Meet your coach & counsellor
Suzana Varga
At sunflowerful, I help individuals cultivate well-being at work—both in the immediate sense of managing stress and preventing burnout, and in the long-term through intentional career choices and entrepreneurial exploration. With a background in psychology, entrepreneurship, and strategic leadership I integrate evidence-based coaching and counselling methodologies to support professionals in building fulfilling and sustainable careers.
My experience spans academic research, teaching, and coaching, working with entrepreneurs, students, and professionals who seek to reconnect with their strengths, values, and aspirations.
My approach blends positive psychology, cognitive-behavioral insights, and personal vision-based coaching and counselling, empowering clients to reconnect with their strengths, values, and aspirations.
Whether you are seeking clarity on your next career step, striving to maintain well-being amidst professional demands, or exploring an entrepreneurial path, I am here to support you in making personally and professionally meaningful choices that ensure sustainable well-being.
My story
What brought me to starting my own coaching and counselling practice?
Being at crossroads in my own career… Being good at something did not necessarily mean I wanted that very same thing. It took me a while and I quite literally burned myself (out) in the process, until I finally decided to step away from what “makes the most sense” and lean into my own values that I hold so dearly yet I have neglected so badly.
I strongly believe that everyone deserves to live a fulfilling life. It is my passion to contribute to this cause through encouraging individuals to craft their own authentic value-driven paths in life. Having had the experience of not listening to my own values and desires and often even going against them driven predominantly by external expectations, I am closely familiar with the consequences that not following such personally crafted paths can have on our well-being and zest. As such, you can see the founding of this coaching and counselling practice as my genuine attempt to express my authentic self and the role and identity of a coach/counsellor as the embodiment of my personal values.
Why work and career?
Because work soaks up so much of our awake time in a day and careers of our overall time of being alive. All that time spent in work and devoted to our careers has major impact on our well-being. Whether it is about the daily challenges we face, the time pressure, and ever-increasing work load, or the choices we make and career plans we develop for the longer run - we can get stuck in our ways at times, not seeing a path forward, desiring some clarity and insight about our possibilities and steps ahead.
My approach
Turn to the sun
I strongly believe that everyone is powerful in their own way holding unique combinations of qualities creating a dormant potential that is waiting to be unlocked and actualized. If only there was more light that would help to see what we want and feel more clearly. Just like a sunflower turns to the sun for nourishment and ultimately powerful growth, every one of us can learn to turn to their own inner light and warmth that can fuel our development. In my view, everyone is sunflowerful.
Dig for that gold
Within all of our experiences, the good and the bad, there lies some gold that we carry. I truly believe that all of those experiences have transformative potential if only we are willing to seek for those sparkling pieces of gold. Like mirrors, they reflect our strengths and qualities and offer opportunities to expand on the meaning that we assign to our sensations, feelings, and thoughts. They can teach us to live with more acceptance, appreciation, and flexibility. If only we are ready and willing to dig for that gold.
In my approach to coaching & counselling, I aim to combine these two key principles. As such, I focus on offering support in building awareness of one’s values, wants, needs, feelings, and qualities, and on facilitating the actualization of a life informed and driven by these. All with the same aim - to support your reconnection with yourself, so that you can dare to lead a life from a place of strength, authenticity, and confidence.
My background
I hold a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and master' degree in Organizational Psychology from the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. Beautiful city, definitely recommend checking it out if you haven’t yet. During my master’s, I spent some wonderful time studying at the Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
In the past years, I have been pursuing my PhD in Management at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Currently, I am working towards finalizing my dissertation that centers around firm growth and scaling with an emphasis on how entrepreneurs and leaders make decisions and take action to deal with the high complexity, high time pressure, and the rapidly and frequently changing priorities to sustain the fast growth of their firms. I enjoyed unpacking and discussing these topics with fellow academics, practicing entrepreneurs, and my students. During my doctoral studies, I spent several months at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA as a visiting scholar.
I obtained a coaching and counselling certificate at the Academie voor Coaching en Counselling, where I actively continue to further advance my knowledge and skills, and expand and diversify my coaching and counselling toolkit. I have been working with clients on a variety of themes, spanning across work and career, stress management, confidence building, and personal loss and grief.
In my free time, you will find me reading in the park, dancing salsa, walking in nature, experimenting with new means of crafting (current obsession - painting flower pots and vases), cooking colorful meals, and laughing with my loved ones.