Risa Ramirez-Wright, M.S.

Supporting biology students through academia with educational resources and compassionate coaching.

1:1 Coaching Program with Risa

In this personalized 1:1 coaching program, college and graduate students develop skills and strategies that promote academic success and personal growth. My program helps students build self-confidence by helping them identify their strengths and needs, develop emotional regulation skills, develop effective learning strategies, overcome challenges and setbacks, and set realistic goals.

Is 1:1 coaching the right investment for you?

If you are struggling with procrastination, poor time management, feelings of overwhelm, burnout, lack of motivation, or poor academic performance, then coaching may benefit you. Coaching can be vital for students with learning differences such as ADHD because it provides accountability and helps students develop executive functioning skills such as planning, goal setting, and emotional regulation. Academic coaching is an investment in a student’s future because coaching is designed to make changes in a person’s habits, behaviors, and thought processes that are life-long. These changes will not only benefit students academically but will help them in their personal lives, relationships, and careers.

Coaching can help students:

  1. Develop self-awareness and self-compassion

  2. Identify their strengths

  3. Identify and advocate for their needs

  4. Build resilience

  5. Develop effective learning strategies that work for their unique biology

  6. Develop emotional/nervous system regulation skills

  7. Develop intrinsic motivation

  8. Understand and reduce procrastination

  9. Set realistic goals

  10. Reduce stress and feelings of overwhelm

Program Details and Pricing:

Program Details:

  • Length: 12 weeks

  • 12 x 60-minute 1:1 Coaching Sessions (weekly)

  • In-between sessions, asynchronous messaging through a messenger app to provide accountability and additional support

  • Custom action plans and goal-setting

  • Educational training on effective learning strategies and nervous system regulation

Pricing:

  • Paying in full = $2,100 total

  • Payment Plan (Pay monthly) = $770 per month ($2,310 total)

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • The development of new behaviors requires the formation of new neural pathways. This process can take weeks or months and requires repetition and intentional actions. In addition, the coach and client relationship is vital to developing lasting change. By working together for an extended period, I can get to know each student well and create a safe and supportive environment for growth.

  • When students feel overwhelmed, it is often because they are under-resourced. Academic coaching can help a student thrive and reduce stress. Coaching can provide the support that a student needs to make life-long changes that improve not only their academic performance but also their self-esteem, personal lives, relationships, and future careers. Read the “About Risa” section to see how coaching impacted my life.

  • Tutoring helps students in a particular course or study area (e.g., math, biology, chemistry). Academic coaching helps students develop self-awareness, self-confidence, and executive functioning skills (e.g., emotional regulation, time management, planning) that can be used broadly.

    Therefore, the skills and strategies that students learn through coaching can benefit them in their courses and lives outside of academia.

  • My coaching program benefits any individual, and you don’t have to be an enrolled student or taking classes currently to benefit from coaching. One main benefit of being currently enrolled in classes, is that it will be easier to assess what learning strategies are most effective for you by tracking your performance on assignments and exams.

About Risa

I have my Master's in Biology. My experiences include teaching biology at the college level for about 15 years and conducting over 10 years of research in animal behavior, ecology, and physiology.

I became an academic coach and educator because I saw the need to support under-resourced students. I think about how much I would have benefitted if I had an academic coach as a student. As a student, I excelled academically, but no one saw how much I struggled behind the scenes and how overwhelmed I felt. I was a chronic procrastinator and relied on pulling all-nighters to perform well. As a result, my self-esteem, mental health, and physical health suffered. These struggles continued into my career, and it wasn’t until late into my adulthood that I was diagnosed with both ADHD and autism. I also learned that I had aphantasia, which means my brain does not form mental images. All the struggles that I had with executive functioning throughout my life finally made sense. After my late diagnosis, I hired an ADHD coach, and I saw firsthand the effects that coaching can have on improving emotional regulation, time management, self-esteem, and motivation. I learned how to work with my unique brain and nervous system. My mission is to share everything I have learned from my lived experience, research, training, and experience as an educator to help others thrive. Having the proper support can make all the difference in a person’s success.

I am a neurodiversity-affirming coach who recognizes the value and strengths in the natural variation of neurological functioning. I view neurological differences such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and sensory processing sensitivities as natural variations in the human population and not deficits or disorders that need to be fixed; however, I am aware that although these neurological differences are not disorders, they can be disabling when students are placed in an education system that does not accommodate for the student’s unique needs and learning styles. One of my goals as a coach is to support students in developing a sense of agency by helping them learn skills to regulate their nervous system and by helping them identify and advocate for their unique needs.

In addition, I am an LGBTQ+ ally and believe diversity strengthens a community. I am also the mother of two young children and love traveling!