Iryna Vilgash

Founder & CEO / Qualified Executive Coach

Iryna Vilgash is a Ukrainian serial entrepreneur. A group of her companies operates in such industries as global education and leadership & organisational development.

MINDS Coaching and Consulting (since 2022) as a leadership company helps both local and international organisational leadership with their leadership effectiveness and organisational development. They partner with executive-level leaders to help them with their self-actualisation, self-awareness, leadership effectiveness, and work-life balance in order to empower them to catalyse transformations and meaningful changes within their teams and organisations.

Wake Up Education (since 2016) is an internationally accredited study abroad agency. They offer Ukrainians MBA programmes, master's programmes, bachelor's programmes and vocational courses provided by the world-class universities, business schools, and training centres from all over the world. Before Iryna Vilgash established her first education company Wake Up School (2014-2025), a school of foreign languages, she served as a General Manager and Director in international insurance companies and commercial property sectors. For a decade she was a key player in corporate sales insurance. Her expertise was in insurance for aviation risks, health insurance, and bank insurance.

Why did she start her entrepreneurial activity?
In 2014 she decided to shift her career path as she did want to invest in her son’s true education. The son was 7 years old and Iryna didn’t agree with the teaching approaches she met at schools at that time.
As a qualified educator and a business leader, she has always been committed to the philosophy that human potential is the greatest resource.

Education
In 1999-2004 Iryna Vilgash studied at a faculty of foreign languages, the department of Romano-Germanic philology and graduated from Mykolayiv State (Pedagogical) University named after V.O. Sukhomlynskyi, with honours, in Ukraine.

In 2018-2021 she did her Executive Coaching and Mentoring Programme with the British School of Coaching in the UK.

In November 2021, Iryna Vilgash successfully defended her high-level ILM Level 7 coaching qualification.

The ILM Level 7 qualification (equivalent to a Master’s degree) is designed for professionals who help senior leaders and executives to refine strategic leadership within an organisation. It covers areas like performance, strategic planning, high-performance culture, and change management. All ILM qualifications are awarded by The City & Guilds of London Institute which was founded in 1878 and is incorporated by Royal Charter. It is an internationally recognised coaching qualification – the ILM Level 7, Ofqual regulated.

Journey to Creating a Worldwide Coaching Brand - After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Iryna made a decision to stay in Ukraine doing what she was excellent at. So, she established a leadership company MINDS Coaching & Consulting in Kyiv, in July 2022.

Since 2022, MINDS C&C is on the US registry of companies, System for Award Management (SAM), an approved suppliers’ list for organisations who cooperate or receive US government funding. MINDS C&C is also authorised as a supplier to the UN Global Marketplace since 2023. She participated in the Ukraine Rebuilding Task Force Programme (2023-2024), developed by Visionest Institute (Estonia) and funded by the US State Department.

In May 2025 as a delegation member of the Ukrainian trade mission to the United Kingdom, Iryna Vilgash visited ministry level events in London and Edinburgh, having meaningful dialogues with change-making leaders as for development of leadership solutions and modern education in a post-war environment.

In June 2025 she restructured her business to enable resilient growth.
In November 2025, she presented her leadership company at REBUILD UKRAINE Construction and Energy Exhibition in Warsaw and used her voice to articulate the benefits the Ukrainian leadership company offers and the lasting impact it creates.

The area of expertise and proficiency of Iryna Vilgash:
Entrepreneurship, Executive Coaching, Performance Coaching, Leadership Coaching, Wellbeing Coaching, Relocation Coaching, Career Coaching, Organisational Development (Building High-Performance Culture), Mentoring Professional Orientation and Global Education