I sit in on the conversations behind success.

Iona Russell is a speaker, author and leadership advisor trusted by founders, leaders and thought leaders navigating what comes next.

Most of the people I work with don't look like they need help.

Their businesses are growing.

Their careers are thriving.

From the outside, most people would assume everything is working.

That’s what makes this conversation so difficult.

Because the question isn’t how to become successful.

It’s what happens when success no longer feels sustainable.

Over the last two decades, I’ve worked with leaders, founders, entrepreneurs and changemakers navigating some of life’s biggest transitions.

And I’ve noticed a pattern.

The people who appear most successful on the outside are often carrying an invisible cost on the inside.

The wins keep coming.

So does the pressure.

Not because they’re failing.

Because the version of themselves that built their success is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

That’s the conversation my work is built around.


People arrive here because something no longer fits. Not because they’re failing. Because they’ve outgrown something..

On Purpose

Life has a way of asking bigger questions than business ever can.

Over the last few years, I’ve experienced profound loss, including the loss of my brother Martin to suicide. Those experiences led me into a season of grief, rebuilding and reinvention.

And they deepened something I had already observed through my work:

Success can solve many problems.

But it cannot answer the deeper questions of identity, meaning and how we want to live.

That’s why my work today is focused on helping leaders create success that feels as good on the inside as it looks on the outside.

The Long Way Round

Leaders Trust my work because it’s grounded in more than theory.

Over 2 decades, I’ve worked across psychology, coaching, education, social policy, charitable leadership, broadcasting, wellbeing and writing, across the UK and USA. I’ve trained as a therapist, clinical hypnotherapist, teacher, court advocate and Master Positive Psychology Coach. As Head Master Coach with the Positive Psychology Coaching Academy, I’ve supported hundreds of coaches to qualify alongside Niyc Pidgeon.

That breadth isn’t incidental. It’s what allows me to meet a leader wherever they actually are, not just where a single discipline can reach.

My work has been shared on stages, in bestselling books, and in private rooms with people who have built remarkable things and arrived at a question no achievement can answer.

Because the real trust comes from the conversations themselves. The private ones behind the success. The ones leaders rarely say out loud. The ones that begin when achievement is no longer the question and they find themselves asking:

What now, at The Edge?

Speaking on stage in London at Niyc Pidgeon's event

Along the way

  • Co-author of 9 books, and 2 solo #1 bestsellers
  • Lead Master Coach for Niyc Pidgeon
  • Endorsed by Dr David Hamilton
  • Speaker, author and podcast host of a top 10 mental health podcast
  • Worked with leaders, founders, entrepreneurs and changemakers internationally


Success got you here.

The question is: what now, at The Edge?

The next chapter rarely begins with a strategy.

It begins with a conversation.