Life Coach | Consultant Strategist | Resilience Facilitator
Pippa’s corporate career started as a retail buyer for Marks & Spencer in the UK before settling in South Africa in 1992 and working for the next 24 years in the non-profit sector, co-founding Home from Home, a child protection organization. She is also a founding trustee of the Elton John AIDS Foundation SA, The Get On Skills Development Centre and Friends in Ireland. Believing that we all have three careers in us, Pippa started her coaching studies in 2015 when she gained international accreditation as a Gallup Strengths Coach and, having continued her studies with the Centre for Coaching at UCT’s Graduate School of Business is now a certified integral coach. Her years of experience within the social impact sector has enabled her to work with a wide variety of organisations helping them shape their fundraising and growth strategies. Time spent in leadership in the non-profit sector has required Pippa to work with individuals from multiple backgrounds, facing complex challenges. Her strengths of communication, strategy and adaptability have been amply used and developed in this field.
As an accomplished public speaker, with a wealth of life experience and business acumen to impart, Pippa teamed up with Gabi Lowe in 2015 to form The Resilience Factory and co-author The Ten R’s of Authentic Resilience which has been taught to thousands of people around the world. Together they facilitate life-changing workshops, retreats and one-to-one coaching programs. The workshops aim to equip individuals with powerful and practical tools to help live a meaningful, resourceful and resilient life, no matter what comes their way.
“People ask me how I deal with my pain on a daily basis and certainly one of the things that helps is keeping a sense of humour, which has always been a big part of my life, and having friends you can really laugh with – as well as cry with.” – Pippa Shaper
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PIPPA speaks to Strongest Story on life after loss, finding joy in the little things and wearing our scars with honour …
“I knew 20 years ago, when my daughter Lucy died at the age of four, that my story wouldn’t be wasted. It would be used to help others. I have been asked over the years, ‘How have you coped?’. My answer at the beginning was simply ‘family, faith and friends’ and whilst those remain true to this day, I know that there is something more. Something which means that some people barely survive adversity, whilst others go on to thrive. The answer to that lies in resilience – authentic resilience which is born from deep within an individual.
I would like to be able to say that overcoming is easy or a one-time event, but the truth is that it’s a lifetime’s practice. We get knocked down, we get up again… and, sadly in life, we will keep getting knocked down. My own story is one of a great deal of loss. As my business partner Gabi calls it, ‘a litany of loss’. Over the last 20 years I have lost two of my four children, my first husband, my sister, my mom and several good friends. Grief is no stranger, but rather a familiar friend, who looks different each time I see her. Grief is different for each one of us, and different with each person we lose at different stages of life. It was my biggest relief to realise that there is no one right way to grieve – no proper way. That finally gave me the freedom to lean into grief, with all the emotions that came with it, and accept them as part of the rich life that I have had.
The truth is that we never ‘get over’ anyone we lose. And nor would we want to. That would be a sign that they hadn’t really meant much to us. Whilst we never ‘get over’, we do learn to ‘live life around’ the losses. To embrace the losses, encompass them into our lives and accept the scars that they form on our hearts is what “overcoming” is to me. To wear our scars with honour and acceptance.”
A personal message from Strongest Story:
Three years ago, sitting across a tiny table in a cosy coffee shop, the tears streamed down my face as Pippa gently shared her stories of love and loss with me. It was like a blow to my heart to hear how one woman could have possibly had to endure such a series of pain. My reaction was not unfamiliar to Pippa; and that is why she chooses carefully with whom, and how much, to share. She is a kindhearted woman and careful not to burden others with her story. I considered it an exceptional honour that she opened this window to her soul. As I listened, I looked into her sparkling blue eyes and all I could see was authenticity, kindness and hope. Pippa is not much older than me – but the wealth of her life experience makes her a woman I consider to be a mentor.
Pippa, we are so amazed at how you’ve dug deep and courageously uncovered a new perspective on your pain. Thank you for converting those revelations into a course entitled “Authentic Resilience” where anyone who has been dealt a tough hand can learn to respond to adversity in a healthy way.
The legacy of your story speaks so powerfully and we, at Strongest Story, wish you a lifetime of life-bringing encounters with many more individuals.