From feeling restless despite a thriving career to launching new initiatives and stepping into an executive leadership role, Sreoshy Banerjea used coaching to clarify her vision, manage self-doubt, and make bold moves.

An Urban Designer, Architect, Entrepreneur, Mother – and Change Maker

Sreoshy Banerjea is an urban designer, architect, and aspiring entrepreneur with a keen desire to drive change. Outside of work, she is a mother to a young son and the wife of an ambitious restaurateur. Balancing these roles, she felt a persistent drive to make a bigger impact in her professional life.

Investing in Herself to Reach the Next Level

At the time she met Maya Sharfi, Sreoshy was already “putting herself out there” and thriving in a great job, but she still felt a restlessness to do more. She didn’t know exactly what “more” meant or how to overcome the obstacles between her and that next level.

Having already completed several employer-sponsored leadership programs, Sreoshy recognized the need for external accountability. Maya’s Next Level Coaching program offered the structure, challenge, and support she was seeking. Trusting her instincts, she decided to invest in herself and work with a coach who could help her “get out of her own way” and unlock her potential.

From Restlessness to Results: Concrete Outcomes of Coaching

Within six to twelve months of coaching, Sreoshy fundamentally reshaped her relationship with self-doubt. She learned to manage her inner critic, clarify her North Star, and step out of her comfort zone. This shift opened multiple paths for greater impact:

• Elevating the role of design at work: She championed the establishment of a new Design Values Task Force and raised the profile of design within her economic development agency.
• Combining passions in new projects: She built key nonprofit connections and became creative director of a design competition in India, blending urban planning, design, and social impact.
• Founding the Creative RFP Toolkit: She launched an online course and workshop to help design firms use storytelling to strengthen their RFP responses.

Sreoshy credits the coaching program’s systematic approach with giving her a roadmap to become who she wanted to be. Even as that roadmap evolved, the mindset and foundational thought processes she developed continued to guide her growth.

What Sreoshy Is Doing Now

In June 2022, Sreoshy Banerjea was appointed Executive Director at the NYC Public Design Commission, New York City’s design review agency. In this leadership role, Sreoshy continues to champion design excellence and expand opportunities for diverse and emerging firms while balancing her roles as a designer, leader, and mother.