About Claire
The story
I qualified as a solicitor. I was good at it. I just didn't belong there. Something was missing. I didn't have a sense of purpose. I didn't feel like myself. So I left the well-worn path and started following the next step, and then the next, without really knowing where I was going.
Thirteen years ago, I walked into an in-person marketing weekend and sat through a session on membership sites. Something lit up in me. Not the technology. The idea underneath it. That you could build real relationships inside a business. That connection could be the thing. I didn't fully understand it then. But I followed it anyway.
What followed was, looking back, a thirteen year personal development course I didn't know I was on. Mentors. Courses. Workshops. Running seminars. Writing a book. Learning to facilitate. Being mentored by a business culture expert who taught me about Open Space Technology and obstacle breakthrough sessions, the kind they run at Google.
What I was learning, over and over again, was the same thing. People are the point. Relationships are the point. The depth of the conversation is the point.
I was also, without knowing it, lonely. Solo founders often are. We just don't say it out loud.
Six years ago I attended a Do Lectures course. Two weeks of extraordinary conversations with extraordinary people. And one night, in the second week, I woke up in the middle of the night with one clear thought. These conversations need to keep happening. So I set up a weekly call. I started facilitating it. I didn't charge anything. I just knew it mattered.
After six months, the community came to me and said: Claire, we need to start paying you for this. It's too valuable not to.
That was the moment Like Hearted Leaders was born.
What LHL became
Six years on, Like Hearted Leaders has held people through business transitions, through relationships breaking down, through moments where they didn't know which way to turn. It has become, as members describe it, the hour they didn't know they needed.
An hour a week to reflect. To develop self-awareness. To grow as a person. And to do all of that being witnessed by people who actually care.
The world is fast. Most of us don't have much space to be present with what's really going on. Like Hearted Leaders became that space.
"Claire is facilitation gold dust. When I gather in a space she is holding, I feel accepted, seen, understood and empowered to grow. It's some kind of magic meets exceptional professionalism and skill."
Alice Ramsay, Leadership Communications
The Wider Work
Alongside LHL, I have worked with some of the people and organisations I admire most.
Daniel Priestley, co-founder of Dent Global, asked me to run his client community. He said I was the only person he would trust with it. David Hieatt asked me to come in and help when a community launch didn't go as planned. I have helped One Year No Beer, a global community, with their strategy from the very beginning.
I have facilitated team days for legal firms, the police, schools, creative agencies and founder groups. I have spoken on stage, run a podcast, and run workshops across the country.
The thread running through all of it is the same. Creating spaces where people feel safe enough to be honest. Where the real conversation can finally happen.
"She understands that rarest of principles, that not everything important happens on a stage."
Ben Slater Walk-Seek-Move Creator
What I believe
Connection is not a nice-to-have. It is the whole point.
The most important conversations are the ones we haven't had yet.
Authenticity is not a brand position. It is a practice.
Everyone deserves a space where they feel seen, heard and accepted.
Inclusion is not a value statement. It is a design choice.
Vulnerability, when it is held well, is where everything changes.
I am endlessly curious about life. About people. About what happens when we finally tell the truth to ourselves and others.
If any of this resonates, I'd love to meet you.
Whether you are curious about Like Hearted Leaders, looking for someone to facilitate your team, or just want to have a conversation, the door is open..