Mariya Shcherbinina got her M. A. in Psychology with an Emphasis in Counseling from Webster University, Leiden. She received her B. A. in Psychology and Communication from Saint Louis University, Madrid. She is currently working toward a Ph. D. at Leiden University on an LGBTQ+ related topic. 

Mariya did her Master's thesis on the psychological experiences of the collapse of the Soviet Union in Ukraine. 

She worked as a volunteer for Leiden University Pride, a non-profit organization for LGBTQ+ students in Leiden, The Netherlands. She also recently co-authored a paper on counseling LGBTQ+ clients and is the co-host of BiPositive, a podcast on the psychological experiences of bisexual and queer people.