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Anya Smirnova-1

Anya Smirnova

Executive Coach

Anya supports leaders navigating career and life transitions, helping them find clarity, confidence, and purpose during times of change. Drawing on her background as a senior M&A lawyer and certified executive coach, she balances self-exploration with action to unlock authentic, sustainable growth.

Country: United Kingdom

Sector experience: Financial services and legal.

Background

Anya has been delivering executive coaching since 2015. Prior to that Anya enjoyed a 13-year career as a senior M&A lawyer with Norton Rose Fulbright, a top global law firm, followed by a family gap year on a tropical island, becoming a women’s health activist, entrepreneur and a coach. Anya’s professional services background ensures that she never underestimates the demands of high-performing cultures.

Anya is particularly interested in supporting people at times of transition in career and life when the path is not clear and the temptation is high to trade in dreams and ambitions for the security of the well-known. Anya believes that coaching provides the approach, support and time required for self-exploration, balance and gaining clarity. We all have the answers to our most pressing questions, but they are hidden under the day-to-day chaos of life. Answers need to be discovered, it is an exploration.

Anya worked and lived in the UK, Singapore, Russia and France and is now based in London. She supports humanitarian causes through pro bono coaching for the ICRC world workers, volunteers as a Governor for a local primary school and is a keen ukulele player.

 

Coaching Style

Clients say that “Anya has a natural ability to make you recognise your own potential” and describe her style as inspiringwholehearted and challenging her clients to grow beyond their comfort zones.

Anya’s approach is to balance self-exploration and action. She supports her clients in gaining awareness of their strengths, patterns and impact, and translating such self-awareness into meaningful and powerful action.

An underlying principle of Anya’s coaching is that people are naturally creative, resourceful and whole, and so they have the means to solve their own challenges.

With clients Anya acts as a thinking partner. She listens closely to what you are saying (and not saying) and asks questions to help you find the answers that are most valuable and relevant to you. By finding your own answers, you create more energy and commitment to take action towards your goals.

 

Special Interests
  • Life shifts

  • Parental transition

  • Women’s health, its impact on mindset and career

  • Authenticity. Personal leadership style

  • Career progression


Training & Qualifications
  • Certified Co-Active Professional Coach (Coaches Training Institute)

  • Executive & Health Coach (Academy of Executive Coaching)

  • Member of the International Coaching Federation - Professional Certified Coach

  • Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (2005)

 

Current Clients

Anya has experience working across various sectors, including law, finance, pharma, recruitment, PR, healthcare, public services, entrepreneurship and humanitarian NGOs.

Incredibly valuable and insightful - really helped me better understand what I can do to drive value and be successful within my organisation and helped me identify where my challenges may be along with a plan on how to address them. Excellent coaching!
Managing Director
Financial Services
All employees deserve to get an attentive, committed and improvement focused coach, and all businesses deserve to get improvement from investing their employees. This coaching experience delivered on both those things - it’s the easiest decision you can make
Head of Social Strategy
Toy Construction Company
The six sessions I had with my ECC Coach changed my perspective of coaching. I was initially uncertain (and possibly sceptical) about the benefits of coaching but my coach read me very well and knew when to coax a response out from me by being encouraging and when to firmly push me to see the benefits of reframing some of my previously held positions.
Head of Legal
International Property Group
I found my ECC coaching sessions incredibly valuable – for the unique and necessary space I was seeking as a sole proprietor to feel heard, understood and connected to a peer in business. My coaching experience provided a safe space where I could be the real me, and provided a relationship I could truly trust. Thank you ECC.
Manager
Creative Retail Agency
The coaches at ECC are commercial, pragmatic and highly focused. The coaching they provide on an individual basis has given valuable insight and helped our senior executives to gain greater perspective in terms of managing relationships, prioritising, strategic thinking, influencing and confidence.
Senior Leader
Multinational Retailing Company
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