Meet the Team

Katie Levitt
Katie was born in Birmingham and grew up in East Yorkshire.  She attended her first YES meeting in 2003 fresh from Tony Robbins’ UPW and was part of the volunteer team within 3 months! She took a break from the team at the end of 2005 and came back into the fold in August 2006.  When not busy with YES Group or her day job at a global accountancy firm, Katie’s favourite pastime is being Auntie to her young nephew and niece.

Katie is a trustee of the Birmingham YES Group Charity and holds the office of Treasurer.

Sara Hockenhull
Sara has been a member of Birmingham YES Group for over 6 years, and has acted as a key member of the Birmingham Basket Brigade organising committee each year during that time. Over the years she’s attended and crewed at numerous UPW events, danced on the main Excel stage in front of countless thousands of people (who ever thought that would happen?!) and had incredible life-changing experiences attending Tony Robbins Mastery University and many of the courses run by YES group speakers.

Sara is an independent Career Transition and Development Coach and Trainer.  She specialises in supporting and motivating people in all aspects of work performance, and those whose job roles are being made redundant, also keeping busy with her property investments, love of live comedy and music.

Sara is a trustee of the Birmingham YES Group charity and holds the office of Chair.

Luke Biddle
Luke joined the team in the summer of 2009 and brings bags of energy, enthusiasm and passion into the groups events. Luke looks after our speakers schedule, so if you wish to speak for Birmingham YES Group please contact Luke on luke@birminghamyesgroup.com.  Be sure to download and read our speaker guidelines first.

Luke recently became a trustee of the Birmingham YES Group charity and holds the office of Secretary.

Since joining Luke has experienced the joy of giving through his first Basket Brigade in 2009, an incredible experience that he urges everyone he meets to get involved with!

When not hunting for the next great speaker to inspire the YES group, Luke works as a Marketing Communications Manager, loves to communicate with people, and always has something to say!

Monica
Monica is the eternal happy soul, she brings warmth, hope and optimism to the UK from the shores of Down Under. She is an accomplished Thai Yoga Massage/Health Kinesiology practitioner and Life Coach, she has her own wonderful practice in Kings Heath.

She loves being apart of the inspirational/holistic community and often volunteers for the Tree of Life/YES group events. Her enthusiasm and zest for life inspires others to see the joy in their lives, helping them to lighten up and not take life so seriously.
In her other life she works full time for Sainbury’s Distribution Centre.

She discovered YES group early 2009 and hasn’t looked back, she met so many brilliant, kindred spirits and many of the great speakers/leaders have inspired her to live a life more on purpose and with intention. She a regular attendee and is an active part of the Birmingham YES Group Team.

Owen Bailey
Born in Birmingham and lived here all his life Owen has real passion and gratitude for his work as a Floating Support Worker for Vulnerable young people aged 16-25 and a NLP professional Life coach.

Owen has been attending Yes Group for a year and has been a member of the Birmingham yes group committee for 7 months, taking part in his first Basket Brigade last year which he describes as an absolutely fantastic day and he is looking forward to the next one.

Gareth Windsor
Gareth also became a member of the team in 2009, and takes care of our sister site, www.birminghambasketbrigade.org.uk as well as being responsible for our Facebook, Ning and Meetup sites.  Gareth can be reached at gareth@birminghamyesgroup.com

Rachel
(or Princess as she likes to be known) Has an abundances of energy, passion, fun and smiles so slotted very easily into the YES Group Team at the beginning of 2010!

Rachel has a successful career of 10 years in Corporate Sales in the Hospitality Industry however her true passion and what sets her alive is inspiring young people. In 2010 she became the UK CEO of the Youth Coaching Academy and shares the vision of creating a world where every young person has access to effective coaching and personal development.

Rachel’s role within the YES Group Team is Social Networker… And she loves to talk and have fun along the way! Love, Magic & Adventure x

Vinay Parmar

Vinay is an inspiring speaker, coach and consultant who specialises in helping businesses to develop the leadership capability required for the ‘new economy.’ He is passionate about helping businesses understand what can be achieved when people people are inspired, empowered and engaged in a meaningful purpose.

He’s highly experienced as leader, manager and consultant having worked with large bluechip organisations and successful brands such as Egg, O2, Prudential, RBS, and Audi.

Vinay has studied personal development and human achievement for over a decade and is qualified as a Master Practitioner and Certified Trainer of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), Sports Hypnotist, Performance Coach, and Certified Corporate Speaker.

In his personal life, Vinay knows a thing or two about facing the challenges of life and coming out intact on the other side. He lost his mother tragically on his wedding day, and also lost twin babies. He’s overcome financial struggles, and come back from  failed businesses, and yet he continues to provide inspiration and hope to others through his work.

Vinay was born in Harrow, Middlesex in the 70’s, after his father had moved from Kenya in the 60’s to create a better life for his family.

Even as a youngster, Vinay stood out as someone who didn’t just follow. He took part in the Arts when many of his peer group were heading down a traditional educational path to become doctors, dentists or lawyers.

In 1998, Vinay joined Egg, a new bank that was set to revolutionise the UK financial services industry. Its culture was refreshing and it was here that he first discovered the language of possibility and the whole notion of human potential that would eventually reshape his outlook on the world forever.

In July 2000, he married his wonderful wife Jem and tragically lost his mother to a lethal strain  of meningitis. With his world shattered, Vinay decided he would play out the rest of his life to the full and began to tread the pathway he does today.

In 2006, Vinay left the corporate world and decided to build OpenBlue to fulfil his passion for helping others unleash their potential.

Martin Astley

Martin is a highly successful entrepreneur and business man who over the last 25 years has built a string of successful profitable businesses where he has been using the teachings of the world’s leading personal development gurus to grow himself and his people.

He believes passionately that developing  a working culture where people are supported, valued and empowered to perform is key to long term business success.

As well as his wealth of practical business experience, Martin also holds qualifications as a Master Practitioner, a Certified NLP Trainer, a Hypnotherapist, Time Line™ Practitioner , and Certified Corporate Speaker.

Martin grew up in Blackburn, Lancashire where his parents owned a successful pre-fabricated building company. When he was ready to leave school, the expectation was that he would join the family business, but he had other ideas and the pattern of his life began.

He opted for a career in management. When his parents decided to sell their business in the 70’s, they asked Martin to get involved in their new building projects in Tenerife. Again, he had other ideas and a drive to be self-made.

At 20, Martin set up a successful milk distribution business which he sold a year later when he moved to Tenerife in 1984. Here too, he established a number of successful businesses  in car rental, property construction, web design and excursions companies that he built up and sold on. In 1994, he set up an estate agency company for commercial and private property, which is well established and highly successful.

He’s married to Liz and they have two wonderful children who are reaping the rewards of being exposed to such powerful tools for personal success.