Make the impossible feel close enough to act on.
Identity coaching for people whose dream looks impossible from the outside — and who refuse to make it smaller to sound reasonable.
Apply for Private CoachingICF PCC Coach·Founder & CEO·NLP Master Practitioner·17 years helping ambitious people pursue life-changing goals
You are capable, ambitious, and already in motion. And still — something bigger is calling.
- You have a dream or next step that feels too big, too bold, or too visible.
- You keep waiting for more proof before you move.
- You are overthinking a decision, a launch, a career move, a creative project, a reinvention.
- You are tired of shrinking your dream to make it sound more realistic.
- You want to become more visible, more self-trusting, more powerful.
- You do not want another productivity hack. You want a real identity shift.
You are already whole. You are simply ready to expand.
This work is for one kind of person — the one who knows they are meant for a bigger life, and is finally ready to become who can hold it.
Founders and owners. Elite performers and athletes. High-achievers reinventing what's next. Artists, creators, and public figures. And the quiet dreamers who were never built for the default path. Different arenas — the same work underneath.
The dream is not the problem. The gap is identity.
Most ambitious people do not get stuck because they lack intelligence, talent, or desire. They get stuck because their current identity cannot yet hold the next level they say they want.
You can have the dream. You can have the strategy. You can even have the opportunity. But if part of you is still operating from an older version of yourself — unworthy, unseen, afraid of rejection, afraid of visibility — you will keep postponing the very moves that would change everything.
This work closes the gap between the life you secretly know is possible and the identity you are ready to embody now.
The Next-Level Identity Framework
Most coaching stays at the level of goals and behavior. My work goes one level deeper — to identity — which is why the shifts are fast and they hold. Six stages take you from the life you sense is possible to the person who can actually live it.
Vision
What are you actually being called toward — underneath the shoulds and the safe version? We get honest about the full-size dream.
clarity & deep questioningIdentity
Who do you need to become to hold it? This is the core: we don't chase the goal, we grow into the person for whom it's inevitable.
identity & future-self workPatterns
What old fears, stories, and behaviors keep pulling you back? We find them and rewire them at the root.
NLP pattern workState
How do you regulate, energize, and lead yourself under pressure? We build the inner state that high performance actually runs on.
state & flow masteryAction
What bold, grounded moves prove the new identity now? Insight becomes evidence — this week, not someday.
founder-tested strategyIntegration
How do you make it normal, sustainable, and embodied — so the new level becomes simply who you are?
embodiment & integrationUnderneath the framework sits everything I've trained in and lived — ICF PCC-certified coaching, NLP, peak-performance and flow work, real founder strategy, and my own reinventions. You never see the machinery. You just feel the shift.
The shift underneath your goals.
Most people try to force their way to a bigger life through willpower and discipline — and end up fighting themselves. The deeper shift is identity. When you become the person who trains, leads, creates, or shows up, you no longer have to make yourself do it. The action becomes effortless, because it is simply who you are now.
The goal is not only to help you achieve more. It is to help you become the person who can hold more — more success, more visibility, more leadership, more freedom, more aliveness — without fighting yourself to get there.
For 17 years, I have helped people pursue dreams that looked unrealistic from where they were standing.
Thousands of “impossible” admissions
I built a company that helped thousands of students get into top universities — including the Ivy League — from environments where nothing suggested an extraordinary future was possible.
Seventeen attempts to Disney
My very first student dreamed of working at Disney. She got into a top design school, applied to Disney seventeen times — and got in. The dream was never the problem. Persistence with belief behind it wins.
Strangers who changed their lives
People still stop me on the street to tell me one free webinar — sometimes just an Instagram live — changed everything. “I'm at Stanford now.” “I got into Yale because of you.” They caught the belief at the right moment, believed in themselves, and changed their own lives. That is the effect I want to have on people.
Results from StudyAmerica, the company I founded and lead as CEO — students from 160+ countries admitted to the Ivy League, Stanford, and MIT, and more than $1 billion in scholarships and financial aid won. My coaching brings the same work — belief, identity, strategy, action — into a private one-to-one container.
A visionary for people's lives.
I am Maria Guryeva — a founder, entrepreneur, PCC coach, educator, and lifelong believer in human potential.
My own journey started with an impossible-looking dream: a teenager determined to study in America, with no clear path, no insiders, and an environment that quietly said be like everybody else. I built the path anyway — winning a full scholarship to Columbia University — and then spent seventeen years building it for others.
My role has always been to see a person's potential before they fully believe in it themselves — and to help make the path real. Not through fantasy. Through identity, self-trust, emotional mastery, structure, and bold, grounded action.
Again and again, I saw the same pattern. A person has a dream that feels too big. Their environment doesn't fully understand it. They don't yet have proof. And still, something in them knows there is more.
I combine professional coaching training, NLP, real founder experience, strategic thinking, and my own lived reinventions — from student to journalist to founder to CEO to coach (with a rock band along the way).
And because I have actually built the thing, our work is not limited to questions. I move between three roles as your goals require. As your coach, I am a mirror — all the answers are already within you, and I help you see your own strengths and light clearly enough to trust them. As your mentor, I give you more: momentum that turns insight into action this week, the challenge to push past your own edges, and belief in you held steady until you catch it yourself. And as a founder-to-founder advisor — on delegation, building a team, and becoming the owner of your business instead of its busiest operator. I am always transparent about which hat I am wearing.
I do not make your dream smaller so it feels realistic. I help you become the person who can make it real.
Trained & certified
Coaching for capable people who are ready to move.
Whatever your arena — a company, a sport, a stage, a reinvention — the work underneath is the same: becoming the person who can hold the next level.
This is not therapy. This is not advice-giving dressed up as coaching. This is identity-level work for people who are ready to expand.
I've built the thing I coach — including the operator-to-owner shift.
I didn't study business from the outside. I built an international company from a single idea to $5M+ in revenue, then did the work most founders find hardest: stepping out of the operator's seat and into the owner's — building the systems, team, and structure that run without me. That transition is where I do some of my sharpest work with other founders.
- Operator → owner — out of the bottleneck, into the owner's real role
- Delegation & org design — led 50 people across marketing, product, sales, finance, HR, analytics, and tech
- Growth engine, built and tested — funnels, live & automated webinars, positioning, high-ticket sales, 800+ productized lessons
- Audience & authority — a 400K+ audience, Forbes-featured, students in 160 countries
- Founder identity at the next level — the mindset, nerve, and self-trust the bigger company asks of you
You don't need another framework you already half-know. You need the shift that lets you lead the company you're actually building — and become the owner it requires.
When the pressure is real, the inner game decides it.
Athletes and performers are one of the worlds I know most intimately — and a clear example of how this work goes deep in any high-stakes arena. Elite performance is close to my native language.
- Licensed Sports Performance Coach™ — trained in peak performance and flow state
- Master's research in the psychology & communication of elite sport — a graduate thesis and peer-reviewed publications on performance and public relations in sport
- Olympic & World Cup credentials — accredited at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, working alongside Olympic athletes, and on the FIFA World Cup protocol team at the highest VIP level
- A former competitive athlete — years of daily training and national and international competition, so I know pressure, plateaus, and nerves from the inside
- Athletic-scholarship admissions — I've helped competitive athletes convert their sport into a place at Ivy League and top U.S. universities
Whether you're chasing a podium, a personal best, a company, or a stage, we build the identity, focus, and self-trust that let your outer game finally match your inner one.
For the ones already moving — and hungry for the next level.
You can feel a bigger chapter calling. You may not have the whole picture yet — just the pull toward something more, and the sense that you're capable of it. That's enough. For seventeen years I've worked as a visionary of human potential, helping people make the impossible feel possible — wherever they were starting from. If the call is real, you're in the right place.
Wherever you're starting from — if you can feel it, we can build it.
Private coaching, by application.
Every engagement is backed by the same foundation: a founder who grew a single idea into a company with $7M+ in revenue, 50 people, and students in 160 countries who have won more than $1 billion in scholarships — plus 17 years of making impossible dreams actionable. I keep a small private roster so every client gets my full attention.
The Breakthrough Intensive
- A full immersive day on one bold move — a decision, a launch, a reinvention
- Pre-work so we begin at depth
- A full day of coaching, strategy, and action design in one focused sitting
- A 90-day action map you leave with
- Two follow-up calls, at two and four weeks, to make it stick
One immersive day. One bold move, made real.
ApplyNext-Level Identity Coaching
- 6 private sessions, up to 90 minutes, every other week
- Pre-work before the first session
- Customized reflection prompts and action assignments
- Voice and text support between sessions
- Final integration plan
Paid in full · 2 payments of $4,700 · 3 payments of $3,200
ApplyThe Next Chapter
- 12 private sessions, up to 90 minutes
- For deeper reinventions: a new company, a new market, a new level of visibility, a new identity
- Full between-session voice/text access
- Coaching, mentorship, and founder-to-founder advisory as your goals require
- Quarterly review & integration plan
Paid in full · 3 payments of $5,800
ApplyWhat you walk away with.
This is not insight for its own sake. Across every engagement, the same shifts show up — the ones that turn a dream you've been circling into something you actually move on.
You believe bigger
The dream stops feeling naive or "for other people." You start treating your next level as a matter of when, not if.
You stop playing small
The quiet shrinking — of the goal, the ask, the visibility — ends. You let yourself want the full-size version out loud.
You act faster
Overthinking turns into motion. You send the message, make the offer, take the meeting — this week, not "someday."
You trust yourself
You stop outsourcing the decision. The answers were already in you; now you can see your own strengths clearly enough to move on them.
You become the person
Not "have it, then become it." You grow into the identity that can hold the bigger life — and the results follow the identity.
You feel seen
Someone finally holds the full-size vision with you — and believes in it steadily enough that you catch that belief yourself.
What shifts when we work together.
“I saw myself in Maria's story. Before, I didn't feel I had the courage to start my own business. Afterward, something shifted — it felt lighter, more possible, and I believed in myself more.”
“One of the biggest things I took from Maria: effort doesn't have to come from suffering. Business asks for work, discipline, and courage — but the effort can come from joy.”
“Her way of thinking breaks old templates. She helps you see the same situation differently, notice the opportunities, and start acting — instead of staying stuck in doubt.”
“She helped me see impostor syndrome differently — not as proof something is wrong, but as a sign I'm in my growth zone.”
“The work reminded me to stop waiting until I feel fully ready. Be afraid, but do it. Show up. Start moving.”
“So much strength in her presence, and so much lightness at once. She makes the big, daunting things feel alive, human, and possible.”
This is not for you if…
You want someone to rescue you. You are looking for therapy rather than coaching. You want insight but are not willing to take action. You are not ready to be honest with yourself. You want to make your life smaller, safer, and more acceptable to others.
This is for people who are ready to tell the truth, expand their identity, and move.
The questions people usually ask.
Is this coaching or mentoring?
Both — and I'm always transparent about which hat I'm wearing. As your coach, I'm a mirror: the answers are already in you, and I help you see your own strengths clearly enough to trust them. As your mentor, I give you more — momentum that turns insight into action, and the challenge to push past your own edges. And when your next level runs through your business, I can also be a founder-to-founder advisor, because I've actually built the thing. We use whichever role serves your goal in the moment.
How long is the commitment?
It depends on the container. The Breakthrough Intensive is a single immersive day plus two follow-up calls. Next-Level Identity Coaching runs twelve weeks, with sessions every other week. The Next Chapter is a six-month engagement for deeper reinventions. We decide together which fits where you're standing — I'd rather place you in the right container than the biggest one.
What if I'm not sure I'm ready?
Not being sure is normal — most people at the edge of a bigger chapter feel it. Readiness isn't a feeling you wait for; it's a decision you make and then grow into. That said, this works best when you're willing to be honest with yourself and to act, not just collect insight. If that's you, the uncertainty isn't a reason to wait. If you'd like to test the fit before committing, that's exactly what the consultation is for.
Do I have to know exactly what I want first?
No. Getting clear on what you actually want — underneath the shoulds and the safe version — is often the first thing we do together. You need enough of a pull toward something bigger to begin. We'll sharpen the rest.
Is this only for founders and entrepreneurs?
No. I work with ambitious people standing at the edge of a bigger life, leadership, business, or self — founders, professionals in transition, high-achievers who were not built for the default path, and elite performers and athletes who need their inner game to match their outer one. As a Licensed Sports Performance Coach™ trained in peak performance and flow state, I'm as at home with someone chasing a podium or a personal best as with someone scaling a company. If part of you knows there's more and you're ready to move toward it, you're the right fit.
What happens after I apply?
I personally review your answers. If it looks like a fit, we meet for a private consultation to explore your goals and how we'd work together. Then we both decide whether the container is right — there's no pressure, and applying doesn't obligate you to anything.
Three steps between you and the work.
Apply
A short application — who you are, where you're standing, and the bigger chapter that's calling.
Conversation
If it looks like a fit, we meet for a private consultation to explore your goals and how we would work together.
Decide
We both decide whether this container is right. If yes, we begin with pre-work — and your next level begins to take shape.
Stop postponing the person you are becoming.
If you are standing at the edge of a bigger version of your life, leadership, business, or self — and you know it is time — I invite you to apply.
Apply for Private Coaching