My name is Maria and I'm the founder of MA Coaching. For as long as I can remember, I've been drawn to understanding what actually drives people - why we do what we do, where our patterns come from, and what it takes to finally live and lead from something other than old survival strategies.

As a child I was dreaming of becoming a psychologist and i remember watching Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting in the 90s and thinking “That's what I want to do, I want to help people”. But it became more real when I met my first holistic therapist, Vivienne, in my late 20s. I walked in thinking I'd get some advice about the challenges of growing up the way I did. I stayed for two years and it dramatically changed the course of my life.

Before studying to become a therapist and a coach, I spent 13 years in corporate marketing. New day, new deadline and new week, new airport. I know what it feels like to operate where the stakes are high, the pace is relentless, and the pressure to perform is constant.

I also grew up in a chaotic environment with an alcoholic parent. I know what it means to have a childhood that leaves marks you carry quietly into adulthood - into your relationships, your work, your sense of self. I also know how it feels when you are done living a certain way and finally get to rewrite your own story

Where coaching meets depth

I work with professional women and men, parents, business owners, managers, and leaders - navigating the gap between who they have become and who they want to be. People ready to live and lead fully, both personally and professionally.

You've built a life that works. You perform, you deliver, you show up for everyone who needs you. And somewhere underneath that, something isn't sustainable — a pace that was never meant to last, a version of yourself that formed to survive something, and is now running the show long after it needed to.

The work we do together sits at the intersection of coaching and therapy. It is not classic therapy and it is not generic coaching. It is a bridge between the two - built for people who are ready to get out of their own way.