scene 01EXECUTIVE PRESENCE & PUBLIC SPEAKING COACH

You own the expertise but not the room.

You have been doing great work. Yet something keeps standing between having it perfectly in your head and saying it as perfectly out loud. More recognition, better money and bigger opportunities sit on the other side of that gap.

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Irina Popova - executive presence and public speaking coach in Milan, working with leaders worldwide in English, Italian, and Russian.
scene 02what I believe

You aim to improve the technique. But technique alone isn't enough.

Irina Popova in conversation at an event

You want to feel confident, capable and heard. So better pacing, storytelling, speaking concisely seem like the right place to start. And they matter in the room. But what really decides how it goes runs deeper than that.

If speaking up triggers the question "Do I really have the right to be here?", you're back to square one. You can know everything about speaking slowly and making pauses, and that thought will still make you rush your sentences, hold your breath and leave the thought unfinished. Technique doesn't fix feeling doubtful and judged inside.

To be a great communicator you need to work on three levels: Delivery, Storytelling, Identity. The combo is my secret sauce. It's why you don't need another coach after me.

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scene 03my story

My job was creating spotlight for others. I had to learn to create it for myself.

  1. 1 / 6

    The Onset

    For almost 10 years, I have worked as live entertainment producer. Art exhibitions, concerts, theatrical shows.

    Working as a producer means you are responsible for everything but never in the spotlight. I built the room and stood at the back of it. That always gave me an uneasy feeling. At some point I realised I didn’t want to be in the shadows for the rest of my life. 

  2. 2 / 6

    The Shadows

    Irina Popova with the entertainment production team, standing at the edge of the group

  3. 3 / 6

    The Pivot

    Some years later, I had quit my job, done my coaching certification, and was sitting with zero clients, unable to start selling my services. 

    The belief that got me behind the scenes of big productions was "I'm not talented enough". The belief getting me zero clients was "I'm not experienced enough".  Different things, same voice. The voice worried she’d be exposed, judged, called out if she tried to be all that she wanted to be.

  4. 4 / 6

    The Struggle

    I didn't see it then. So I spent money on useless "how to master visibility" courses, wasted a lot of nervous energy and overworked. A band aid to an open fracture. Anything to avoid putting my real self out there.

    It took a lot of time to acknowledge that I was in an impostor pit and hard work to get myself out of it. But the results showed up.

  5. 5 / 6

    The Climb

    I stopped putting myself in the box of a “good coach”. That meant breaking the rules and combining all my different fields of expertise. Theatre. Presentation Design. Breathwork. Voicework. In three months I went from one client a week to a full calendar.

    I started saying I had a methodology and an opinion. This brought several corporate agreements and a partnership well beyond my previous reach.

    Income climbed. Opportunities came.

  6. 6 / 6

    So what?

    I know how it feels. I took the long road. But you don't have to.

    Irina Popova speaking on stage
scene 04my method

The Uncompressed™ Method

My strength is combining different disciplines: ICF professional coaching, theatre techniques of Stanislavsky system, stage skill trainings, storytelling, presentation design, somatic (body-oriented) psychology. Live entertainment, applied to live communication.

  1. Identity

    The story you are telling yourself

    • we analyze patterns running quietly in the background when stakes go up
    • we go after the beliefs stopping you from communicating like you want
    • we turn the imposter, the perfectionist and the critic from enemies into allies

    TOOLS: ICF COACHING, ROLE WORK

  2. Delivery

    The story your body is telling

    • we transform your body into an instrument, not a problem to manage
    • we map the energy you want to transmit
    • we work on how your physical and emotional state affects the room

    TOOLS: THEATRE AND STAGE TECHNIQUES, BREATHWORK, VOICEWORK, NON-VERBAL CUES, EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATION

  3. Narrative

    The story you are telling others

    • we package what's in your head in a form people are excited to follow
    • we build narratives aimed at the audience you actually have
    • we turn what feels like bragging into confidence and self-awareness

    TOOLS: NARRATIVE STRUCTURE, STORYTELLING, AUDIENCE ANALYSIS, EMOTIONAL TRANSFER, LEADERSHIP SKILLS

scene 06audition

1 minute to tell me about yourself

Offline in Milan, online worldwide.

Individual sessions start at €199. Ongoing coaching programs start at €3,000.