About Me

Valentina Petrova has a Master’s in Integral Psychology from John F. Kennedy University and a Bachelor’s in Sustainable Economic Development from Whittier College. She is certified as a strategic interventionist and life transitions coach through the Robbins-Madanes 100 hours training program. She is a facilitator for the nationwide Alternatives to Violence Project, working with people in severe circumstances, such as prisons.

She is Facial Action Coding System (FACS) certified and has worked as an academic researcher on emotion expression and suppression at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Since 2004, Valentina has published close to a hundred articles on psychology, spirituality, and well-being in various publications, including the Journal of Integral Theory and Practice (July 2015). Her life-coaching practice, personal development workshops, public speaking engagements, and volunteering on a crisis support line give her daily opportunities to help others.  

She started her first small business when she was 21 years old and a student at Leeward Community College in Hawaii. From a hobby, she transformed her passion for making clothing into a featured trendsetter during the MAGIC show in Las Vegas in just a few years. She sold the label prior to arriving in California to work on her BA in Sustainable Economic Development. This took her to the United Nations to work on a project analyzing the actions and interactions of the 26 UN agencies at the time in order to discover areas of duplication of effort and help streamline their operations. Under the Agency for Interagency Affairs, Valentina published a report which was used by these agencies.  

Eclectic best describes Valentina’s experiences. She has been a day-trader, owner/manager and event coordinator for a four-diamond B&B and a large RV park, and the owner of a yoga studio and a wellness center for 13 years. In her native country, she competed as a professional athlete and made it to the Olympic team, but instead of competing in the 1992 Olympics, she immigrated to the United States and watched them from Hawaii.