30 Second CV

Name: Ramona da Gama

Location: London

Current Title/Company: Director, RDG Coaching & Training

Educational Background: BSC in Entomology at Chelsea College (University of London), Diploma in Modelling from The London Academy of Modelling, Performance Coaching International Qualified Coach, Shirlaws Qualified Business Coach

The Real Deal

Brief overview of what you do:

I believe that businesses who invest in empowering their people grow faster. Personal development, training and coaching of our most important assets makes for successful and sustainable businesses.

RDG Training & Coaching is a business consultancy that specialises in helping businesses grow by being visionary. We identify a plan then get the right capability and capacity to bring ideas to life. The consultancy focuses on business growth strategies, business coaching and sales & marketing coaching. We work with the government’s Growth Accelerator programme to help SMEs, entrepreneurs and corporate organisations grow.

Can you describe your job in 3-5 words?

Strategist, coach and mentor.

Do you have a weekday morning routine?

I wake up with a morning swim, before planning my client sessions and reviewing any other performance goals I have to achieve that week.

What does a typical day at your desk look like?

I very rarely sit at a desk, as I am either in meetings or am coaching my clients in spaces that will take them away from their offices and help them to think out of the box.

What’s been the best moment of your career so far?

There have been so many! Though of course it has to be seeing my clients achieve their dreams. It was fabulous to help Sir Stelios launch the successful budget airline, Easyjet.

Your job – the good, the bad, the ugly:

The good: Seeing all my clients succeed.

The bad: Going into organisations where people are not empowered. I hate seeing people who never say what they think because they are frightened of being disciplined or even losing their jobs.

The ugly: Bullying in the workplace.

Work/Life

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill

Who are your role models?

As a professional sports person, I played table tennis for Kenya, so working very hard with my coach, being disciplined and knowing that success was around the corner really motivated me. The challenge of creating an idea and bringing it to life is very inspirational.

I also come from a family of entrepreneurs, who were and still are inspirational role models for me: my father who was a visionary, my mother who was so creative, tenacious and courageous when my father passed when she was only 47, my Uncle who launched what is one of the the most successful safari companies today, my maternal grandfather and grandmother who worked together to create and grow successful businesses while bringing up nine children, my paternal grandfather who set up a newspaper business and a language school, and my paternal uncle who was attorney general in Uganda and then legislator and chief prosecutor in Goa. I could go on! I was very fortunate and still am.

How do you relax and recharge?

I swim, do yoga, play golf, go to the theatre, and hang out with my very special inner circle of friends. And of course, a glass of Champagne always does the trick!

What’s the last book you read?

Heist by Daniel Silva

What are you listening to at the moment?

I’m currently in Crete, so am listening to the sound of the sea and the loudest crickets in the world!

What’s your favourite way to treat yourself?

Champagne and oysters.

What social or political issues matter most to you?

I feel we should be doing more to help empower young disadvantaged people, to take care of our older citizens, and to support our entrepreneurs and SMEs, as they are the fuel that makes our economy grow and provide employment.

If you could have lunch with any woman in the world, who would it be (and what would you order)?

Angelina Jolie. We’d drink Dom Perignon 1986 and eat Venetian spider crab with lemon & olive oil.