The Turn Collective
Our Specialist Network is Led By
Jessica Claire
Founder & Creative Lead, TURN
Jessica has 25 years’ experience across coaching, leadership and people development, working with people at every level — including C-suite and senior leadership — across corporate, defence, public sector, medical and educational environments. Her approach is instinctive, curious and highly responsive, focusing on the human dynamics that shape performance — the small shifts in wording, inflection, presence and behaviour that can change the direction of a conversation.
Alongside this, Jessica has built a 20+ year professional career across television, film, theatre and the West End. RADA-trained, her work has extended extensively into voice — across radio, plays, commercials, documentary and video games — developing a finely tuned instinct for language, tone, storytelling, presence and how we land with an audience.
As a coach, facilitator, writer, performer and practitioner, Jessica brings that breadth of experience into real-world business. Combining rigorous observation with experimentation, she draws on the discipline of professional performance to design experiential learning, behavioural rehearsal, role play and scenarios that challenge people to test, adapt, shift perspective and turn insight into action.
Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
Rachel Howells
Co-Founder & Learning Lead, TURN
Rachel has more than 25 years’ experience across leadership facilitation, executive coaching and people development, working globally with multinational organisations across regions and cultures. Her work centres on human behaviour and communication — helping people build confidence, uncover blind spots, strengthen presence and impact, and practise the conversations that matter.
A professional actor as well as an experienced coach and facilitator, Rachel brings a deep understanding of human behaviour into highly participative learning. Her work combines psychologically safe facilitation, behavioural rehearsal, structured feedback and reflection, creating the conditions for people to experiment, adapt and develop.
At the heart of her approach is experiential learning: moving beyond insight into what people actually do differently afterwards. She designs and delivers leadership, communication and behavioural development that is practical, challenging and grounded in the realities of working with people.
Trained at Birmingham School of Speech and Drama.
Lisa Payne
International Lead, TURN
Lisa brings further depth to TURN’s work: exploring what happens to communication when the pressure is on.
With 25+ years working across the UK, Europe and Australia, her world is human behaviour — conflict, courageous conversations, emotional intelligence and the moments that don’t always go to script.
For 20 years, Lisa ran her own theatre company, building teams, turning different voices into shared direction and creating work from the ground up.
Her career has moved between boardrooms, rehearsal rooms, education, health and community settings, including extensive work within dementia and aged-care communities.
There, words and familiar cues can’t always be relied upon. You listen differently. Notice more. Read what isn’t being said.
An accomplished actor, facilitator and theatre-maker, Lisa brings that instinct into behavioural simulation and real-world scenarios, creating spaces with enough trust to experiment and enough challenge to make it count.
Based between London and Sydney, she strengthens TURN’s international reach.
Trained at The Drama Studio, London.