Yolanda Yu, Team Coach
Based in Singapore · Available globally
ICF MCC · ACTC · MBA
I coach C-suite leaders and top leadership teams who are
courageous enough to be uncomfortable.
Team Coach for Executives
An ICF Advanced Certified Team Coach (ACTC), Yolanda works with executive teams navigating complexity, tension, and transformation. Her qualifications in Systemic Team Coaching and Organizational Relationship Systems Coaching equip her to address not only interpersonal dynamics but the team’s relationship with the broader organizational ecosystem.
Prior to coaching, Yolanda spent 20 years operating at the senior levels of global business — as Regional Director at Mastercard and Visa, leading commercial M&A for Alibaba-Lazada, and serving as CEO of helloPay (now part of Ant Financial). She brings first-hand understanding of the pressures, politics, and possibilities that shape leadership teams.
How I Work with Teams
Team-Led Learning
Your team owns the work of discovery and building solutions. I don’t bring solutions. I surface what’s already in the room so your team can see it, name it, and act on it.
Three-Party Partnership
Real change requires alignment across three forces: the team’s commitment, the organization’s clarity on what success looks like, and the coach’s discipline to hold the mirror. Team coaching success depends on the dance between all three.
Shadow Coaching with Live Data
I embed in your team’s actual meetings, observing patterns and reflecting dynamics as they happen. Whether we debrief in the timeout moment or take the data offline, the coaching is grounded in what your team actually does — not what they think they do.
What Team Leaders Say
“It was a pleasure to work with Yolanda. Our team engagement was for about 8 months. She understood the brief well and went into sufficient details in engaging with each team member. Her decoding of the core issues was really good. She continued dialogue with key stakeholders regularly, bringing a good blend of research and application. During the project, she was quite flexible in adapting to new situations while keeping the end goal in mind. I can vouch for her strong subject knowledge and keen desire to make an impact.”
Amit Mohta
Board Member, CPO, CSCO, Unilever International
“Yolanda coached various members in our founding team. We learned to better work with each other by managing conflict and negotiating for better outcome. To engage her was one of the highest ROI activities I ever made.”
COO & Co-founder
FinTech firm backed by Sequoia
“The conversation you can have in a team coaching session is nothing short of amazing. It helped us to re-align our interests, focus our individual energy towards real, collective growth.”
Founding Partner
Legal firm
Leadership and C-Suite Coach
An ICF Master Certified Coach (MCC), Yolanda partners with senior executives, C-suite leaders, and board members navigating inflection points in their careers and leadership. She has coached leaders across Fortune 500 technology companies including Google, Meta, Amazon, and LinkedIn, and serves as a leadership coach on the executive programmes at INSEAD Business School.
Her two decades of corporate leadership experience — spanning payments, fintech, e-commerce, and technology — give her an intuitive grasp of the strategic, political, and personal dimensions of executive life. A published author with Penguin Random House, she brings a rare depth of human insight to every engagement.
How I Work with Leaders
Transformative Coaching
A deep, insight-driven approach that facilitates lasting change by shifting how leaders think, feel, and act. Yolanda is a trained Master Coach in Transformative Coaching.
Systemic Coaching
Rather than focusing solely on the individual, systemic coaching addresses the leader’s relationship with the complex and dynamic larger system — their team, stakeholders, and organisation. Yolanda’s qualifications include Systemic Team Coaching and Organizational Relationship Systems Coaching.
Feedback Coaching
A data-driven approach leveraging assessment data, 360-degree feedback, and stakeholder interviews to heighten awareness and drive actionable insights. Yolanda is trained on over ten types of feedback instruments.
Somatic Coaching (Theatre Methods)
A powerful approach that helps leaders embody new insights and release old patterns. The use of innovative theatre methods provides access to the body as a key source of wisdom and transformation.
Career Coaching for C-Suite and Board Positioning
For senior leaders ready to step into their next chapter — whether pursuing a C-suite appointment, preparing for board service, or navigating a strategic career transition — Yolanda offers targeted coaching that draws on her own experience as a CEO and her deep network in global business.
What Leaders Say
“From our very first conversation, I knew I had met someone exceptional. Yolanda has a rare gift. Her presence alone brings clarity, lightness, and courage. She is, without question, one of the most talented, wise, resourceful, sharp, and empathetic professionals I’ve had the privilege to work with. Her coaching style is both creative and deeply inquisitive. She doesn’t rely on surface-level tools or textbook techniques — instead, she brings a fresh, thoughtful perspective to every session. She has an extraordinary ability to pinpoint the core of a challenge, often unveiling insights I hadn’t considered but deeply needed. Working with her has been a turning point in my professional journey.”
Valentina Bosco
CHRO · Global HR Executive, Amplifon
“Yolanda has been an amazing guide and coach on both personal and professional matters. She creates a plan to your needs, aligns to your objectives and goals, and asks the right questions for you to think about. You get so much out of every session. I highly recommend her services.”
Daniel Torres
Chief Commercial Officer, MetaCare
“Yolanda is an outstanding listener — she doesn’t prescribe or direct. She lets you open up and discover yourself. Think of her as the one who holds up the mirror to you and from time to time she polishes the surface so you can see clearly.”
Rizwan Hazarika
Chief Digital Officer, Constellar
“I benefited tremendously from the coaching sessions with Yolanda as she helped me reframe the way I think and approach my career. It is certainly not easy to achieve a breakthrough but her clear and firm approach led to developing my inner strengths and intuition that I can rely on to tackle future challenges as well. This powerful perspective helped me look at challenges as new opportunities for growth.”
James Teh
Head of Commerce Partnerships, Google
“In our sessions, Yolanda brought to bear a wealth of personal and professional experience that challenged me to view career obstacles from fresh perspectives. Her inquisitive, contemplative, and perspicacious approach coupled with her coaching frameworks and strategies really helped me grow as a leader and manager. She knows her stuff and is a joy to work with. I recommend Yolanda without reservation.”
Dave Woodward
Chief Legal & Corporate Affairs Officer, FileAI
Published Works: Fiction and Stories from the Margins
Rebels, Traitors, Peacemakers
True stories of Love and Conflict in Indian-Chinese Relationships
ISBN: 9789815127140 · Jan 2024 · Penguin Random House
The Visible Invisibles
Stories of Migrant Workers in Asia
ISBN: 9789815017786 · Nov 2022 · Penguin Random House
Neighbour's Luck
ISBN: 9789811192760 · Nov 2018 · Maths Paper Press
