Kamila Salimova is an incredible listener. You might say that is something you would expect from a life coach, but the way she does it is next level. She has a way of catching even what is not said out loud. And her responses are devoid of those standard active listening phrases that I find annoying and ruin the vibe (it sounds like… what I’m hearing is…). She talks to you like she’s talking to someone she cares about, not a specimen she’s trying to figure out. There’s a gentleness about her that coaxes you to say more and reassures you she’s in your corner.
How She Stands out as a Coach
“I can see micro-emotions and micro-expressions. When a person is talking, I can hear something like a pulse, where there’s like a lie or an untouched feeling. And visually, I can just see that that’s the point we should dig into,” the 26-year-old describes.
She had always been the kind of person people turned to for guidance and encouragement, so she decided to make things official and pursued learning. In 2023, she completed her foundational training in life coaching. In 2025, she earned another certification, this time as a transformational coach. More than just helping clients set and achieve external goals, she goes deeper and works on identity, mindset, and inner patterns to create lasting personal change.
“It’s great seeing people changing their lives for the better. They become more uplifted, they have hope. I think I like giving hope to people, not giving up on their life and everything. Sometimes it just feels that I have an entire map and they’re looking at one piece. And I would love them to see the whole map which would elevate their life,” she shares.
The Role of the Coachee
But it’s never all on the coach. Achieving any breakthrough involves a lot of work from the coachee. “Meditating. Facing their fears and the truth that they were avoiding. Some truths can be very hard to accept, they come with a price. You have to either change your environment, get rid of certain people, realize that you were wrong, or realize that you were lied to. For us, sometimes it’s easier to keep things the way they are because we are used to them, we are used to this level of pain, and any change can be uncomfortable, scary, and even painful so it can be really hard,” she explains.
Incorporating Energy Work
At some point during sessions with Kamila, words like energy, vibration, chakra, and reiki are likely to be brought up. If she sees you’re receptive, she directs you to videos and other similar resources that are relevant to your concerns. “I’m just going to recommend, then it’s up to you whether you want to try it or not. I’m trying to respect everyone’s boundaries and belief systems,” she points out. I’ve always been open to things that some might consider “woo woo” and I really benefited from the list of links she sent me.
Cosmopolitan Life
She conducts her sessions virtually from her base in Madrid, Spain where she is finishing her master’s in Marketing. Previously, she lived in Italy where she graduated with a degree in Business Administration and Economics. She is originally from Uzbekistan, so she speaks Russian, Italian, Spanish, and English. Plus she is currently studying Chinese. Wow! I think being multilingual is a huge plus for her because she can connect with a wider range of clients and help more people.
Being a life coach complements the other role she holds as an English teacher. Her lessons go beyond vocabulary and grammar. Often, they extend to building confidence, to teaching her students to summon the courage to speak up and use their voice, literally and figuratively.
Need for Self-Expression
Kamila knows more than a thing or two when it comes to cultivating self-expression. “Before jumping into expressing myself verbally, it was always easier for me to write because I was conditioned not to talk much in my family. So what I could do at the time was to take a pencil, and to write or to draw something. That doesn’t require a lot of resources and it doesn’t require you to be a loud person,” she says.
Since she was 11 years old, she has been painting and writing poems. At 22, she published Before the Sunrise, a collection of personal compositions centered on her experiences with mental struggles, self-reflection, healing, and travel. Within the same year, she also published 5 Steps Towards Happiness: Manual for All Genders, which contains valuable wisdom for those who want to regain control of their emotional well-being and begin living more intentionally, making space for more optimism and delight each day. Another work by Kamila is My Self-Love Journey, a journal and workbook in one designed to guide readers toward their higher, more authentic selves.
The journal-workbook “My Self-Love Journey” by Kamila Salimova is available on amazon.
She eventually expanded her writing to songs, which she also performs herself. What stood out for me in her music is how empowering and liberating the themes are. Her music videos can be viewed on YouTube and her paintings are posted on her Instagram account.
Building Confidence to Share Creative Work
She is still developing as an artist and acknowledges that her creations are not yet at the level she hopes to reach, but she puts them out there anyway for the world to see. “Even the greatest artists of our time started somewhere. It is not about perfection, but about creating something that allows me to be seen, build my portfolio, and remind myself that I am capable. In the process, I prove to myself that I can do it. It also builds motivation, because the more you do, the better you get. And the more you understand your own capability, the more you are pushed to keep improving the quality of your work. So you’re progressing,” she reassures.
Creating has become a necessity for relief and emotional release for Kamila because it helps her deal with life. “It’s really painful for me not to create. I feel as if a rope is around me and it hurts my body because I cannot express myself.” She imagines that many others may feel the same way, and hopes that what she does can offer encouragement to those who are still bogged down by perfection to go ahead, open up, and be vulnerable.
Life coach Kamila Salimova is a multi-talented artist. She writes, paints, and sings.
Building Authentic Confidence
Authentic confidence is the goal. While she does not deny that “fake it ‘til you make it” can be a useful tool, she is not a big fan of it, as having to play pretend can be draining. Besides, if you do not change your mindset about who you are, you will likely keep returning to feelings of insecurity.
“From knowing yourself and from believing that you’re not a piece of crap, that’s where the real confidence comes from. Understanding that you’re a valuable person and valuing yourself more,” she states.
To reach that place, she recommends writing down all the negative things you believe about yourself and then looking for reasons why these beliefs are not true. Chances are, once you reflect, you will realize you are far better than you think you are. She also encourages reflecting on where these subconscious beliefs come from. Most often, they were absorbed during childhood, when aspects of oneself may have been framed in a negative light even when they were not. “We see ourselves through a broken lens based on what someone told us, maybe our parents, caregivers, or culture,” she explains.
Realistically, we cannot be pointing fingers at others all the time. For the mistakes we have made, she emphasizes that taking accountability is important as well as extending compassion and forgiveness toward ourselves. “We’re human beings,” she constantly stresses.
Toward Self-Love
And we are all deserving of unconditional love, not the type that must be earned or is tied to behavior that many of us have received growing up. We can find this love on the same path if we go inward, through meditation and communication with our inner child. The more we get to know ourselves, the more we recognize our inherent worth, leading toward self-love.
It’s all easier said than done and it can be difficult to go at it alone. If you need someone to journey with you, Kamila’s the perfect companion. You may reach out to her through @artist.kamila on Instagram. You can also find her on YouTube @CoachingwithKamilaSalimova
