We're a two-person leadership coaching firm. We collect very little, we don't sell any of it, and we've tried to write this so you can actually read it. If anything here is unclear, email hello@howorthfrancis.com and a person will answer.
Howorth Francis Associates, LLC ("HFA," "we," "us") is a leadership and productivity coaching practice founded by Charlotte Howorth and Rod Francis, organized in the State of New York. We operate the website at howorthfrancis.com (the "Site"). This policy explains what information we collect through the Site and in the course of our work with clients, what we do with it, and the choices you have.
We collect information in three ways: what you give us directly, what the site assistant records, and what our analytics tool observes about visits.
We do not collect payment card details through the Site. We do not collect what the law calls "sensitive" personal information — health, financial account, biometric, or precise location data — and we ask that you not share it through the site assistant.
The Site includes an automated assistant that helps you think through whether our work fits your situation and, if you choose, sends a summary to Charlotte and Rod. Before you use it, you're asked to agree to this policy; that agreement, with a timestamp and an anonymous session identifier, is stored in your browser and on our systems as a record of consent.
It is an automated tool, not a person. It tells you so when it opens. It is not a coach, a therapist, or a substitute for either, and nothing you type into it creates a client relationship with HFA.
What it records. The messages you type, the answers you select, and the summary ("map") it builds from them. If you give it your name or email so that Charlotte and Rod can follow up, it records those too.
Where it goes. The transcript and summary are sent to Charlotte and Rod by email and stored on our systems. Your messages are also processed by a third-party AI model provider so the assistant can respond. The provider we use may change over time; we choose providers whose business terms do not permit them to train their models on your messages or use them for anything other than generating responses for us. Ask us and we'll tell you which provider is in use.
Before you send anything. Treat the assistant like an email to a business you haven't met yet: fine for describing a leadership challenge, wrong for anything confidential, personal, or clinical.
We do not sell personal information. We do not share it for anyone else's advertising. We do not use it to build profiles of you or make automated decisions about you. We will not add you to a mailing list unless you ask to be on one.
Only the people and services we need to run the practice:
| Who | What they receive | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Vercel | Server logs, IP address | Hosts the Site |
| Google (Analytics) | Pseudonymous usage data, only with your consent | Aggregated site statistics |
| Google (Fonts) | IP address, browser details | Serves the typefaces on the Site |
| Calendly | Name, email, and anything you add when booking | Schedules conversations |
| Our email provider | Your messages and contact details | Email correspondence |
| The Table Group | Team assessment responses (clients only) | Administers the online Team Assessment |
| AI model provider | Site assistant messages | Generates assistant responses |
Each of these acts on our instructions and under its own privacy commitments. Beyond them, we share personal information only if the law requires it, to protect someone's safety, or — with your knowledge — as part of a sale or reorganization of the practice.
A cookie is a small file a website stores in your browser. We use two kinds, and we ask before setting the second.
Set without asking, because the Site doesn't work properly without them. They hold your cookie choice, your consent to use the site assistant, whether you've seen the assistant's introduction, where you've positioned it on screen, and — for the length of your visit — the conversation itself so it follows you from page to page. None of these identifies you, and none is shared with anyone.
With your consent, we use Google Analytics to see which pages are read, roughly where visitors come from, and how the Site performs. Google sets cookies to recognize a returning browser. We configure Analytics not to share data for Google's own advertising, and IP addresses are truncated. If you decline, or if your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, no analytics cookies are set and no data is sent to Google Analytics. You can change your choice at any time using the Cookie settings link in the footer.
We do not use advertising or social-media tracking cookies.
| Information | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Site assistant transcripts and summaries | While we're in conversation with you about working together and, if you become a client, for the length of the engagement. Deleted on request at any time. |
| Contact enquiries | As above. |
| Client records | For the engagement and one month afterwards, then deleted, unless your agreement says otherwise. |
| Consent records | For as long as the related transcript, plus the time needed to show consent was given. |
| Analytics data | 14 months, then deleted by Google automatically. |
| Server logs | Per Vercel's standard retention. |
We review what we're holding at least once a year and delete what we no longer have a reason to keep.
We take reasonable steps appropriate to a practice of our size and the kind of information we hold: encrypted connections to the Site, access limited to Charlotte and Rod, reputable providers with their own security programs, and no more collection than we need. No method of storage is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your information, we'll notify you as New York's SHIELD Act and other applicable law require.
Wherever you live, you can ask us to tell you what personal information we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or stop using it for a particular purpose. Email hello@howorthfrancis.com; we'll respond within 30 days and may ask you to confirm your identity first. We won't treat you differently for asking.
Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws, and visitors from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, have these rights in law, together with the right to complain to a supervisory authority. We honor them for everyone regardless.
You can decline analytics cookies at any time (footer, Cookie settings), and you can use the Site without the assistant. If you'd rather not use the assistant, email us instead.
Charlotte Howorth is a licensed clinical social worker in New York. The coaching, training, and keynote services HFA provides — and the site assistant — are not clinical or mental-health services, and no clinician–patient relationship or clinical confidentiality arises from them. Information you share with us in coaching is handled as described in this policy and your agreement, not under health-privacy rules. If you're looking for therapy, we'll say so and help you find it.
The Site and our services are for adults and organizations. We don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us information, email us and we'll delete it.
We're based in New York and our providers store information in the United States. If you visit from elsewhere, your information will be transferred here. For visitors from the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, our legal bases are your consent (analytics cookies, the site assistant), performance of a contract (client engagements), and our legitimate interest in running the practice and responding to enquiries. Where a provider is outside those regions, transfers rely on that provider's standard contractual clauses or an equivalent mechanism.
If we change this policy in a way that matters, we'll update the date at the top and, where we have your email and the change affects you, tell you directly. Continuing to use the Site after a change means you accept it.
Howorth Francis Associates, LLC
hello@howorthfrancis.com
