About Vandena

I work with leaders and teams who want to grow their potential so they can lead and work together more effectively.

This work is genuinely meaningful and rewarding for me. Not just because it helps people see themselves more clearly and create positive change, but because I believe that when leaders and teams get stronger, the organisations they serve become healthier. And when organisations are healthy, the people inside them can do their best work. That chain of impact matters to me.

Why I do this work

Why I do this work.

I spent more than fifteen years in senior leadership before I became a coach. Financial services. High stakes. Complex systems. Real pressure.

I started out as a chemical engineer, which, looking back, makes a strange kind of sense. Engineers are trained to understand systems, to see patterns, relationships and interdependencies. I carry that way of seeing into my coaching work today.

An MBA from UCT’s Graduate School of Business took me into management consulting, and eventually into senior leadership roles. By the time I left corporate life to establish my coaching practice, I had sat in enough difficult leadership rooms to know what leaders are actually navigating, not just in theory, but in the lived, pressured, sometimes exhausting reality of it.

That experience shapes everything about how I coach. I bring it into the room with me. Not to give you answers from my own experience, but because it means I understand the texture of what you’re describing. And because it means I won’t be surprised, or alarmed, or at a loss, regardless of what you bring.

What I believe about how people change

“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.”

— Eckhart Tolle

I believe this deeply. And I’ve seen it proven, repeatedly, in the work I do with leaders and teams.

Meaningful change, the kind that actually sticks, begins with awareness. When leaders pause long enough to really look at how they think and behave, they start to see patterns that have been invisible to them in the rush of everyday leadership. From that awareness comes the ability to make genuinely different choices.

But awareness alone isn’t enough. Real change happens when new insight is put into practice. When you try a different approach, notice what happens, and refine from there. Slowly, deliberately, the new way of leading becomes the way you lead.

That’s what Be More reflects, not dramatic overnight transformation, but the kind of growth that happens through small, deliberate shifts and a genuine commitment to learning.

What it’s actually like to work with me

What it's actually like to work with me.

Clients often describe my style as calm, empathic, thoughtful and deeply attentive.

I listen differently from the way most people listen. I’m not waiting for you to finish so I can respond. I’m listening for what’s beneath the surface: the patterns, assumptions and beliefs that shape how you see the situation and how you respond to it. When I notice something, I’ll gently hold it up for reflection and inquiry.

I work with rigour and with warmth. I’ll be direct when directness serves you, and I won’t cushion things that need to be said clearly. But I hold everything with genuine care for the person I’m working with. This is not a transactional relationship. It’s a partnership.

My experience

Today I work with leaders and teams across sectors, financial services, mining, healthcare, professional services, the public sector and beyond. The contexts differ. The human dynamics rarely do.

The name behind the work

The name behind the work, and the work behind the name.

When I started this practice, I called it Be More Coaching Services. The name reflected something I believed then, and still believe now: that growth happens through small, deliberate shifts. A continuous commitment to becoming a little more. A little more aware. A little more intentional. A little more effective.

Over the years, the practice has grown and matured, and so have I. I’ve developed a clearer sense of who I am as a coach, what I stand for, and the kind of work I’m most called to do. I’m ready to lead with my own name.

So today, you’ll find me here as Vandena Daya. The practice, Be More Coaching Services, continues as the professional home from which I operate.

is the person, my voice, my experience, my approach. This is who you’re working with.

is the practice, the professional entity, the registered name, the operational structure, and the legacy of work built over time.

“Be More” has always been the invitation at the heart of this work, to leaders, to teams, and honestly, to myself. It’s not a brand I’m leaving behind. It’s a philosophy I carry forward.

The philosophy hasn’t changed. Pause. Gain Insight. Lead Intentionally. That’s what Be More was always about, and it’s what you’ll find throughout everything I do.

I work with leaders and teams who want to grow their potential so they can lead and work together more effectively.

Why I do this work.

What it's actually like to work with me.

The name behind the work, and the work behind the name.

My professional training and credentials.

PROFESSIONAL COACHING CREDENTIALS

COACH TRAINING

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

LEADERSHIP ASSESSMENTS

EDUCATION