I was born on an ice-cold winter’s day in the land of the Celts, in Wales and was brought up in the sun-blessed land of the Greeks, by a Cretan father and a Welsh mother. I lived in Britain for almost 17 years, where I worked in the corporate world, developed my own business, was a university lecturer and was fortunate enough to become a mother. I strive for communication from the heart, enjoy finding solutions to challenges, adore Nature especially flowers and the glorious blue seas.

Through my current work, I encourage young adults, many of which are ‘parents to be’, to become self-empowered leaders. I believe that positive, sustainable change in society can only come if individuals follow their heart and choose a path that they are truly passionate about. On 16th May 2009 I received a very clear calling that has since become my life’s purpose: to empower Young People to become Global Active Citizens who care. I call this vision ‘Sparkles in Young People’s Eyes’.

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For those of you that have been following my journey you may already know that I took a leap of faith almost three years ago. Having left behind my house and a permanent tenure of 15 years as an Assistant Professor in Management and Leadership at the Hellenic Mediterranean University in Crete, I travelled 4,500 kms with my car Libby (Liberty) wanting to reach the UK. My Soul has been my compass. After many adventures and without knowing why, I returned to my birthplace, Wales. I have the feeling that my journey is not yet over. Wales is however a significant milestone. My good friends and virtual travel companions, often remind me that what matters is the path and not the destination.

Up until recently I held the post of Lecturer in HR Management at Cardiff Metropolitan University, where besides teaching I enjoyed researching what motivates human behaviour to excel. In sync with my vision and my previous work on self-leadership development of young adults, I created a pioneering leadership development framework, the Heart-led™ model. The model has now been published in an international peer-reviewed academic journal and has since formed the basis for many exciting collaborative research projects. The aim is that the research outcomes of these interdisciplinary projects will be impactful and will revolutionise leadership theory, training and education.

On another dimension, my wish to transmute energies of conflict in my life, led me to become an Accredited Mediator (ADR ODR International). I am also a Neuro-Linguistic Programming Master Practitioner (ANLP International status, CIC) and an Association for Integrative Psychology Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. This additional knowledge I now also use in my leadership training programmes to develop leaders in organisations to serve and support their teams in more emotionally intelligent ways and with more kindness. Although there is much more to explore and learn, I would say I have now become an expert in compassionate leadership.

My training and broad corporate experience fuels the much needed insight to be compassionate and truly helpful when acting as business coach and life guide to entrepreneurs, young people and women. My intention is to serve as a ‘human technology engineer’ and skilfully facilitate the people that approach me for help to connect with their own Inner Guide. For this I have developed the Accelerated Metamorphic Technique™, an effective method for permanently releasing their inner blockages and allowing for the space to incubate their dreams and align with their Higher Purpose.

An international speaker. I also offer online and live workshops to a world-wide audience on topics such as: Skills for the Digital Age, Self-Empowerment, the importance of Vision, Communication in Nature, my self-created Heart-led™ Leadership model, Stress Free Living, Work-Life Balance, Career Acceleration for Women, Communication skills, Powerful Presence, Mindful Eating and other Mindfulness techniques, Presentation Techniques and ‘how to get hired in the job you love’. Recent examples of my work are the workshops I ran for the Postgraduate program in Social Work at Amrita University in Kerala, India: ‘Empowering Women to become Compassionate Leaders’ and the two webinars held in English for Cisco’s female executives, under the titles: ‘Stress Management: Concrete Tips for women working in Cybersecurity’ and ‘How to succeed in the Cybersecurity Industry: Build and improve your career’. Also, I regularly lecture at the International Soft Skills Academy on topics such as ‘Time-Life Management Skills’ and ‘Emotional Intelligence’.

Studies
Doctorate in Knowledge Management from the Hellenic Open University; an MBA from Cardiff University in Wales, UK and first degree in Business Administration from Athens University of Economics and Business. I am an avid learner and enjoy acquiring new skills. My most life changing trainings to date have been: ‘Vision Quest’, in Snowdonia, Wales, (‘Ancient Healing Ways’). By surviving this challenge, I became fully conscious of the sacredness and magic of Mother Nature. ‘Council in Nature’ a seven day ceremony-training in Wales, gave me the experience of what it really feels like to communicate from the heart. The NLP Master Practitioner training with Terry Elston, helped me do some serious ‘deep cleansing’ of my own limiting beliefs. I also very much love being from time to time a student at the ‘MAITRI Space Awareness’ programs, held by Shambhala Europe, in Holland. My recent accreditation as a mediator has taught me the so much needed art of relating with others through a win-win mindset. A full list of my qualifications can be found at the end of this page.

I have authored four academic textbooks on management and marketing (in Greek) and three books on self-development: ‘Speak Your Truth and Lead’ (English), ‘Ασκήσεις Πορείας’ (‘Exercises on Life’ – Greek) and ‘Γονείς χωρίς Άγχος’ (‘Stress Free Parents’ – Greek). Currently, joyfully writing the next book in the series!

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You can get in touch with me via email to invite me to speak, do a workshop or for the purpose of discussing any ‘crazy’ ideas you may have or simply to connect: alexia@be-heart-led.com

To serve the vision of ‘Sparkles in Young People’s Eyes’, I founded the initiative ‘Iris, Art of Joy’, whose activities can be found on Facebook, You Tube and here on the main menu of this website under ‘events’ and ‘blog’.