Empowered Space People Development - Executive and Outplacement Specialists About Us

About Us

Our leading and qualified coaches are looking forward to supporting you

Our Story

With over 15 years’ experience in L&D, recruitment and working as a freelance coach for market leading outplacement companies, our founder Suzanne Penny knew she could use her skills to help people who had experienced redundancy. She had previously supported thousands of people to navigate redundancy, following 13 years in the recruitment industry. In the midst of the pandemic, difficult major life transitions, homeschooling and working a contract, she launched a free community. It was an incredibly challenging time, but it also made her find herself again. Only once she created space and invested in herself a new chapter began, and Suzanne now works across industries to empower organisations and individuals through the good times and the curveballs, through endings and new beginnings, to transition and thrive.

Our Mission

Our why? To see people supported in their career and thrive through change. To see change as an opportunity for growth, to discover and develop uncapped potential. Whether working in a new role or in new team, navigating redundancy or transitioning to their next chapter, we empower leaders, managers and teams with the skills and mindset they need to make positive change, in their lives and careers and to create environments that people love to work in.

Our Values

We use our values as our compass:

  • Integrity, We do the Right Thing - We treat all clients with integrity, always.    
  • Strive for Excellence - We go above and beyond to ensure service excellence. We work with qualified coaches and our team continually invest in their personal development. 
  • Stronger Together - We connect people and collaborate with partner organisations who share our values and passion for delivering service excellence. 
  • Kindness is Key - We pay it back and offer complimentary courses and workshops to people open to work.  

What's in a Name?

The name Empowered Space was born from the words of clients I’ve had the privilege to support. Time and time again, I kept hearing the same thing, that they hugely valued the space they so desperately needed. Space to process the shock of redundancy. Space to step back from the constant demands of leadership. Space to reflect and reconnect to their strengths, aspirations and reimagine. And in that space, something beautiful happened. They found new confidence. New clarity. New energy to move forward. They felt empowered, not just to survive change, but to create it, To take control of their careers, their choices, their futures. This space, both practical and deeply personal, is the heart of everything we do.

Our Team

Our Team We are a heart-led bunch of committed coaches and people development experts. Suzanne never wanted to be a solo business owner. She knew she wanted to grow a team of experts and have greater impact. We each bring our skills and expertise, corporate and lived experience and are here to make a difference to clients we serve.

Suzanne Penny 

Suzanne has 20 years of experience across the recruitment and outplacement sectors, predominantly as a learning and development consultant and coach. She has worked as part of senior leadership teams, been a hiring manager, an in-house and agency recruiter and a lead outplacement consultant for global, market-leading organisations.

Suzanne is an ILM Level 7 executive coach and mentor,  an Associate for the CIPD and a qualified team coach. She is also an accredited FAIB for Mental Health and Well-Being training provider and a practitioner for Thomas PPA.  Suzanne loves designing and delivering learning and development that is fun, engaging and supportive, blending practical tools across leadership, mindset and resilience.

Sally Chesman

Sally takes the lead on bespoke team and leadership development, to tailor solutions to your requirements. She is an Insights Discoveries Practitioner and loves using this tool to enhance collaboration in teams. Sally is a qualified coach and team coach and has attained Global Individual (EIA) accredited status as Coach Practitioner with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council.

Sally has over 20 years of experience in the implementation of change, leadership skills development and improving team performance, collaboration and communication through her work as a facilitator, trainer and coach.  

Karen Birchmore

Karen is a career, confidence & change coach and mentor with over 6 years' experience coaching and mentoring within corporations and privately. Her background of over 20 years in the corporate world as a Global IT Programme Manager saw her leading global teams to deliver multimillion dollar programmes, where her core skills of communication, collaboration and empowerment were key.

Following redundancy during covid, Karen has formalised her coaching qualifications with certifications in Personal Performance Coaching, Confidence Coaching and Career Coaching, alongside becoming a Master NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) Practitioner , Belief Coding Practitioner and EFT (emotional freedom technique) practitioner.

Zoe MacAskill

Zoe is a qualified chartered accountant and mother, with a huge passion for LinkedIn. After experiencing redundancy herself a few times for various reasons, she started using social media, in particular LinkedIn, as a key tool for job searching. She now advises people in career transition on how to use and get the best from their LinkedIn Profiles to aid and, in some cases, accelerate their job search. Diving deep into job seeker personal branding, she helps to help create go-to-market strategies and content ideas to unlock the hidden job market. She will get you using LinkedIn confidently and her energy makes the process fun. 

Emma Thompson

Inbox whizz, PA and support star, meaning the business runs smoothly. Emma has lots of experience in logistics and business support and is always calm, committed and organised.

Committed to self-development, Emma spends hours listening to podcasts on neuroscience, well-being, confidence and empowerment. Emma is also a certified dog trainer and loves splitting her time between Empowered Space and training furry friends.

Download our brochure

Supporting you to support your people.

An insight into our core services we can offer your organisation, teams or individuals.

1-2-1 Coaching & Executive Outplacement Coaching


 It is estimated that 80% + of the executive job market is not traditionally advertised. Networking skills and being found by recruiters and headhunters is important.
Professional support to departing employees can make a huge difference to help them prepare their go-to-market strategy, access the hidden job market, and transition effectively.

Bespoke 1-2-1 Coaching to:
  • Provide 1-2-1 support for 6 months either in-person or virtual.
  • Clearly define value proposition.
  • Get clarity on next steps and navigate change. 
  • Confidence with interviews. 
  • Transition effectively.

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I'm all for the human touch and nothing can ever replace a conversation.  
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Empowered Space For People Ltd
 Company Number: 10416237