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Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10 August 2026

Privacy at a glance

I collect only the information reasonably needed to respond to you, provide my services and operate my business. I do not sell your personal information. You can ask about your information, exercise your data-protection rights, change your marketing or cookie choices, or make a complaint by emailing hello@suzannesemedo.com. The sections below provide the full details.

1. About this Privacy Policy

I am Suzanne Semedo, a UK-based sole trader providing coaching, consultancy and advisory services, and speaking and workshop services.

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I respect your privacy and handle personal information, meaning personal data, responsibly, securely and transparently. This Privacy Policy explains how I collect, use, store and protect personal information when you visit my website, contact me, enquire about my services, or work with me. It is intended to comply with UK data-protection law, including the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and, where applicable, PECR, as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

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For the purposes of UK data-protection law, I am generally the data controller for the personal information I hold about you.

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If you have any questions about this policy or how your information is handled, please contact me at:

hello@suzannesemedo.com

2. Information I may collect

Depending on how you interact with me, I may collect:

  • your name and contact details, including email address and telephone number;

  • information you provide when enquiring about, booking or purchasing a service;

  • professional and background information relevant to coaching, consultancy, speaking or workshop services, which may include your LinkedIn profile, CV or publicly available company information;

  • information about your goals, objectives, requirements, appointments, attendance, payments and invoices;

  • correspondence and communications between us;

  • feedback, testimonials and information you voluntarily provide about your experience of my services; and

  • information necessary for the administration, security and operation of my website and business.

 

I do not routinely seek special-category personal data (for example, information about health, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation or political opinions). If you choose to share such information during coaching or consultancy, I will treat it with particular care. I will use it only where I have both a lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR and a separate condition under Article 9. Where I rely on explicit consent, I will ask for it separately and you may withdraw it at any time.

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You are not legally required to provide personal information to me. However, your name, contact details and information reasonably needed to understand, arrange and deliver a requested service may be necessary to take steps towards or perform a contract. If you do not provide this information, I may be unable to respond fully to your enquiry, accept a booking or provide the relevant service.

3. How I collect information

I may receive information:

  • directly from you through my website, email, telephone, booking system or other communications;

  • when you book or purchase a service;

  • during coaching, consultancy or other professional engagements;

  • through referrals or introductions from organisations or individuals;

  • from an organisation arranging or funding an engagement, normally limited to information such as your name and contact details; and

  • from publicly available professional sources, such as LinkedIn or company websites, where appropriate.

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Where an organisation introduces you to me for coaching, I will normally invite you to make direct contact with me so that the professional relationship is established with you. If I obtain your personal information from another source, I will provide relevant privacy information within a reasonable period and, at the latest, when I first communicate with you, unless an exception under data-protection law applies.

4. How I use your information

I use personal information where necessary to:

  • respond to enquiries and requests;

  • arrange and deliver coaching, consultancy, advisory, speaking and workshop services;

  • understand your needs, goals and requirements;

  • manage appointments, communications, payments, invoices and business records;

  • maintain appropriate professional records and improve my services;

  • send newsletters or other marketing communications where you have chosen to receive them;

  • manage the security and operation of my website and business;

  • comply with legal, regulatory, accounting or other obligations; and

  • establish, exercise or defend legal rights where necessary.

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I do not sell, rent or trade your personal information.

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I do not use your personal information for solely automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects. My business is human-centred and human-led; technology is used principally to support administration and service delivery.

5. Lawful bases for using information

Depending on the circumstances, I rely on one or more of the following lawful bases under applicable data-protection law:

  • Contract: where processing is necessary to provide services you have requested or to take steps towards entering into an agreement;

  • Legitimate interests: where processing is reasonably necessary to operate and develop my business, communicate with clients and prospective clients, maintain records or protect my business, provided those interests do not override your rights;

  • Legal obligation: where I need to process information to comply with a legal or regulatory requirement; and

  • Consent: where consent is the appropriate basis, including certain marketing activities, testimonials or non-essential cookies.

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Where I rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

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In practice, I generally use contract or pre-contractual steps for enquiries, bookings and service delivery; legitimate interests for proportionate business administration, service improvement, security and professional communication; legal obligation for tax, accounting and regulatory requirements; consent for testimonials, certain marketing and technologies that require consent; and vital interests only in a genuine emergency. I assess and document the basis relevant to each processing activity.

6. Coaching confidentiality and organisational referrals

Confidentiality and trust are fundamental to coaching. Information shared during coaching will normally be treated as confidential and will not be shared with an employer, commissioning organisation or other third party without your permission, unless disclosure is required or permitted by law, is necessary to protect someone's vital interests, or is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. Where reasonably possible, I will discuss a proposed disclosure with you before it is made.

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The detailed confidentiality arrangements for a particular coaching or consultancy engagement will be set out in the relevant coaching or consultancy agreement. Where an organisation commissions coaching, the applicable agreement will take precedence in defining the specific confidentiality arrangements for that engagement.

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Where an organisation refers, introduces or commissions someone for coaching, it may provide basic information such as their name and contact details. I will not routinely disclose the content of a person's coaching conversations to that organisation unless agreed in the relevant contract and explained to the individual where appropriate.

7. Testimonials, feedback and photographs

I value feedback because it helps me improve my services. I will obtain your specific consent before using your name, image or other information that identifies you in a testimonial, case study or promotional material. You may withdraw consent at any time. I will then stop future use and remove online material under my control as soon as reasonably practicable. Withdrawal cannot require the recall of printed or other material already distributed.

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Where genuinely anonymised information is used to illustrate or improve my services, I will take reasonable steps to ensure that you are not identifiable by me or by anyone else using means reasonably likely to be available.

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Where photographs, video or other recordings from workshops or events may be used for publicity, I will obtain appropriate consent beforehand. Coaching, consultancy or other sessions are not routinely recorded; if recording is proposed, this will be discussed and agreed in advance.

8. Marketing

You may choose to subscribe to my mailing list or newsletter.

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I will send electronic marketing communications only where I have your consent or where another route permitted by PECR, such as the 'soft opt-in', applies. You can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe facility provided or by contacting me directly; I may retain a minimal suppression record to ensure that your preference is respected.

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I do not sell or share mailing-list information for third-party marketing.

9. Service providers and third parties

I use selected third-party service providers to operate my business and provide services to you. The providers used may change, but may include the following where relevant to the services you use:

  • Wix – website hosting and related website services;

  • Calendly – appointment scheduling;

  • Stripe – payment processing;

  • Google Workspace – services including email, Google Drive storage and, where applicable, Google Meet;

  • Microsoft Teams – online meetings;

  • Zoom – online meetings;

  • email, accounting, professional-adviser and other business-support services; and

  • advertising or analytics services where these are enabled on the website.

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These providers may process personal information on my behalf or act as independent controllers under their own privacy policies. Where I appoint a third party as a processor, I will use an appropriate written contract and take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is handled in accordance with applicable data-protection requirements.

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Payment information is processed through the relevant payment provider. I do not need to retain your full payment-card details in order to provide my services.

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Some third-party providers may process information outside the UK. Where a restricted transfer occurs, I will ensure that a lawful transfer mechanism applies, such as UK adequacy regulations or appropriate safeguards including the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum, together with any required transfer risk assessment (also referred to as a data protection test). You may contact me for further information about the safeguard used.

10. How I store and protect information

I store business and client information digitally, including using Google Drive and other appropriate business systems.

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I take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

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No method of transmitting or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If I become aware of a personal-data breach, I will assess the incident and take appropriate action, including notifying the Information Commissioner's Office without undue delay and, where required, within 72 hours, and notifying affected individuals where the law requires it.

11. How long I keep information

I keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, accounting and professional requirements.

As a general approach:

  • Enquiries that do not result in an engagement: normally up to 18 months;

  • Client and coaching/consultancy records: normally retained for up to six years after the end of an engagement, unless a longer or shorter period is required or justified by legal, tax, professional or dispute-resolution requirements;

  • Financial and tax records: normally retained for at least the period required by HMRC and applicable accounting requirements; and

  • Marketing information: retained until you unsubscribe or it is otherwise no longer necessary.

 

Retention periods may be reviewed and adjusted where the circumstances or legal requirements change.

12. Cookies, website technologies and external links

My website is hosted on Wix and uses cookies and similar technologies that are necessary for the website to function securely and properly. It may also use analytics, advertising or other technologies where these are enabled. Where PECR requires consent, these technologies will be used only after you have consented.

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Technologies for which consent is required will not be set before you give valid consent. The cookie-management facility will provide clear information and make it as easy to reject those technologies as to accept them. You can change or withdraw your choices at any time through the cookie settings. Limited technologies may be used without consent where a PECR exception applies, including certain strictly necessary, statistical or appearance and functionality technologies. Where an exception requires it, I will provide clear information and a simple way to object. A separate cookie notice or cookie-management facility will provide more detail about the technologies used, their purposes, providers and duration.

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My website may contain links to LinkedIn, other social-media platforms and external websites. I am not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of external websites, so you should review their own privacy and cookie policies.

13. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you have rights under applicable data-protection law, including the right to:

  • ask for access to personal information I hold about you;

  • ask for inaccurate information to be corrected;

  • ask for information to be deleted where there is a legal basis for doing so;

  • ask for processing to be restricted in certain circumstances;

  • object to certain processing, including processing based on legitimate interests. You have an absolute right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing;

  • request portability of information where applicable; and

  • withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent.​

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These rights are subject to legal conditions and exceptions, so they do not apply in every circumstance.

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You can contact me if you want to exercise a right or ask a question about your information:

hello@suzannesemedo.com

 

I will normally respond to a valid request within one month. I may ask for information needed to confirm your identity and, where the law permits, may extend the response period by up to two further months for a complex request or a number of requests; if so, I will tell you within the first month.

14. Complaints

If you have concerns about how I have handled your personal information, you can make a data-protection complaint by emailing hello@suzannesemedo.com. Please explain the concern and provide any information that will help me investigate it. I will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and respond without undue delay. I may contact you if I need further information and will keep you informed about the progress and outcome.

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You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data-protection regulator. Information about making a complaint is available at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. The ICO recommends raising concerns with the organisation first and complaining to the ICO within three months of your last meaningful contact with the organisation.

15. Changes to this Privacy Policy

I may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to my services, technology, legal requirements or the way I process personal information.

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The latest version will be published on this website with the date of the most recent update.

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