A passion for parenting
Who we are
Parenting with Purpose was launched in 2017 while Sue was attending the Distinguished Careers Institute at Stanford University. On her return to the UK, Sue was joined by Raphaëlle and they now offer team-taught on-line classes to parents in the United States, South Africa, Europe and the United Kingdom.
Sue
Sue Kumleben has been a parent coach for over 20 years helping thousands of parents. She has lectured at schools on three continents, worked with corporations in the UK and US, and mentored many private clients.
Born in Buffalo, NY, Sue and her South African husband moved to the UK in 1992 where they raised three children. Sue began her previous career as a lawyer with a Wall Street law firm, then as Associate General Counsel for Remy Martin. She graduated from Williams College (BA History), and holds a JD from the University of Virginia Law School and a BSc in Voluntary Sector Organisation from the London School of Economics. Sue more recently studied at Stanford University in their Distinguished Careers Institute, where she also taught parenting classes to Stanford students and staff. One father commented that her class was “way more impactful than most of my classes here at Stanford”.
Sue’s clients describe her as a “modern day Mary Poppins”, and a “parenting Ninja”.
Raphaëlle
Raphaëlle graduated from the Sorbonne with an MA in Entertainment Law and a BA in History of Art. She then spent 15 years in the art world, running her gallery BISCHOFF/WEISS and consulting for clients.
Raphaëlle has a passion for and deep knowledge of Somatic Practices and meditation and has recently graduated from Gabor Mate’s Compassionate Enquiry Course. She is a qualified yoga teacher and studied the history and philosophy of yoga and meditation at SOAS.
For over 15 years, Raphaëlle has been involved with parent coaching, and been co-teaching with Sue since 2020, bringing her extraordinary empathy and wisdom to Parenting with Purpose.
Raphaëlle also serves on the development board of Client Earth, an environmental NGO that uses law to defend the planet. Over the past 4 years, Raphaëlle and Sue have raised well over a quarter of a million rand for a family-centred charity in South Africa and raised funds for ClientEarth.