SHE Relatable Leaders Career Journey Spotlight

The SHE Women’s Network Support Heal Empower is all about empowering, supporting and elevating our members, and inspiring future generations of female leaders. Across 2025 & 2026 we will spotlight the careers journeys of some of our amazing members. Today we hear from Gemma Hogan - People Consultant and Confidence Coach

Becoming Who You Were Meant to Be

Gemma Hogan - People Consultant and Confidence Coach

With 20+ years of experience in HR, OD, Talent and L&D, across multiple industries, I bring together real-world business experience and deep expertise in my consultancy practice. Whereas my coaching practice is grounded in positive psychology and core to my coaching philosophy is the belief that growth starts from the inside out. By understanding strengths, values and mindset, lasting change is unlocked. All of this is underpinned by my values of integrity, fairness, fun, creativity, and growth.

Introduction

I have been running my own coaching and consultancy business Talenta Ltd since 2019. In my 1:1 coaching I help brilliant, ambitious women overcome self-doubt and imposter syndrome to step confidently into their potential and live authentically. In my consultancy work I deliver projects such as tailored coaching programmes, immersive group development programmes and strategic People consultancy.

I originally followed the traditional HR career pathway progressing through junior, mid and senior roles to HR Director / Head of. Along the way fell in love with people development and specialised in talent development. Subsequently, I trained as an executive coach and NLP practitioner before taking a blind leap into setting up my own business to do more of what I feel passionate about more of the time.

Early Career

I didn’t have a career plan but after becoming a young single parent, this was a pivotal moment in my life. I needed to define one and quickly. I hadn’t enjoyed school, I never felt that I ‘fitted’ in and was an easy target for bullying. So, I couldn’t get out of school quick enough. I left with just 3 GCSEs to my name and so my career choices were extremely limited. I went back and got my education - night classes, college and Uni, whilst working part-time and bringing up my son. Despite all my efforts, I struggled to break into my chosen field of HR - over-qualified and under-experienced - but I never gave up. It took me 18 months and going right back to basics, but it was worth it as it resulted in a highly successful career spanning 16 years.

Pivotal Moments

Despite my HR career success, for many years I was riddled with self-doubt and imposter syndrome. It held me back significantly - I didn’t feel that I good enough, I was worried about being found out as a fraud, I deselected myself from numerous opportunities letting my fear take over. I over-prepared and over-worked to avoid being ‘found out’ - it was exhausting and I eventually experienced burnout.

My biggest breakthrough was engaging a coach. Through a series of sessions, I learnt to understand my feelings and thoughts, recognise unhelpful patterns and develop positive helpful strategies. I learnt to recognise when I was operating out of a ‘fixed mindset’ and challenged myself to lean into a ‘growth mindset’ and take risks. She was my cheerleader. There was a significant shift in my self-esteem and confidence. This is why I coach - I’ve experienced its transformative power personally.

Leadership Lessons

• Along the way, others might try to block your progress - it’s not about you. It’s about their own internal battles so don’t let this deter you. Maintain your integrity, professionalism and resilience.

• Get yourself a mentor - someone who will guide, encourage and champion you and be a safe sounding board.

• Identify a sponsor within your organisation - I had 2 fantastic sponsors during my career who ‘saw me’, believed in me and provided me with amazing opportunities.

Advice for Others

Imposter syndrome is commonly experienced during career stretches, particularly by brilliant talented people, but gets thrown around too easily. So, take time to sit with your feelings and thoughts - what’s really going on? Is the reality that you are in the ‘panic’ zone of the learning cycle - where you're operating outside your knowledge and understanding, causing you to feel overwhelmed and panicked? That’s natural and will pass. If you’re experiencing this, look up the ‘conscious competence learning model’ and remind yourself that you are stretching as you learn and progress. Add ‘yet’ to ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I can’t do this’.

Closing Thought

Often the biggest battle is the one inside us, but you won’t know if you don’t try. This quote from Susan Jeffers “feel the fear and do it anyway” reminds us that the only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out and do it. A great read if you need a bit of encouragement.

A quote or some advice that you found valuable

I love the quote “what got you here, won’t get you there” by Marshall Goldsmith. This was a lightbulb moment for me when I was struggling to transition from employed to self-employed. It helped me to see that I was having an identity crisis and needed to allow myself to be vulnerable and learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.