are and to understand what gives them energy. When people use more of their talent, their energy changes.
When that happens, people grow in confidence and contribute in ways that matter to them and their environment, teams work together more easily and with more trust, and organisations make better use of the potential they already hold, including in how they invest in learning.
I do this work to help people discover and activate their talents, because talents come so naturally that we often take them for granted. Yet they are exactly what makes each of us unique, in our own lives and in what we bring to the world.
I work as a senior L&D advisor, learning designer, trainer and coach.
More about me →Selected clients include
Netflix · Deloitte · Prologis · EY · ING · Arbo Unie · Social Blue · JCI · SVOK · the City of Amsterdam · several Dutch ministries
“Esther has helped design an awesome group dynamic session which helped the leadership team to establish more trust and understand each other better.”
“She helped us to see and honor more facets of our personalities and at the same time to learn how we can leverage from our strengths as a team.”
“She actively listens to you and is able to visualize your personal energy drivers and drainers with the right tools and techniques.”
Latest insight
The Three Faces of “Welcome” in the Workplace
September 2026
Tolerated, conditional or co-creative: three ways people are welcomed at work, and what each one does to their energy.
Read the article →Where would you like to grow next?
Whether you are leading a team through change, developing your leaders or standing at a turning point yourself, let’s start with a free 30-minute conversation.
I’ll get back to you within two working days.