I am Maria Wade, executive coach, MCC, author, mother, president of the Columbia Coaching Learning Association Board of Directors, and founder of Integral Executive Presence. I live in a beautiful house in New York with my children and husband. From the outside, life is good. I guide C-level leaders to reclaim their confidence, rediscover purpose, and reignite the passion they thought they’d lost.

But it wasn’t always this way.

I was born in the North, in a Soviet land wrapped in cold and shadow—where even the sky felt alien, and the state was a stranger to its own people. My family, bound by duty, was soon sent to Eastern Germany. I grew up in a world of rigid discipline, in places that blurred together, in schools that changed with every other passing year. I had to adapt, rebuild friendships in fleeting moments, and grow up faster than the world expected. I became resilient, reliable, and strong—a leader.

By the 2010s, I was everything the corporate world demanded—Chief Legal Officer, CEO, Financial Director, the picture of success. My life was gilded: wealth, a happy family, respect from peers. I was a woman who had it all.
But nothing in that world of structured triumph could prepare me for the storm that was to come.
I never imagined that one day we would be hunted by a system that would strip everything from us. I write these words as though they are brief—but they carry years of pain. Years in which my family and I were pushed to the brink, surviving only through sheer will.
In 2015, I took my husband and two children to the United States for a vacation. We had visas, and we wanted to feel, just for a little while, what it was like to be normal again. That evening, in the soft glow of a Myrtle Beach sunset, we laughed together over old family photos—moments of joy long past. For the first time in years, we were alive.

And then, the realization came like a whisper, a voice deep inside me: I want my children to be safe.
Years of fear, the constant looming threat of danger crystallized into a single thought. I looked at my husband and said the words that would change everything: We are staying.
He looked back, a puzzled smile on his face. “You like the hotel? Sure, we can stay a few more days if you want.”
“No,” I said quietly. “We are staying here. Where our children can be safe.”
He understood, and so began the long, arduous journey toward a new life. A new identity, study, work, court battles, new friends. Every step forward met with walls of resistance, doubt, and often unwelcome glances.

But that was then.

Now, I stand on the other side of the storm, grateful for every painful lesson. Today, I help others—those facing their own darkest moments—to rise, to find strength they never knew they had. I am a comet, blazing across the sky, guiding bright, talented people through their greatest challenges, showing them that even in the deepest darkness, there is light to be found.

I am Maria Wade, the one who breaks the ice and leads others toward their own brilliance.