Founder & CEO - Resta Forte
Leadership Coach and Mentor
I served as CEO and Principal of two schools — one in the UK and one in Italy — leading through governance crises, public scrutiny, safeguarding complexity and the full weight of being accountable for an entire organisation and everyone within it. I managed boards, navigated difficult cultures and guided teams through change — while also being a wife and mother to two boys.
From the outside, nothing seemed to shake me. I was known for bringing calm into difficult rooms. What I understood, over time, was that this wasn't about holding everything together through effort. It was something quieter than that — an inner steadiness that I've come to think of as the foundation of everything else.
I also know the dimension of this work that rarely gets named. The impact of perimenopause on energy, sleep, confidence and the ability to think clearly — often at exactly the point when a role is asking the most of you. That experience is not separate from leadership. It is part of it. And it shaped a great deal of how I think about this work.
- Chartered Fellow, Chartered Management Institute (FCMI)
- Masters in Leadership and Management
- Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Leadership
- BSc & PGCE in Mathematics & Statistics
- Diploma in Nutrition & Health Coaching
- Certified Menopause Support Coach
- Certified Women's Health & Wellness Coach
- Certified Holistic Wellness Coach
A broken ankle and an honest conversation with myself
In the summer of 2025, I broke my ankle. The recovery gave me something I had not had in a long time — space to think.
I spent that time reflecting on what I call my inner why. The values and sense of purpose that guide the work I feel genuinely called to do. And what became clear, quietly but unmistakably, was that my inner why was no longer aligned with what I was doing. Running schools was meaningful work. But it was no longer my work.
What I kept coming back to was this: being a woman in leadership is a genuinely difficult place to be. You are called to be everything for everyone — at work, at home, in your family — and the expectation that you will hold all of it together rarely lets up. That challenge becomes sharper still as you approach midlife, when your energy, your confidence and your sense of self can all be quietly shifting at once.
I had lived that. I understood it from the inside. And I wanted to put my energy into supporting women who were living it too. That decision became Resta Forte, which launched in October 2025.
Leadership and wellbeing are not separate things
Most leadership development focuses on knowledge, frameworks and process. That matters — but it is not the whole picture. The harder work is what happens on the inside: how you manage your own emotional states under pressure, how you lead when doubt creeps in, how you look after yourself in a way that sustains you over the long term.
I believe these things are inseparable. A leader who understands delegation in theory but cannot let go in practice has a personal barrier, not a knowledge gap. A woman who knows she needs rest but cannot stop has something more than a time management problem.
Resta Forte holds all three dimensions together — because in practice, they always were.
The intellectual
Leadership skills, frameworks and practical tools — applied to real situations, not just understood in theory
The emotional
Self-awareness, the patterns beneath pressure, and the confidence to trust your own judgement
The physical
Energy, sleep, perimenopause and building a way of leading that does not cost you your health
Part coaching, part mentoring — always grounded in experience
This is not a purely non-directive process. I do not simply ask questions and wait. I bring my own experience — as a former CEO, as a woman who has navigated midlife in a senior role, as someone who has lived the things I am describing — into the room alongside you.
That means the work is genuinely personal. We begin by understanding what is actually driving the patterns you want to change — the overworking, the self-doubt, the difficulty switching off — and from there, the work becomes practical. Building tools and habits. Applying what you have learned to real situations. Creating a way of leading that holds.
Clients work with me through 1:1 coaching or group online programmes, depending on where they are and what they need. Every journey begins with a free 30-minute discovery call.
The goal is not to become someone different. It is to lead more fully as yourself.
A practical believer in looking after yourself
I strength train, I walk in the mountains, I ski whenever the season allows, I waterski in the summer, and I garden with genuine enthusiasm. These are not hobbies I fit in around the edges. They are part of how I stay well, think clearly, and remain grounded in a life I actually want to be living.
I also believe equally in good food, good company, and a fabulous Italian wine. Time with friends around a table matters as much to me as time on the mountain. Both are part of the same thing — a life that is genuinely nourishing, not just productive.
I live in the Aosta Valley in northern Italy with my husband and our two boys. The mountains are on my doorstep, the pace is different, and the decision to come here continues to teach me something about what it means to trust yourself and lead from the inside out.
"I would highly recommend Johanna, who began working with me as a mentor and has since become an exceptional coach. She has had a profound impact on my development as a leader, particularly in supporting me through periods of under-confidence and imposter syndrome. Through thoughtful questioning, careful listening and honest challenge, Johanna helped me to recognise my strengths, trust my judgement and grow my sense of agency. She has a remarkably level head and a rare ability to find clear, logical solutions while remaining deeply compassionate and empathetic. Johanna creates a safe, reflective space while also encouraging purposeful action, and I am a more confident, self-assured and effective leader as a result of working with her."Beth Roberts Jones Assistant Principal, Senior Leadership Team
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