Claudia Guinness: Choosing a Life That Fits
Before becoming a life coach, Claudia spent seven years working as a film producer – a career she genuinely adored.
“I loved it. I loved it, loved it. It was so cool,” she tells me. This wasn’t just the commercial side of the industry; it was advocacy, climate campaigns, and creative work with meaning. Yet something within her started whispering that the road she was on was no longer expanding.
“Six sessions and I was a completely
different person at work.”
Photo by Claudia Guinness
She had worked with the same collaborator for years, and when he decided to take a step back from work, “I just thought without him, I didn't see a path for me. It didn't feel like my calling.”
And work, as it does for many, eventually bruised her confidence. “I got imposter syndrome… And one of my bosses said to me, I really think you should see a life coach because you're brilliant, but you are not confident.” So, Claudia did six sessions with one. “And it was crazy - six sessions and I was a completely different person at work. I became confident and sure of my abilities.” That transformative shock became the seed of a new life.
The Leap She Feared But Took Anyway
Claudia trained as a coach during the pandemic. But leaving filmmaking, with its steady salary, travel, and colleagues she adored, was terrifying.
“I had been saying I was going to leave for so long. I thought, ‘I need to schedule a date. If I don't put a date in, I'm never going to do this’.”
She set a date. Then the panic set in. “As that date got closer, I thought, ‘what have I done? I can't leave.’”
Her boss reassured her that she didn’t have to go. But she knew she did.
“It was one of the most scary things I've ever done.” And yet, on the other side of that leap, doors began to open up for her. “While it was difficult, I had to take that leap for the opportunities to present themselves – and they did”.
Why Claudia Coaches: Helping People Drive Their Own Lives
Claudia’s work is not therapy and she’s clear about that. “Therapy is unlocking your present pain using the past. Coaching is: where are you right now, and where you want to get to.” She asks dozens of questions about time, energy, money, space. She looks for patterns. “I start getting an image of the things that someone is drawn to, what makes their heart sing.” Her goal is to shift people from living reactively to living deliberately.
“You can be in the driver’s seat
rather than the passenger seat.”
Italy: The Home That Called Claudia Back
Claudia grew up in the Italian countryside and moved to England when she was 10. The house is very special to her, but after her father passed away when she was 18, the home “lost its soul a bit.” Her sister eventually revived it by moving back and hosting painting courses there. Claudia wanted to return, too, but having a job in London made it difficult.
So she created a new chapter that would allow her to return – not as a visitor, but as a creator.
Alba: Retreats Fueled by Purpose and Human Connection
The retreats she now hosts in her family home are not simply gatherings – they are carefully designed antidotes to modern life’s noise. “I feel like the world is so disconnected right now. I just really wanted to bring people together in a special place.”
The retreats are called Alba – “dawn” in Italian. When she’s awake at sunrise, she says, “I feel like I've bought back time… I can choose who I want to be in that moment.”
Her retreats help others do the same:
to silence the noise,
to rediscover themselves,
to dare to be who they truly are and to dare to live the life they want.
Workshops, shared meals, sunrise walks, silent mornings, cooking classes, conversations with strangers, all designed to unearth what’s been buried under routine, stress, and screens.
Most who come are soul-searching; many are lonely; and simply crave connection.
As Claudia puts it, “There's nothing that makes me feel more alive when I've had an interesting interaction with a stranger.”
“I can choose
who I want to be in that moment”
A Calling Deeply Rooted in Loss and Love
Some of Claudia’s values come from her parents – creativity from both her mother and father, sociability from a childhood home always full of guests, dinners, and laughter.
Her mother taught her emotional openness. That mattered when her father fell ill. “We were so lucky… we had time to say goodbye. We had conversations about the afterlife.” Now grief sits in her life not as a wound, but as a quiet companion. “It’s still sad, but it’s not a bad sad”, Claudia says.
What Claudia Fears – And What She Fights For
Claudia worries deeply about the world: the climate crisis, the political landscape, and especially the way technology erodes presence. “I can't be at a dinner with friends without someone getting their phone out. It really bothers me.”
She asks retreat guests if they want to hand in their phones. Some do, some don’t.
I feel that beneath the frustration lies longing – profound, honest longing. She wants a world where people look up. Where they feel and engage.
“I can't be at a dinner with friends
without someone getting their phone out.
It really bothers me.”
Creativity, Healing, and the Quiet Joy of a Rebuilt Life
Claudia left one creative world and built another. Her coaching is creative. Her retreats are creative. Her days are filled with photography, learning, and nature. She still edits films, but now as gifts for loved ones.
She may have stepped away from filmmaking, but she never stepped away from people's stories. And now she’s helping people find the plot of their lives.
When I ask whether she feels she’s in the right place, her answer is soft but certain: “Yes, definitely… After I've done a session with someone, it literally gives me energy.”
Happiness, she knows, is not static. But in this moment, she is happy.
And more importantly, she is connected to herself, her work, to others, and to the world she is trying to help people see again.
Claudia’s life now is, in many ways, exactly what she helps others find:
a life driven rather than endured, chosen rather than defaulted, lived rather than scrolled through. A life at Alba, always beginning again.
UPCOMING Alba Retreat: “Dream”
9–13 April 2026 · Villa Arniano, Tuscany
www.claudiaguinnesscoaching.com
A story by Lina Lapin / Unalike
Dawn by Claudia Guinness
