Maria was raised in an average Soviet family which did not teach her to pray or read the Bible. She became interested in the Church and Scripture at the age of 8, and at 14 she made a covenant with God. Later she found out that her grandfather had been a pastor persecuted for his faith (he had been exiled to Kazakhstan for 10 years).
When she was young, Maria actively participated in various ministries, including Sunday School for children, choir, orchestra, youth evangelism clubs, theater, camps for orphans, training for women. After she graduated from the University where she studied the Law and found a job in the area of her expertise, she decided to get Christian education as well, concentrating on the ministry of counselling.
For the last seventeen years Maria has been doing counselling, teaching Biblical Counselling to students, and training teams of teachers in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Germany, Israel, and USA.