I’m Inspired By….Kelly Gates
I recently had a chance to visit a face to face networking group, and although I don’t usually go to meetings I am extremely glad that I did, and think you will be too, because I met my the very lovely Kelly Gates.
The first thing she told me really struck a cord “I spent years in the corporate world, but never truly felt like I belonged there. I was good at what I did, working on managing major broadcast contracts, liaising with clients, solving problems, celebrating wins. But deep down, it never felt like ‘me.’ I often felt like I was working on someone else’s dreams, not my own”, that’s a feeling I remember very well.
“I’d always been curious about human behaviour, especially having witnessed a loved one’s struggle with their mental health. I often found myself wondering why I could stay relatively steady during difficult times, while others couldn’t. That curiosity never left me and in 2015, I looked into training as a therapist, but it wasn’t quite the right fit. Instead I started a coaching diploma with The Coaching Academy. I wanted to help people move forward, not just understand what held them back, and wanted to help them reconnect with their dreams and turn them into something real”.
Just as Kelly started her training, a new corporate role landed in her lap, it was challenging, engaging, and all-consuming, which meant that coaching slowly drifted into the background. Even though she kept dipping in and out of the training over the years, she hadn’t anticipated how much inner capacity it would require - especially when life had other plans.
“One of those plans was the deep longing I held to become a mother, always imagining it would happen, but by forty I was still single, and had quietly started to grieve the possibility that it wouldn’t. Then in what felt like a beautiful twist I met someone, we fell in love, and both wanted a family. We began trying for a baby and, after a series of hopeful months and fertility tests, we prepared for IVF’.
That wasn’t to be the last twist in the story “a month before we were due to start treatment, after a small disagreement, my partner ended the relationship and told me he no longer saw a future with me. My vision of family - something I had held close for so long vanished in an instant. The end of my own family dream was the deepest heartbreak I’d ever experienced”.
In the aftermath Kelly clung to work to keep her going, but things had been growing difficult there too, a change in management brought tension. Kelly found herself in a challenging dynamic at a time when she desperately needed peace. “I requested mediation through HR, hoping to restore calm”, in the surface things smoothed out but the experience shifted something in Kelly, and she realised that no amount of external achievement would make her feel seen.
That realisation marked the beginning of a deeper unravelling and she started quietly planning her next move. Wouldn’t you know it the universe wasn’t prepared to wait, and seven months after her relationship breakup Kelly was made redundant.
“I left that role utterly depleted mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and sank into a period of depression and anxiety, for a time I felt completely unanchored”.
But in those difficult moments something shifted in her and she realised that what she really wanted was to create something meaningful of her own, rather than being at the mercy of circumstances. With that her coaching restarted with a renewed purpose and energy, and she not only finished the original diploma she had started she went on to complete an additional qualification.
As is usually the way once someone works on the path, they are supposed to be on everything began to unfold, and Kelly’s niche opened up to her – people in midlife navigating their own turning points, often after loss, change, or a deep sense that something no longer fits. Kelly heard the same questions she had once asked: “Who am I now? What comes next?”
Now with softness and purpose Kelly helps those in midlife who feel stuck, invisible, irrelevant or at a crossroads to reconnect with the essence of who they really are beneath the roles, the expectations, and the endless “shoulds”. Supporting them to uncover what they truly value, help build clarity and confidence and support them in designing lives that feel aligned, fulfilling and deeply their own.
As if further proof of her passion was needed, since launching her business Kelly has gained an ICF accreditation - the gold standard in coaching, held by only 4.5% of coaches in the UK.
She told me that “with coaching being an unregulated industry, it was important to me to do this the right way, with integrity and a genuine commitment to transformation. My clients can trust that our work together is not only powerful but professional and ethically grounded”.
Kelly acknowledges that like most of us her story didn’t unfold the way she thought that it would. But that adversity has shaped her into someone who leads with heart and who now walks alongside others as they find their way back to themselves. And that is a beautiful thing, taking your own challenges and turning them into your greatest learning is something we all must aspire to do wherever possible.
Kelly’s plans for the next few years include reaching more people and showing them that a fresh start isn’t tied to age, timing or what’s already happened. It's never too late to become who you really are, life doesn't have to feel stuck, heavy, or like the best parts are behind you.
And luckily for me there is a plan to write a book, although she hasn’t decided whether that might be non-fiction or fiction. Just like me, author was the first career she ever wanted as a child, and that desire is still part of her.
“Travel is definitely on the cards and I’d love to create a retreat at some point. A space for people to breathe, reconnect and just be. Community is a big one too. During my own transitions, I saw just how vital it is to have people who get it. I was lucky to have friends who showed up but not everyone does and that needs to change. I want to help build that kind of support for others”.
Her pearl of wisdom is one I would like to embroider on a cushion, and have tattooed on my forehead for every time I look in the mirror - joy is the only measure of success.
Aside from offering 1:1 coaching, Kelly is launching a small group BETA signature programme early October. This one is for women only and will run for ten weeks, with five online sessions over those weeks, the group will receive teaching and hotseat coaching.
Leading the programme through her five stages of reinvention and connection to your true essence: Reimagine; Relinquish; Resilience; Reclaim and Reinvention. There will be tools between sessions to use and reflective exercises to shift you from stuck to lit up.
As this is a BETA (pilot) programme, you will get all of this for just £300 (instead of the full price when the programme is launched early 2026) – in exchange Kelly asks for a short testimonial and feedback to refine the programme.
How to find Kelly Gates Coaching
Website: https://kellygatescoaching.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kelly_gates_coaching/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560873789725
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-gates-/