I partner with business owners, leaders, and individuals in life transitions - creating a safe space to explore the inner world and strengthen key relationships, so that sustainable change can take root.
Helping people to get the most out of their lives is not a job, but a vocation for me. I am fascinated by how complex humans are and how we relate to each other.
Through coaching, I help my clients discover what feels right for them. By developing trusting relationships and holding a safe space, I support them in exploring their inner world, while also paying attention to the wider systems they are part of, and the relationships that matter most.
Clients often tell me that they value the balance I bring between empathy and challenge - compassion and perceptiveness on one hand, and gentle challenge with persistent inquiry on the other. From that safety and balance, they find the inspiration and courage to experiment with new ways of leading and living, strengthen key relationships, and often uncover fresh insights about themselves.
As one client put it: “Maria has a rare skill in helping people explore the unspoken doubts and challenges that most of us carry. Talking about what usually stays unsaid is often the first step to sustainable change.”
Challenges You Might Be Grappling With
These are some of the challenges my clients bring, and ones we can address together through coaching:
Navigating pivotal transitions - whether it’s stepping into senior roles, leaving corporate life, starting something new, adapting across cultures, preparing for retirement, or facing the personal changes that come with different stages of life.
Gaining clarity about who you are, what you want out of life, and the values that guide your choices.
Exploring your relationship with yourself and others, strengthening confidence, trust, and collaboration.
Recognising and shifting patterns that may hold you back, opening space for resilience, creativity, and growth.
Deepening your ability to respond to uncertainty and pressure while remaining grounded and effective.
Enhancing your leadership and influence - building presence, expanding your repertoire of styles, and fostering stronger relationships at work and beyond.
My coaching is both holistic and systemic: we work with the whole person, not just the professional role, as well as the wider context you operate in. Real progress happens when we attend to both the external choices you face and the inner landscape that shapes how you show up, relate, and navigate complexity.
My Background
I bring over 25 years of experience spanning finance, human resources, leadership development and coaching. I began my career with PwC as an auditor and later moved into senior finance roles before following my passion for people development. At PwC I led Talent Management and Executive Development for the Assurance practice across Central & Eastern Europe, supporting partners and senior leaders through key career milestones.
I then served as Vice President of Human Capital on the executive board of Renaissance Insurance Group, before co-founding a boutique coaching and consulting practice.
I’ve been working as a coach since 2005, and as a supervisor for other coaches since 2015.
My practice is based in London and the Cotswolds, with clients across the UK and internationally.
Professional Qualifications:
MSc Organisational Change, Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School
Post Graduate Certificate in Advanced Coaching and Organisation Development Supervision, Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School
EMCC Global Individual Supervision Accreditation (ESIA)
EMCC Senior Practitioner (EIA)
Ashridge Accredited Executive Coach
Traumatic Stress Studies Certificate Program, Trauma Research Foundation
MA Economics, Lomonosov Moscow State University
Working Together & Investment in Coaching
We start with a free chemistry call to see whether we are the right fit for each other. Based on my long experience, you’ll need to be willing to commit to a minimum of six coaching sessions in order to make real progress.
The investment in coaching varies depending on a few factors: whether you are self-funding or sponsored by your organisation, the size and context of your business, and the number of sessions you wish to commit to. I would be happy to provide details once we’ve had an initial conversation.
We can work face to face or virtually. I bring presence, experience, and the skill to combine perceptiveness with gentle challenge. You bring curiosity, motivation, and commitment. Together, our results will be amazing!
Discover my coaching services
Find out more about supervision for coaches
Alongside my coaching work, I have written a number of articles on leadership - several published, others shared directly with my clients and wider network - exploring themes such as self-doubt, rediscovering identity, and the inner challenges that shape how we live and work.
Deckchair leader: Rediscovering identity in the silence of transition
Befriending the imposter
Feedback culture: from feeding self-doubt to encouraging self-trust
Permission to challenge: learning from our mistakes
Ready to start a conversation?
Get in touch
Testimonials
“Each session was very thought provoking and fruitful, and the final outcome was far beyond my expectations. Maria opened me up to an honest conversation with myself and guided me on the path of self-discovery. She very elegantly helped me to find the way to improve my performance and job satisfaction. Maria is a genuine and compassionate person, which really helped me to feel comfortable discussing situations, which I would otherwise have not been able to openly talk about.”
“Working with Maria helped me a lot with finding a happier balance and improving relationships both at work and in my private life. She was always incredibly understanding, friendly and supportive; she was somehow able to identify the main issue straight away ask the right questions and suggest new attitudes and behaviours. I am sincerely grateful for Maria’s patience, objective assessment of the problems that needed addressing and wise guidance. I would highly recommend Maria as a coach to anyone!”
“Maria helped me to understand how my influencing style and behaviour are perceived by other people in the organisation. As a result I believe that I can now use a broader range of leadership styles and can be more effective both in interactions with my team and my colleagues in other departments.
Moreover, Maria has been supervising the work of our internal pool of coaches as a part of implementing coaching culture in our company. The whole team has the highest degree of trust and respect for her.”
“I found the coaching supervision process that I underwent with Maria very effective. She held the space for me to explore my issues with both my clients and my coaching strategies myself, and challenged and gave insightful and thought-provoking input in a very constructive and empathetic manner. Maria’s incisive contributions helped me to stay focused on my coaching supervision objectives and at the same time gave me the space to explore deeply and creativity. Additionally she brought in perspectives I did not surface myself, which were extremely useful. I appreciated the quality of her presence, which apart from anything else was both perceptive and non-intrusive. I really benefited from her firm, fair and friendly persistence with inquiry lines.”
“Maria worked with me at Veon in 2017 as an external consultant. She mediated between the global shared services programme team and the Russian operating company with the aim of helping the two sides reach agreement on the expansion of the shared services operation. She played an invaluable role in enabling myself and the Group Operations Director for Global Operations to better understand the needs, concerns, motives and cultural sensitivities of the Russian players and find ways to address these. I was particularly impressed by the depth of Maria’s understanding of the political climate in the Russian operation, her empathy for both sides, and the trust she built with the Russian team as well as our own. She showed integrity in her interactions and discretion in what she revealed to either side. In addition, she developed a very clear plan of action for the programme team in terms of what needed to be addressed in order to move the project forward in Russia. I would have no hesitation in engaging Maria’s expertise again, across a broad spectrum of consulting challenges.”
“Maria is an amazing person and a wonderful coach. I ask Maria for help when I truly cannot cope myself with a business situation. During our 1st course of coaching she helped me to prepare for expatriation. Thanks to my work with Maria, my move to France went very smoothly; I successfully integrated into the new business. My second course of coaching with Maria focused on career planning. Maria helped me to holistically look at the situation; I managed to get away from the pressure of “now or never”. One year later I was promoted to the job of my dreams! ”