My Story

I did not grow up speaking about body wisdom, desire, or soul.
 

On the contrary, raised in the Soviet Union and then coming to the United States as Jewish refugees with my family in the late 1990s, I learned early to do what was expected of me: be polite, fit in, and perform.
 

By the age of 28, I had earned a Doctorate in Developmental Psychology and was working at Stanford University's Department of Education.
 

On paper, I was doing it all right.

Inside, I was fighting a growing sense that I am living a life that is not mine.
 

My body - through years of chronic pain -  became a portal into everything I had buried and suppressed, and into the life force, emotion, and intelligence beneath it. When I stopped trying to fix myself and began listening, the identity I had built began to crack open.
 

Then, in March 2020, my father died of COVID.

This was, as they say, the final straw.
 

Grief, too, is a doorway.
 

What followed was a slow and ongoing unlearning - of control, of performance, of certainty, and of the ways I had been taught to live outside of myself.
 

Over time, and after years of coming home to myself, my work became clear.
 

I support women, queer, and gender-diverse people in reconnecting with their truth, voice, embodiment, and inner authority - and in untangling patterns of self-abandonment, people-pleasing, and disconnection so they can live more fully and honestly as themselves.
 

This work is grounded in both lived experience and formal training.
 

I hold a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, and  previously worked as a research fellow, adjunct professor, and human development & education expert at Stanford University, NYU Steinhardt, CUNY Brooklyn College, and Rutgers University. Alongside this academic foundation, I have trained extensively in somatics, embodiment, relational healing, and consent-based touch.
 

My work now integrates these lineages: developmental psychology, somatic practice, relational work, and embodied spiritual inquiry.
 

As Toni Morrison said, “The function of freedom is to free someone else.”

So here I am.
 

If you are seeking support in hearing yourself more clearly, rebuilding self-trust, and living from a deeper sense of truth and alignment, I would be honored to work with you.

Training & Expertise
 

Ph.D., M.S., Developmental Psychology | University of Miami
Postdoctoral Fellow | Stanford University & NYU Steinhardt
Certified Feminine Embodiment Coach | School of Embodied Arts
Certified Forest Therapy Guide | The Forest Therapy School
Certified Somatic & Emotional Release Practitioner | Temple Somatics Foundations
Certified Cuddle Therapy Practitioner | Cuddlist Professional Cuddle Therapy

Additional trainings include: Strozzi Institute of Somatics, Deep Coaching Institute, Embodied Social Justice Institute, Animas Valley Institute, People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Michaela Boehm’s Wild Woman’s Circle, International School of Temple Arts (L1–L2), Relational Awakening, and others.
 

Personal Notes
 

Auntie. Immigrant. Refugee. Queer. Gender-expansive. Highly sensitive. Neurodiverse. Daughter of Iemanjá. Wild woman. Poet. Moon dancer. Witch.

Deep loves: family, dancing, reading, poetry, live music, swimming, tree-hugging, barefoot wandering, cuddles.
Deep values: liberation, love, wild joy, and justice for all.

Languages: Russian, English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese.

Recent soul journeys:
2023: Sold everything to follow a soul calling to Brazil.
2024: Lived and worked on an herbal farm, apprenticed to a medicine woman, the birches, and the wild.
2025: Building a home in the Hudson Valley, NY.

Fact: I can (and will) dance forever.