Carmen Schwender | Collective Change Institute
Carmen Schwender
-Over 20 years of experience in leadership, management, and high-performance sales.
-Exposure to US and Asian senior leaders and over 15 years of experience in coaching and mentoring individuals and teams.
-Motivational speaker and facilitator.
-Professional Classical Ballet Dancer, performed and choreographed shows in the US.
-Born and raised in Romania, lived and worked in the US and Singapore, always embracing diversity and cultural differences.
Professional Background
Carmen has over 20 years of experience in Financial Services, working in different businesses, with both individual and institutional clients. She held Global Private Client, Equity Sales, and APAC Research Management roles. She is an effective leader within complex, multifunctional global teams with a proven record of generating incremental revenue and developing effective long-term client relationships.
For over 20 years Carmen coached and mentored leaders and young talent in the organization where she currently works.
Carmen is a recent graduate from Insead with an Executive Master in Change. The profound program learning around organizational behaviors, group dynamics, and self-exploration of the unconscious has given her the tools to lead and foster leadership through a human-centric lens.
Carmen’s personal leadership development journey introduced her to coaching. She has successfully performed multiple team interventions across countries and cultures. This prompted her to currently pursue the International Coaching Federation Certificate to refine her skills.
Coaching Specialty
• Leadership and high-performance teams
• Career progression and navigating a purposeful path.
• Life and Career Transitions
• Psychodynamic Coaching which explores the subconscious patterns influencing our behaviors to make meaningful change.
Personal Background
Carmen is originally from Romania, and she left her home country at a young age to fulfill a dream and one dream only: dance. The dream became a reality in the US where she performed, choreographed, and taught ballet to children and adults for several years. Once she retired her pointe shoes from active use, Carmen embarked on another journey of transformation and change and pursued a career in finance. For the last 20 years, she worked across two continents and three lines of business as a high-performance sales executive and leader.
Carmen is a mother of two children, works full-time and is an avid reader and lifetime learner. She is very focused on movement, yoga, and regular exercise. She spends a lot of time with her family, and friends, and enjoys traveling and exploring new experiences.
Carmen is a very passionate person, motivated, and a true advocate for change and empowering people to discover the best version of themselves. She loves to live her life by this quote from Anais Nin: “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage”. She is a culture carrier and has a high degree of empathy and caring for others. Growing up in Romania, moving across cultures has equipped her with resilience, grit, and courage.
Coaching Style
Carmen’s coaching style evolves around unlocking one’s inner theatre and true potential. She provides a safe environment and an honest partnership, and as Rodin said: “I invent nothing, I rediscover.”
She is an active listener, authentic, and carries great empathy. Experience coaching and mentoring people across cultures with diverse backgrounds. Carmen is passionate about empowering and uncovering the best potential in people.
Personal Philosophy
“Start unknown, finish unforgettable” Misty Copeland
Carmen loves to connect, empower, and help people achieve their utmost potential.
Carmen believes, life is redolent of dance in some ways, it gives us the opportunity to express ourselves, grow, fail, succeed, love and perform our very best dance, on our favorite melody.
