I coach executives and help teams through creative, transformative reinvention.
I’m Carmen Schwender, and I’d be honoured to be your coach. Together, we’ll remove barriers, navigate change, and define how you’ll show up for your next chapter—personally and professionally—so that everything is, quite literally, en pointe.
Hi I'm Carmen Schwender
As the Founder of En Pointe Institute, I help leadership teams elevate communication, deepen alignment, and accelerate results. Drawing on 20+ years in global sales, leadership, and finance, I’ve partnered with high-performing teams and senior executives across cultures to navigate change and strengthen culture. I’d welcome the opportunity to connect.
Achieve. Your. Goals.
Before I led teams in global sales, finance, and leadership, I trained as a classical ballet dancer and performed professionally on many stages around the world. Dance taught me what high performance really takes: practice, perseverance, and ensemble mindset required for peak performance. Today, I help teams clarify their vision, stay anchored to their mission, and work in true alignment. I coach people to find their grit, courage, and determination—and to perform together with the precision that accelerates results.
Coach and Change Agent
I combine my experience from INSEAD’s Executive Master in Change, Collective Change Institute coaching certification, and more than 20 years of corporate leadership to help organizations transform with clarity and courage. Our work spans two domains: the inner—understanding emotional responses to organizational triggers and dynamics—and the outer—building capabilities in leadership, strategic thinking, team management, resilience, and adaptability. The outcome is consistent: positive, sustainable change. Let’s do this!
Here I talk about one of my approaches:
Here's how we can work together...
Executive/Career/Life Coaching
I live for the “on point” moments in one-on-one coaching.
Together, we strip away cognitive, psychological, and emotional obstacles that throw your performance off balance. With psychodynamic coaching and focused techniques, we realign presence, decisions, and execution—so you hit your marks and exceed your targets.
Shall we explore your next step?
Creative Leadership Keynotes and Workshops
My "Creative Leadership" keynotes and workshops focus on leading and embracing change, lowering resistance, shifting mindsets and aligning with organisational reinvention initiatives. Keynotes help shift the thinking of larger groups, while workshops help dig deeper into group dynamics and personal interventions. Let's talk about how I can take your audience on a special journey at your upcoming event...
Pause and Reflect workshop
Here's a photo from my recent Pause and Reflect workshop with the wonderful people at FleishmanHillard.
The Pause and Reflect workshop is designed to create space to pause, exchange perspectives, and set an intention for the year ahead. It's a purposeful way to begin a year, a campaign, or a project, using a human-centric, playful lens to derive clarity and intention on what we want to carry forward.
Purpose. Clarity. Resolve.
Here are some testimonials from my coaching clients...
"A turning point for me..."
"Coaching with Carmen was a turning point for me.
Her calm, incisive presence is backed by cross-disciplinary training, rich leadership experience, and deep personal work — all of which show up in how she listens, challenges, and supports.
She didn’t just help me move forward — she helped me understand how.
I’m grateful for the clarity and confidence I gained, and for the inspiration to pursue coaching more deeply myself."
- Qiu Yi LOH, Assistant Vice President, Healthcare, Singapore Economic Development Board
Sharpening my personal narrative
"I worked with Carmen over six months during a period where I was doing well professionally, but felt stuck on how to get to the next level. The real issue wasn’t performance. It was constant second-guessing and a lack of clarity about how to move forward without betraying who I am. I had tried reading, podcasts, and advice from trusted friends. None of it created lasting change. Carmen’s coaching helped me articulate my own narrative and more importantly, realise that it’s not a weak or inadequate one. Through her sharp observation and ability to surface blind spots, I regained confidence and reduced the imposter syndrome that had quietly shaped many of my decisions. What sets Carmen apart is that her methods don’t always look obvious at first. Some of the exercises felt unrelated to the immediate issue and yet they turned out to be the most transformational. She consistently checked in, challenged my assumptions, and intervened when I drifted back into old patterns.
Carmen is exceptional for professionals who feel stuck despite outward success and are willing to do the inner work required to move forward. I'm blessed to have been coached by her."
- Yap Yi Liang, APAC Growth and Partnerships
"Transformational in extracting direction"
"I engaged with Carmen as I was in transition from a long career to a much needed break to re-entering the workforce.
She was instrumental in helping me define boundaries, realign my strengths and also provided much needed clarity on the importance of my non-negotiables.
She was transformational in extracting direction from my professional passion and interests and providing a clear and sustainable roadmap of how to get there."
- Rupali Dooling, VP of Cloud and Security, Growth Markets, NTT Data.
From my ballet days...
The pictures below are from my ballet days, and the painting below is particularly dear to me as it was painted by Sir Alex Schloss during my time in New York.
Sir Alex was an oil painting institution, painting portraits and cityscapes in New York while based at the Plaza Hotel for some 35 years.
He painted me here in 2004, when he was 81 years old. I adored him and I love this painting.
Here's to putting your best foot forward!
What does "en pointe" mean?
It literally translates from French as, "on point," and in ballet it means "on the tips of the toes." This takes discipline, skill, training, and precision to master. And I take this mindset into my coaching engagements so that my clients know that I bring discipline, skill, training and precision into helping them towards personal and leadership mastery, and that our sessions are on point, and keep them on their toes!
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