About Firefly Coaching & Training
Kia ora, hiya, I'm Marie-Louise. I'm glad you're here, taking a little break in your day.
I started Firefly Coaching & Training when I put myself through a career coaching and soul-searching bootcamp after leaving my last role in 2024. I realised that while I loved doing strategy, performance and policy work in the public sector, I loved to coach others in the public sector to do their work and achieve their goals even more. And if you're struggling at work or feeling your career development's stalled recently - you're not the only one!
In my experience, women working in the public sector are so committed to doing great work and having a tangible impact. They’re motivated to hone their skills, move up and progress their careers. A lack of career progression opportunities was the number one reason people cited for wanting to leave their job in the 2025 Public Service Census.
But it’s hard, isn’t it. The job market is constrained, promotion rounds don’t happen like they used to, public sector cuts do away with roles people had their eye on.
All is not lost though! My mission as a professional and career coach is to help women diagnose whether there is scope to craft their current job, to reshape it so it better matches the work they most want to do, to give them stretch opportunities, and to minimise the parts of the role that leave them uninspired. And then to help bring their re-crafted job into being.
It’s not always possible to improve a role, as sometimes it’s the organisation that’s the problem, which means a complete change is needed. But in many, many cases it is, whether through small tweaks or a more substantial adjustment. I look forward to helping you do your best work and progress your career.
About Marie-Louise Siddle
Helping others learn and improve has been a theme in my career. I worked across New Zealand's public sector - in departments, Crown entities, and universities - for 20 years, mostly in the areas of education and tertiary education. Before that, I coached French business executives in English at Accenture, BNP Paribas, LVMH and Sanofi, and taught English in Japan.
I graduated with a Master of Public Management (Distinction) from Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington, completed Train the Trainers training with Grow, and coaching and mentoring training with the New Zealand Coaching & Mentoring Centre. I love my work as a professional and career coach focusing on the public sector. It means I can provide the support and career advice to people in the sorts of roles I used to do, to do the important work of making an impact for our communities.
I'm also a mum, and know first-hand the juggle of meeting work expectations, my own career goals, and trying to be a present and engaged parent. I live and work in Te Whanganui-a-Tara | Wellington, New Zealand. You can find me at marie-louise@fireflycoaching.nz.