We didn't start Watch Her Lead because women need fixing.
We started it because the system does.
We’ve spent a combined 25 years coaching professional women across Asia Pacific. Different industries, different roles, different countries. But the first ten minutes almost always reveal the same thing.
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THE PATTERN WE COULDN'T IGNORE
She's so used to making herself smaller that she's forgotten she's doing it.
She wouldn't call it a confidence problem. She'd say she's being practical. That she's waiting for the right moment. That she just needs to get a few more things in place first.
But you can see it in the goals that are smaller than she's capable of. The credit she redirects. The opportunity she doesn't go after because she's not quite ready yet.
And every time, we think the same thing. There is nothing wrong with this woman. But something is very wrong with what she's been taught to believe about herself.
She gets called "too aggressive" for saying what her male colleague said five minutes earlier. She stays quiet in meetings because last time she spoke up, someone talked right over her. She says yes to everything because saying no feels selfish. She puts herself last and wonders why she's running on empty.
This isn't imposter syndrome.
We don't use that term.
What we see it as imposter phenomenon. The very real, very rational response to operating inside systems that weren't designed for women.
It's not a flaw in her. It's a reaction to the environment around her.
And once a woman sees that clearly, everything shifts.
SO WE BUILT SOMETHING DIFFERENT
We didn’t see a problem. We saw brilliant women who had never been given the right space.
We met when we were both chosen as leadership coaches for Lululemon's Women in Leadership programme in Asia Pacific. We realised quickly that we saw the same gaps, cared about the same things, and were frustrated by the same things.
We saw that traditional leadership programs existed. But they were all about getting women somewhere higher, better, faster. They treated women like a problem to be solved.
So we started with a 1-day retreat. We brought professional women together and created space for the conversations that workplaces and traditional programmes don't make room for. What happened confirmed everything.
Women opened up. They realised they weren't alone. They said things out loud they'd been carrying for years. And they started to change. Not because we fixed them. Because they finally had the space to be honest about what was getting in the way.
That retreat became Watch Her Lead.
WHY HERE. WHY US
What’s holding you back right now?
We both grew up in Hong Kong. We both carry Chinese and European heritage. We understand that Asia isn't one culture and that the pressures women face here don't always look like the ones in Western leadership books.
The expectations around duty. Humility. Respect. Expectatations. What
a "good woman" does. How ambition is perceived. These things are real, nuanced, and almost never addressed in traditional development programmes.
We're also not the gurus in the room. We've people-pleased, over-committed, doubted ourselves, and stayed quiet when we shouldn't have. We bring all of that into this work alongside our expertise. Because this isn't about having it figured out. It's about being willing to figure it out, together, with other women who get it.
Meet us
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Elaine Champion
Mum. Coach. The person who will see what you're capable of before you do and won't let you talk yourself out of it.
Elaine spent 24 years in the corporate world and has dedicated over a decade to coaching women in leadership. But the thing that shapes her work most isn't her CV. It's the fact that she's navigated every challenge she coaches women through. The self-doubt, the people-pleasing, the operating in rooms that weren't built with her in mind. She brings all of that into this space because she believes the most powerful thing a coach can say is "I've been there and I get it”.
Siobhan Barnes
Mum. Coach. The calm voice that helps you untangle what feels impossible and see what's actually true.
Siobhan has spent 13 years coaching professional women through transitions, pivots, and the messy middle of figuring out what's next. What drives her isn't frameworks or theory. It's the moment a woman finally sees in herself what everyone around her has seen all along. She hosts The Aligned Achiever podcast and is passionate about creating spaces where women stop performing and start leading as themselves.
WHAT WE SHARE
We're both raising kids while building something we believe in deeply. And we are both doing this work because we believe gender equality isn't just a conversation. It's something you build, one woman at a time.
Meet us
Elaine Champion
Mum. Coach. The person who will see what you're capable of before you do and won't let you talk yourself out of it.
Elaine spent 24 years in the corporate world and has dedicated over a decade to coaching women in leadership. But the thing that shapes her work most isn't her CV. It's the fact that she's navigated every challenge she coaches women through. The self-doubt, the people-pleasing, the operating in rooms that weren't built with her in mind. She brings all of that into this space because she believes the most powerful thing a coach can say is "I've been there and I get it”.
Siobhan Barnes
Mum. Coach. The calm voice that helps you untangle what feels impossible and see what's actually true.
Siobhan has spent 13 years coaching professional women through transitions, pivots, and the messy middle of figuring out what's next. What drives her isn't frameworks or theory. It's the moment a woman finally sees in herself what everyone around her has seen all along. She hosts The Aligned Achiever podcast and is passionate about creating spaces where women stop performing and start leading as themselves.
THE NEXT STEP IS YOURS
You're here because something resonated.
Maybe it was the meeting where you stayed quiet. Maybe it was the guilt you felt the last time you spent money on yourself. Maybe it was reading "I know I'm capable" and thinking, that's me.
You don't need to have it all figured out. You just need to be done waiting.
Are you ready?