MEET BANU 

PCC Credentialed Coach
NLP Practitioner
Next-Gen Career Champion

I’m Banu, founder of Ascend.

After two decades leading global HR teams and over 15 years coaching professionals across tech giants and fast-moving startups, I built Ascend to work with the next wave of talent—people who are already capable, but not yet fully seen in the way they should be.

Ascend didn’t start as a business idea. It came from years of sitting on both sides of the table—watching how talent is evaluated, promoted, overlooked, and often misunderstood. This work is personal—but it’s also precise.

Because I’ve seen a consistent pattern:
high-performing professionals who are doing everything “right”… yet still feel misaligned, under-recognized, or quietly stuck.

Feeling stuck? Wondering if this is it? Wishing someone actually understood what you’re carrying in your career?  I understand that space well.

I’ve had to find my voice in environments that didn’t naturally amplify it, navigate expectations across cultures and systems, and redefine what success looks like on my own terms. I know what it feels like to question your value—and I also know what changes when that clarity comes back online.

Now, I work with rising professionals to surface what’s not landing, strengthen how they show up, and help them move forward with clarity, confidence, and direction that actually fits who they are—not just what they’ve been told to be.