The Core Team
She is a registered Occupational Therapist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa and practiced for 15 years with children with learning problems before taking the concept to adult learning and development. She is the author of the book “Sensory Intelligence: Why It Matters More Than IQ and EQ”, published by Metz Press, in 2007. Annemarie holds a PhD in Health Sciences (Occupational Therapy), obtained through the University of Cape Town. Her study compared sensory assesss with performance of call centre agents in 4 different call centres in South Africa. She has been published widely across newspaper and magazine print media, has been a guest on various radio programmes and featured on South African television. She is a regular and popular conference speaker.
Annemarie works with a group of expert individuals and affiliates to deliver sensory intelligence® principles across corporate, call centre and education industries. Their services and products include extensive on-line sensory assessment, consulting and workshops for leaders, work teams, contact centre teams, parents, teachers, coaches and wellness practitioners. They also provide sensory audits to assist organisations in optimising space and performance. Sensory intelligence® is fully rooted in neuroscience and brain development and they unpack these complex sciences in a no-nonsense, practical and easy to understand format. Annemarie is truly passionate about people and believes in keeping things simple, being solution focused and practical.
Sensory Intelligence® Consulting won the BPeSA “Best Non-Technical Innovation – External Award” for 2010 for their Senses-on-Call e-assessment tool. BPeSA is a Contact Centre industry organisation. Annemarie won the SACBW Business Woman of the Year Award in the professional category for Cape Town, 2008/9. Sensory Intelligence® Consulting is a registered closed corporation and is BBEEE compliant.
Annemarie is married to Eugene and they have two sons, Lukas and Henrick.
Marieta has a special interest in combining neurology, sensory regulation and human behaviour in the modern world, thereby facilitating self-awareness and improved quality of life for her clients. Due to the increase of stressors in people’s everyday lives, she enjoys guiding people towards better understanding of their own sensory matrix scores and as a result, improving their coping skills for work, relationships, well-being and “ordinary life”. She has been managing a clinical practice successfully for the past 20 years, dealing with a variety of clients. By applying tools, strategies and principles, together they have achieved their individualised goals and as a result, improved their lives in a sustainable manner. She lives in George with her husband and enjoys the outdoors and an occasional round of golf.
On completing her degree at the University of Cape Town (many many years ago!), she traveled to Europe and started her professional career freelancing as an IT developer. Contracts in the Netherlands led to further career developments, working on projects for large multinationals, which led to a permanent position with a large international chemical corporation. Over a period of almost 18 years she had a varied and extensive IT career, moving through project management roles to executive management. Driven by a desire to return to Africa she accepted the role of IT Director for an international BPO based in Cape Town. A role she fulfilled for 5 years, before taking on the position of General Manager for the Cape Town BPO centre, managing a 550 head office servicing numerous international businesses. Fiona is not averse to change or challenges and has experienced first hand the craziness of today’s world, her drive is to see Sensory Intelligence becoming a “house hold term”. So much of our lives is taken up by work and situations we don’t always want to be in, everyone should at least be given the chance to understand and choose the environment best suited to them.
Listen to Fiona Meijer
Her love for travel resulted in a career change, and she now has 15 years of hospitality and tourism experience and has worked in many different work environments. During COVID-19, Olivia’s career path took a turn, resulting in her reaching to the roots of her previous interests and she joined the Sensory Intelligence® Consulting team.
Discover which self-regulation strategies we use to ensure our own happy, healthy, productive lives
Dr Annemarie Lombard
Marieta du Toit
Sensory snacks:
Drink water from a spout bottle, eat salty/spicy snacks, get up – get out – move, deep breathing
Sensory diets:
Go for walks (not too far…), camping (out-of-season / secluded spots), golf, spending silent time by the ocean while listening to the waves crashing on the rocks, make photo books from digital photos.
Sensory ergonomics:
Mostly monotone decor in my house, wear sunglasses outdoors, need silence to focus, comfy clothes on difficult days, shop off-peak hours, desk against back wall with door in my visual field – no surprises
Habits and quirks:
I’m a nervous flyer: Sudoku, crosswords and a glass of wine help calm my nerves
Fiona Meijer
Sensory snacks:
Nuts, fruit, coffee
Sensory diets:
Golf, gym, a good massage, walking in mountains or on the beach and listening to my audible books
Sensory ergonomics:
No alerts/notifications on my cell phone and laptop.
Setting the ground rules for “my time”.
Habits and quirks:
Wanting to scratch out as much as possible on my World Scratch Map i.e. an insatiable travel bug
Olivia Gradidge
Sensory snacks:
Dried Fruits, Biscuits, Tea & Coffee
Sensory diets:
Walking around the garden or on the beach, organizing/tidying something, reading, baking, sewing
Sensory ergonomics:
Enjoys visually interesting items (textures & bright colours), needs some noise/sounds in order to concentrate, prefers fresh air by means of an open door/window, struggles with mess and disorganized spaces
Habits and quirks:
I am always looking at ways to change my home i.e. re-organize/move furniture around.
My fingers and hands need to stay busy, so you’ll find me playing with my hair if my body is not busy.
Licensed Users / Associates
Our vision
We want to help you be healthy, happy and productive through the 7 senses.
Our mission
In a world of constant chaos, overload, stress, and change we go back to basics and create life-changing aha moments of self-insight and self-awareness for people who want to manage themselves better.
Through the use of revolutionary, innovative, yet simple frameworks of sensory assessment, workshops, and coaching, our clients will identify their unique 7 sense barcode for improved wellness, relationships, and productivity.
Our work is embedded in research and neuroscience, tried and tested, and provides tangible personal- and business results for sustained growth and success. We fully endorse and promote innovation for a new world of work as we serve individuals, groups and organizations who are innovative, out of the box thinkers searching for a calmer, healthier and more productive environment. Our client base is those who truly believe and invest in the power of human behavior and people’s development.
We are a niche group of passionate healthcare professional experts based in virtual-, home- and flexible workspaces. We handpick our team, suppliers, and networks to align with our solution- and action-orientated culture. We have an unquestioned reputation with a no-fuss approach in designing, delivering and monitoring learning and development journeys for our clients. We are registered with various industry bodies and our training material is accredited for professional development purposes.
Our values
Simplicity
Innovation
(Com)Passion
Our business culture
We keep things simple, our solutions are easy and practical, firstly for our clients but also for the business – life is complex enough.
We believe in challenging the status quo and are on a constant quest to make life easier – we solve old problems in new ways.
We support humanity, we value people and believe that positive work environments bring out the best in people.
We are action-orientated, committed to deliver excellent service and strive to go the extra mile – poor service should never be tolerated.
We are passionate, self-managed, motivated and driven to be the best version of ourselves – we are never mediocre.
We strive to be honest, real, ethical and transparent in everything we do – we rebel against hypocrisy.
We believe in learning and growing – we never know it all. We take accountability for our mistakes and learn from them.
We strive for clear and supportive communication with our clients, team members, and service providers – we support active engagement and collaboration.