Testimonials

An important investment

Working with Marianne has been really brilliant for me: I've moved from being stuck about what to do with the rest of my life to real clarity and confidence about my future, even though I'm taking calculated risks in what I'm doing. It's real, too: not just superficial euphoria. I'm pretty hard-headed, and coaching seemed at first an expensive luxury - but having done it, I'd say it was a really good, important investment in me. So I really recommend Marianne and Firework Coaching!

CG Barrister 

Broadening Horizons

"When I first met Marianne I was confused about what direction my career was taking and whether I should be in that career at all. I was exhausted and demoralised and completely run down by the excessive pressures that I'd put on myself both at work and at home.

Marianne stepped into that muddle and helped me to straighten it all out  at exactly the right pace. Her career coaching programme is invaluable and the reason I've since successfully gained a place on our global leadership programme, reduced my hours, by choice, to 4 days a week and begun to test new and exciting possibilities for a long-term portfolio style career. Marianne's career change and coaching programme has a clear, but flexible structure, and uses a combination of traditional and inspirational methods to get to the root of your strengths, skills, values, likes and dislikes and dreams.  I've used the work/life stars (a great place for keeping all the information you uncover through the process) as a final check for any big leaps in my career and life since - just to check I'm not trying to be someone else!

In my broader life, she has been a great champion of my achievements and never been afraid to challenge me for attempting to take on too much or, conversely, not dreaming big enough! She's always been ready to provide much needed inspiration from her own experience as a coach to all sorts of people, recommended reads and talks, and great at broadening horizons and encouraging change in a supportive way without ever telling you what to do.

From the moment that I met Marianne she has been strong, supportive, challenging and capable of adapting her approach in new and fresh ways. Her coaching programme is the main reason why I've been able to take great big leaps into the unknown.  The ultimate test is would I recommend her coaching skills to my best friend?  Absolutely!"

LT, Tax Accountant

Transformational

Working with Marianne has been transformational. Even though I’m at a relatively early stage in my career, she helped me see how much I had already achieved and what I had to offer others at a point where I felt rather lost and couldn’t see where I fitted. I needed to make big changes to my working life, but I also knew that my creative projects needed more space in my life. Our work together has given me the confidence to not worry so much about fitting in at all, and to look for opportunities to stand out. She balanced practical steps with strategic thinking about how I want my life to look. It built positive new habits for me, like putting myself out there and taking managed risks. Now when I feel the old doubts creeping in, I think of our sessions and have a positive space I can go to. I am starting my own research consultancy and publishing a book. Life is busy but far more rewarding than I ever thought it could be.

RA Writer and Research Consultant

Clarify your real priorities

Marianne’s whole approach is incredibly warm, reflective, personalised, and yet realistic. The process that she takes you through feels like a rare chance for indulgent self-reflection and provides a chance to refine and clarify your real priorities and passions. Thank you for being on my journey with me.

RT Education Consultant 

Invaluable asset

My coaching with Marianne has been an amazing experience and it has given me a truly deep perspective and understanidng of myself.  I feel I have gained not just a better understanding of myself but an array of tools to truly help me in making choices and decisions within both my personal and professional life as I go forwards.  I never write reviews but for me this has been truly a wonderful experience and if your willing to do your side of the work, it would simply be impossible not to come out the other end having an amazing and informative insight into yourself which will be an invalualbe asset in choosing and having the life you want to live.

DE Designer and Builder

Profound shifts

I felt profound shifts in my thinking, starting with incremental insights, and then an almost physical sense of a switch being turned over inside me. I went from a sense of panic and desperation, very quickly through to a feeling of being at peace, with pride in my resilience and a confidence that I made this happen, and I can make it happen again when I need to.

I feel in touch with my agency but in a warm and comforting way that enables me to make space to facilitate this in others. Seeing the change in the quality of my value and support others was unexpected, and a fascinating way to see how coaching has benefitted me.

My stress levels have reduced dramatically, I am no longer stressed, just experiencing ordinary life levels, and I’m able to recognise when these are rising and take quick remedial action. I feel more confident and a sense of being a good person who is skilled at lots of things, good enough at lots of others, and really comfortable saying when I haven’t experienced, don’t know or understand something. I can’t remember the last time I felt anxious, instead I feel open and confident things will work out, and interesting things will be discovered in unfamiliar or challenging territory.

RB Senior Manager, Housing Trust

Epiphany moments

Marianne is a wonderful coach - it was such fun to work with her.  I have had some coaching previously and so imagined that I might be a tricky client to work with but it never seemed so! Marianne was so adept at tailoring the way she worked to suit me and I found every session so engaging.  During each session there were little 'epiphany'moments where something clicked or I realised why I feel as I do.  After just a handful of sessions with Marianne I feel far happier in my life as it is and completely 'unstuck' in terms of moving forward.  I hope to work with Marianne again in the future and I'd recommend her as a coach to anyone who is looking for something more in their lives, but just can't put their finger on quite what it is!

HL Wine Adviser 

Supportive

Marianne is supportive and wise and I always felt like I was in safe hands throughout the process.

PM Artist

Huge changes

Working with Marianne allowed me to make huge changes to my career and personal life, changes I could never have imagined possible. Setting goals allowed me to recognise and celebrate my achievements. Marianne helped me to break down challenges  and face them in a more manageable way.

AT Photojournalist and TED Fellow 

More focused and effective  

"Marianne is an amazing coach, as she is an amazing person. I admire how extremely perceptive, intuitive and wise she is, and I look up to her generosity and kindness.
With the support of Marianne I managed to become more focused and more effective; I started to delegate more; I learned that it is not so difficult to say "no" to projects that do not fall directly into my priorities. I achieved more balance in my life, and started to find more time for myself and the ones I love. I got a clear vision on where and what next, and managed to kickstart huge processes of change in my work life.
Marianne has been a guiding light over my path during the past couple of years. I can not imagine what the process of founding my way would have been without her."

Yana Buhrer Tavanier Activist and Social Entrepreneur; TED Senior Fellow, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum

Figure out my priorities

"After selling a business in 2008 I was looking for new direction and new challenges, however what to prioritise was difficult with so many exciting opportunities all around. It was clear I needed someone to help me figure out my priorities and set my own goals. Marianne is a fantastic personal coach and helps to get the best out of me asking the right questions at key times in the sessions. When recommending personal coaching to friends or employees, Marianne is someone I would urge people to see first as I know how good she is right from the first meeting. Just go for it!"

Damian  Keyes, Managing Director, DK Management Company

Big leaps into the unknown

"When I first met Marianne I was confused about what direction my career was taking and whether I should be in that career at all. I was exhausted and demoralised and completely run down by the excessive pressures that I'd put on myself both at work and at home.

Marianne stepped into that muddle and helped me to straighten it all out at exactly the right pace. Her career coaching programme is invaluable and the reason I've since successfully gained a place on our global leadership programme, reduced my hours, by choice, to 4 days a week and begun to test new and exciting possibilities for a long-term portfolio style career. Marianne's career change and coaching programme has a clear, but flexible structure, and uses a combination of traditional and inspirational methods to get to the root of your strengths, skills, values, likes and dislikes and dreams. I've used the work/life stars (a great place for keeping all the information you uncover through the process) as a final check for any big leaps in my career and life since - just to check I'm not trying to be someone else!

In my broader life, she has been a great champion of my achievements and never been afraid to challenge me for attempting to take on too much or, conversely, not dreaming big enough! She's always been ready to provide much needed inspiration from her own experience as a coach to all sorts of people, recommended reads and talks, and great at broadening horizons and encouraging change in a supportive way without ever telling you what to do.

From the moment that I met Marianne she has been strong, supportive, challenging and capable of adapting her approach in new and fresh ways. Her coaching programme is the main reason why I've been able to take great big leaps into the unknown. The ultimate test is would I recommend her coaching skills to my best friend? Absolutely!"

JL  Senior Manager, Travel Company

Motivating and enthusiastic

"A great deal of knowledge on practical issues and being able to pass on or point you in the direction of relevant and interesting materials. A massive assistance in getting focused on what is important through goal setting . Motivating and enthusiastic. I intend to take this energy and confidence forward in all aspects of work and life.  Someone you can have complete confidence in."

PH Senior Manager Probation Service turning  Social Entrepreneur

Transformed the way I work

"The advice and insight that Marianne has provided me with has helped develop my skills and made me realise what I want from my career. As a direct result of Marianne’s coaching I am now much more confident in business and feel like I have a good understanding of my strengths/weaknesses. For me the most valuable element of Marianne’s coaching is the way she makes me think! It has transformed the way I work in both a professional and personal sense. Coaching from Marianne has been a hugely rewarding experience for me."

Dan Egan, General Manager, DK Management Company

My work with Marianne Craig was a life gift

"It taught me courage, which I thought I had from years visiting war zones. The biggest war zone was still to come, when I had to face and fight my fears, prejudice, old beliefs, and the saboteur inside, saying ‘this is not possible, this is not safe.

Marianne taught me about standing up for your dreams, regardless; believing in the inner wisdom and the inner sunshine in the face of the thousandth gale; be on the look out for that light beyond the horizon, always; to show up for myself first, so I can be able to show up for the others; to never give up; to remember the real reason for being here and now, in these times; dare to dream; to be fierce and visionary, to give fully, to believe deeply.

My life coaching work with Marianne was a life changing force. I am on the way of realizing one of my ‘impossible’ dreams. With Marianne’s encouragement and coaching it suddenly all seemed possible and real, right here and right now, not in some deem and distant future. If I could describe the essence of what I am taking away from being Marianne’s client, it is best expressed by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of "Women Who Run With the Wolves": "When a great ship is in harbour and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.

Marianne, thank you for the wind in my sails."

Mariana Katzarova - Adviser on trafficking to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

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