Here for the brave ones.

Guiding people to that moment of realization; when they see their dreams are within reach, know the path to get there, and feel supported to take each step with clarity and self-trust.

Life\Work Design helps you bring your career and your life into the same conversation.

Whether you’re navigating a transition, stepping into new leadership, or simply ready to stop white-knuckling your way through the week, we offer coaching, group facilitation, and guidance designed to bring your entire life into focus.
 
We’ve been doing this work since the 1970s, and in the decades since, we’ve sat across from thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations, each one in the middle of their own pivot, reinvention, or defining moment. That history shapes everything we do. It’s taught us what actually helps people move forward and the exact steps that get results. 
 

As our CEO and lead facilitator, coach, and mentor, Tucker Branham has spent more than 20 years helping people and organizations navigate the messy, beautiful, in-between moments—career pivots, leadership transitions, “is this really what I want?” seasons, and the bigger questions about purpose that tend to surface when we slow down enough to listen. 

She brings a pretty rare mix to the work: a doctorate in organizational leadership, decades inside nonprofits and consulting firms, a background in art direction, and (yes, really) a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. What ties it all together is her gift for facilitation, asking the questions that actually matter, holding space for the hard stuff, and helping you find clarity on your big vision and next steps.

Our Story

1975

Nella Barkley attends an advanced management program at Harvard Business School and has the idea that the same skills used for organizational strategy could be applied to individuals lives.

1975
1976

Nella spends a lot of time researching her idea, interviewing people all over the world, and comes across a name time and again. John Crystal. The allusive enigma who served with the US Intelligence Service in WW2.

1976
1977

Nella and John meet for the first time at an office in Alexandria, Virginia. John was largely working with returning foreign service officers who were accustomed to having aids that made appointments for them. They were disengaged from the process of making things happen. He discovered the key to strategic change is to be involved in the research phase. The people you need to make your goals a reality are the ones you meet as you research the reality of the life you want to create.

1977
1979

Nella and John become business partners, rebranding John’s work at Life\Work Design and setting up an office in New York City working with both individuals seeking more satisfying or new futures and organizations enlightened leadership who want people to commit long term and to get the very best out of their teams.

1979
Late 90s

Set up an alliance with KPMG and trained 22 consultants out of KPMGs office in London to deliver Life\Work for organizations across Europe.

Late 90s
90s - 2000s

Worked all over the US and Europe with 100s of organizations and 1000s of individuals, suypporting them to create more fulfilling careers, companies and lives.

90s - 2000s
2020 (COVID)

Scaled back organizational work to focus on individuals online during the Pandemic.

2020 (COVID)
2025

Changed leadership and amped up both individual and organizational programs.

2025

Manifesto

We live in a world that rewards productivity over purpose and busyness over bravery.

But when your work becomes an extension of your values, meaningful, impactful, and true, you become unstoppable.

Life and work don’t have to pull in opposite directions. They can be one aligned, coherent expression of who you are and what matters most.

This isn’t about balance; it’s integration.

Not hustling harder, but tuning in deeper to what drives you.

We’re here for the brave ones. The founders at a crossroads.

The leaders who want to get the very best out of their teams.

The humans done with contorting themselves into someone else’s version of success.

Those who are finally ready to create a life of their own design.

We begin with your story, your experiences, and your buried but-not-lost passions and talents.

Together, we honour who you’ve been and build who you’re becoming with care and purpose.

When your life and work are aligned, your decisions become clearer and your impact becomes greater.

You move through the world differently.

You become more resourced, more resonant, more you.

We don’t just help you figure out what’s next.

We help you build it, intentionally, courageously, and on your own terms.

Book a consultation

Life\work is a rigorous, life changing process. It’s not for everyone. Book a free consultation to see if it’s the right next step for you.