Lighting designer and life coach turn lockdown date into a new business launching in Derby

A former lighting designer and a life coach who started dating during the pandemic are turning their relationship into a bold new business to be launched at a glittering event in Melbourne this month.

Matt Clutterham and Jenny Jarvis came together on a socially distanced date during lockdown in November 2020.

Now they are joining forces in business with a new and unique venture that will give business founders and leaders the ability to make a more positive impact on the world as well as their profit margins.

Matt’s work as a lighting designer has seen him work on starry West End productions such as Starlight Express, light up a Stormzy gig on The Thames for EE, and create a hip lighting scheme for the GQ Man of the Year awards, not to mention several hundred brand and product launches.

Jenny is a neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) trained life coach helping clients design and live their best lives from her base in Melbourne. Her work has seen her transform clients’ relationships with people, business, money, families and themselves. She credits the lessons and tools she has learned through coaching in helping her get through big life changes and hurdles such as divorce, post-natal depression and neurodiverse parenting.

Now Matt and Jenny are launching a new venture: Q Branch Consulting, a brand and transformation consultancy.

The business combines Matt’s expertise as a lighting designer, whose critically acclaimed work focused on audience psychology, and who then became a brand and transformation strategist, with Jenny’s passion for helping to create bold leaders and cultures through personal and mindset development.

The couple, who believe their business proposition is unique in the UK, are holding a launch event at Amalfi White in Melbourne on February 28.

Jenny said: “Matt and I are very excited to be launching Q Branch Consulting and we couldn’t hope for a more beautiful setting to hold our opening event than the stunning ballroom at Amalfi White in Melbourne.

“Our own relationship started with a socially distanced date – a walk around Melbourne Pool – and now we aim to use our combined expertise spanning the fields of business, theatrical storytelling, global brand experience and personal development to help business leaders grow and transform powerful brands and powerful teams.

“We believe that it’s businesses, and more importantly the humans behind the businesses, that are the real changemakers in this world. History has shown us this over and over again and our mission is to empower the changemakers of now and the future with the tools, both practical and emotional, that will give their missions and businesses the most impact.”

Matt and Jenny’s company name draws inspiration from James Bond, with Q Branch famously the department responsible for empowering missions with the tools and resources needed for success. But ‘Q’ also stands for ‘questions’ - a particular love of the pair - and the thing that both cite as one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal.

On their first date, Jenny asked Matt a series of 40 questions such as: “What is the most impactful thing you have learned from therapy or a book?” and “What would your ideal relationship be?” In the spirit of fairness, Jenny undertook to answer all her own questions too!

Matt said: “Successful business is all about relationships – running a business is very much like dating in many ways, if you think about it. The goal of every brand should be to develop and nurture long term passionate relationships with all of its stakeholders.”

For Matt, brand strategy is a real passion. He has been trained and mentored by some of the leading names in the field and has honed his skills over 20 years of working with brands all over the world on their live experience and lighting.

“My life in lighting has really informed my work as a brand strategist, which has led on to launching Q Branch Consulting with Jenny,” he said.

“In lighting, whether it’s a classical play in London or the launch of a new product to the global press, our mission is the same: we must focus the audience’s attention right where we want it to be, we must tell a bold and compelling story that emotionally connects people to the narrative, we must then re-enforce all of this with a strategically designed experience that will leave a lasting legacy. These are all of the same tools and neuroscience that take bland and failing brands and cultures and make them magical.”

Jenny and Matt began their collaboration after realising that pursuing agile change and bold strategy is crucial for business, but inherently challenging for us as humans.

Matt said: “Jenny’s integration into my brand building and transformation projects was a game changer. Her work in values and decision-making has been pivotal in aligning our clients' strategies with their core beliefs.

“During one workshop, I posed a challenging question to the team - I do that! The responses seemed accurate, yet something was amiss.

“Jenny, with her acute observational skills, paused the session, pointing out the incongruence between the team's words and their body language.

“This keen insight led us to delve deeper, eventually uncovering the team's genuine beliefs, which are the bedrock of any sustainable strategy.

“Jenny's impact extends beyond her professional prowess. Her capacity to listen, her generosity, warmth, and her humour - which she humbly underestimates - make every session with her not only enlightening but also deeply human and relatable.

“Our partnership ensures that strategies are not just plans on paper but confident, aligned beliefs that breathe life into every action and decision.”

With its main office in Pride Park, Derby, and a second location in central London Q Branch is set to help leaders and founders to not just aim for bold transformation and growth but to have the confidence and tools to live it, both in their businesses and personal lives.