After 15 years working in the corporate world, working with some of the biggest names in the business, Aude is now an Intuitive Business Coach, Psychic Medium, Reiki Master and Spiritual Life Coach, helping people trust their instincts and find their path. With her first book, Trust the Signal, out this November, we talk intuition, East London and listening to your gut.
You spent 15 years working in senior corporate roles. What prompted you to take such a different path and train as a psychic medium?
On paper, working with C suite teams and boards at brands including Microsoft, Gucci, Publicis and Trainline looked like success. Underneath, I was living what so many high performers recognise privately: burnout, disconnection, and the feeling of executing someone else’s plan very well.
At the same time, something I had carried since childhood was asking for my attention. I had always read rooms before anyone spoke and known things I had no logical way of knowing. For years I managed it quietly. Then I made a different choice: to train it properly. It was not one dramatic exit. It was a signal that kept getting clearer until I could no longer pretend I had not heard it.
Was spirituality and intuition always part of your life, or was there a particular moment when you began to explore it more seriously?
It was always there. I was a highly sensitive child, and I grew up in a chaotic environment where I never really felt regulated, so I learned very early to read energy simply to feel safe. Spirituality was part of my upbringing too, and over the years I explored Zen and Buddhism and many other practices.
The real turning point came when I started meditating seriously, learned Reiki and began working consciously with my psychic abilities. For the first time I understood what it meant to access a deeper state and receive genuine insight, rather than living on adrenaline. That was when intuition stopped being something that happened to me and became something I could work with.
‘Being at a crossroads is not a sign that something has gone wrong. Very often it is the signal that you are ready for more.’
You trained professionally at the College of Psychic Studies in London, where you now teach. What did that experience teach you about yourself and your own abilities?
It taught me that intuition is a skill, not a gift reserved for a chosen few. Like any skill, it responds to training, discipline and practice. The College gave me rigour, ethics and structure, and that mattered enormously to someone coming from the corporate world.
It also taught me to trust myself. So much of the training is learning to tell the difference between what you are genuinely receiving and what your mind is adding. Teaching there now is a full circle moment. I bring the strategic side of my background into the room, and I love watching students realise their abilities are far more practical than they imagined.
You now combine psychic insight, energy healing, Reiki and business strategy. How do these different disciplines work together, and what makes your approach distinctive?
There is no fixed order. In every session I tune in and sense what needs to come first. Sometimes it is the business strategy, sometimes it is psychic insight, sometimes Reiki or energy work, and the session follows that. It is intuitive by design. Together these disciplines form the Trust the Signal™ Method, one process rather than four separate appointments.
Strategy gives structure. Intuition gives direction. The energy work clears whatever is blocking movement and regulates the nervous system, so the decision you make comes from clarity rather than pressure. Clients often tell me it feels like having several people in the room at once: a business strategist, a coach, an energy practitioner and an intuitive mirror.
What makes it distinctive is that I have lived both sides. Most spiritual work stops at insight. Mine continues into what you actually do next, in real meetings, real decisions and real income.
You’ve worked with more than 1,000 clients across over 20 countries, including CEOs, senior leaders and entrepreneurs. What are people most often looking for when they come to you?
Most people arrive at a crossroads. They are successful by every external measure and privately ready for something more honest. Some are facing a major decision: a new role, an exit, a launch, a relationship. Others simply feel that the life they built no longer fits the person they are becoming.
What they are really looking for is clarity they can trust. They have had plenty of advice. What they want is their own answer, and the confidence to act on it. More often than not, they leave realising the answer was already theirs.
For someone who has never visited a psychic medium or intuitive coach, what can they expect from a session with you?
Something far more grounded than they might expect. The work starts with an initiation, a single session designed to surface what is really happening beneath the question you bring. We tune in together, I share what comes through, and then we translate it into practical next steps.
There is no performance and no theatre. It is a conversation, held with care and confidentiality, and you stay in charge the whole time. Sessions take place in East Village or online, and anyone who is curious can start with a complimentary consultation to see whether it feels right.
Do you believe everyone has intuitive abilities? How can we learn to recognise and trust our own intuition in everyday life?
Absolutely. Everyone has intuition. Most of us were simply trained to override it. The good news is that it can be retrained.
Start with your body, because that is where the signal usually lands first: a sense of expansion or contraction, a lightness or a heaviness. Notice your first impression before your mind starts arguing with it. Tune in with a simple question before a decision and see what comes back. And keep a note of the times your gut was right. The more evidence you collect, the more you will trust it.
How does your previous experience in the corporate world influence the way you work with clients today?
Enormously. I understand the pressure my clients are under because I have worked inside it. I know what a board meeting feels like, what is at stake in a restructure, and how lonely leadership can be.
That background keeps my work grounded. Every insight has to translate into something usable, otherwise it stays a nice idea. It also means I respect discretion. Many of my clients are senior people who would never speak publicly about working with an intuitive, and I hold that with great care.
Your first book, Trust the Signal, is published in November. What inspired you to write it, and what do you hope readers will take away from it?
I wrote it for the professional whose intuition was always right, even when the world around them said otherwise. I kept meeting brilliant people who had succeeded on paper but felt quietly disconnected from themselves, and I wanted to give them a practical path back.
Most spiritual books end where this one begins, with the question of what to actually do next. I hope readers close it knowing that intuition is a trainable skill, that their signal has been speaking all along, and that they have permission to follow it. The book is published by TWH Press, and we are launching it at the College of Psychic Studies on 25 November.
What does ‘trust the signal’ mean to you, and how can we distinguish intuition from fear, self doubt or wishful thinking?
For me the signal is the quiet intelligence that already knows the way. Trusting it means letting it lead, and letting the mind do what it does best: plan and execute.
The difference is in the tone. Intuition is calm, neutral and often very brief. It does not argue, it simply knows, and it tends to repeat itself. Fear is loud, urgent and contracting, and it usually tells you a story about everything that could go wrong. Self doubt asks you to prove yourself. Wishful thinking is attached to a particular outcome and feels a little too exciting. When the message is quiet, persistent and makes you feel steadier rather than anxious, that is usually your signal.
Your method brings together spirituality, energy work, coaching and practical business strategy. How can these approaches help people make better decisions in their personal and professional lives?
Most bad decisions are made from a dysregulated place: exhausted, rushed, or trying to please someone else. The energy work brings the nervous system back to calm, the intuitive work reveals what you truly want, the coaching helps you understand what has been in the way, and the strategy turns all of that into a plan.
When those pieces line up, decisions stop feeling like a gamble. You can explain them logically and you also feel them in your body. That is when people move with real confidence, in their careers, their businesses and their relationships.
What would you say to someone who feels stuck at a crossroads in life but is struggling to work out which direction to take?
Stop trying to force the answer. Clarity rarely comes when we are panicking. First, calm your system: walk, breathe, rest. Then tune in with one simple question and notice which option makes you feel more like yourself.
You do not need to see the whole path. You only need the next honest step. And being at a crossroads is not a sign that something has gone wrong. Very often it is the signal that you are ready for more.
‘Spirit is accessible to all of us. We are spiritual beings, because we each have a spirit as well as a body’
You’re based in East Village, Stratford. What brought you to East London, and what do you love most about living here?
I moved to London from Paris in 2011, and East Village has been my home for four years now. What I love most is the balance. I have green space and water on my doorstep, a real community feeling, wonderful independent businesses, and yet I am minutes from the rest of the city. It is a calm place to live, and a very creative place to work.
How has Stratford changed over the years, and what do you think makes East London such an interesting place to live and work?
Stratford has transformed since the 2012 Games. The Olympic Park has become a living neighbourhood, and with the East Bank cultural quarter growing around it, the area now draws artists, students, tech founders and families as well as visitors.
What makes East London so interesting is its energy. It has always been a place of reinvention, home to people who build something from nothing. That spirit of possibility is exactly what I work with every day, so it feels like the right place for me to be.
Where are your favourite spots in East London to eat and drink?
I always send friends to Signorelli, which has become a real heart of the community in East Village. For coffee and something freshly baked, it’s always Signorelli or Gail’s. Being Parisian, I am very particular about coffee and pastries, so that says a lot!
I love Ginger and Mint for fresh juices and healthy lunches, and I am a regular at Bobo and Wild overlooking Victoria Park, where you can have brunch all day.
For something special, I love the bar at The Stratford hotel, a beautiful place to meet a friend with a view over the city. And no visit is complete without an artisan gelato from La Gelatiera.
Are there any hidden gems, independent businesses or lesser known places in the area that you think deserve more attention?
The V&A East Storehouse in the park is extraordinary. You can wander through the collection behind the scenes, and it is a real source of inspiration. Closer to home, East Village is full of independents that deserve more love: the local refill shop, Wa Na Hong, the Asian supermarket where I find ingredients I cannot get anywhere else, and La Gelatiera for gelato made with natural flavours. I always encourage people to look beyond Westfield, because the independents are what give East Village its soul.
Where do you go in East London when you want to switch off, recharge or find inspiration?
The park, the wetlands and the canal. Walking among the trees and by the water clears my head like nothing else, and very often that is where my best ideas and clearest signals arrive.
What are you most excited about in your work at the moment, and what’s next for you following the launch of Trust the Signal?
The launch itself. On 25 November we celebrate Trust the Signal at the College of Psychic Studies, the place where so much of my own journey with spirit began, and I cannot wait to share it with readers in person.
After that, I am writing my second book, on the dangers of spirituality. Spirit has guided every step of my life and my work, and precisely because I love this path, I want to speak honestly about its shadow side. Over the years I have walked through many traditions, from Catholicism to Zen and Buddhism, and I have seen how spirituality can be used to bypass pain rather than heal it, to hand our power to a guru or a system, or to justify control and manipulation in the name of light.
Spirit is accessible to all of us. We are spiritual beings, because we each have a spirit as well as a body. And it is healthy to be sceptical. I always encourage people to question, to experience it for themselves and to make up their own mind, rather than believe anything blindly. That is exactly what the next book is about: helping people walk a spiritual path with discernment, stay grounded and keep their power, so that their practice truly serves them.
For anyone who is curious, I offer a complimentary consultation. It’s a chance to feel the energy between us, see whether we are aligned, and sense whether the work resonates with you.
Finally, what advice would you give someone who wants to reconnect with themselves, trust their instincts and create a life that feels more aligned with who they really are?
Start small and start today. Every day, tune in with one question and act on the answer in one small way. Trust is built through evidence, and every time you follow your signal and it proves right, the connection grows stronger.
Surround yourself with people and places that regulate rather than drain you. And remember that you do not have to follow a path that does not resonate with you. Your signal has been speaking to you all along. The only question is whether you are ready to listen.
Book: Trust the Signal by Aude Firmin, published by TWH Press in November 2026, £14.99.
Launch event: College of Psychic Studies, 25 November 2026, 7pm to 8.30pm, free to attend. Book here
Sessions: in East Village, Stratford E20 or online. Readers can book a complimentary consultation at audefirmin.com
Podcast: The Aude Firmin Podcast
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