Hi! I'm Mary El
I help professionals retrain the way their mouth muscles move so they can speak English with an American accent.
I work withÂ
professionals whose careers depend on clear communication.
My clients work in fields such as:
Tech, finance, engineering, law, medicine, entertainment, and other communication-heavy roles.
I’ve worked with speakers of:
Russian, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Polish, Bulgarian, Albanian, Korean, Turkish, Vietnamese, Farsi, Serbian, and Czech.
 What Makes My Approach DifferentÂ
In my work, I don’t just teach you how American sounds are produced.
I identify how your current speech patterns are being shaped by your native language—based on how your tongue naturally wants to move.
Having worked with speakers from a wide range of language backgrounds, I’ve seen clear, repeatable patterns in how different languages train the tongue to move.
This allows me to:
- pinpoint the specific movement habits influencing your accent
- compare them directly to American movement patterns
- and guide you step by step in replacing them
This means you’re not just improving individual sounds—you’re learning how to switch into an American accent by using a different set of speech patterns.
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What We Train
- Tongue shape needed for American English sounds
- Tongue movement direction
- Speed and size of tongue movements
- Coordination between different mouth muscles
- Style of movement — the manner in which the tongue moves in American speech
- Transitions between sounds
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What my clients say
Cristina from Italy
I’ve been working with Mary for 5 months, and my accent has changed significantly!
She is 100% the professional you’re looking for if you want to sound like a real American.
David from Spain
Her expertise in identifying and addressing the specific challenges Spanish speakers face is remarkable. Mary's focus on detailed tongue movements and articulation has significantly improved my pronunciation.
Adriana from Venezuela
Mary The Accent Coach has been a blessing for me.
Mary encourages me to be better in every class, and she’s helped me to build more confidence in my speaking.
Why I do it
My whole life has been centered around language learning.
I started teaching myself Spanish at 14 and became fluent within 1–2 years without any teachers or formal instruction. At 18, I did the same with Italian, again reaching fluency through self-study alone.
In both cases, I wasn’t just interested in learning the languages—I became especially fascinated with how they sounded.
I developed a strong desire to sound like a native speaker in both languages, which led me to study pronunciation and accent in depth. I spent a lot of time paying attention to how native speakers physically produced sounds—how they used their tongue and lips differently depending on the language.
Over time, I trained myself to make significant changes in my own mouth movements to match those patterns—things like shifting tongue position forward, increasing lip activity, and holding tongue contact longer for certain sounds like N and L. This hands-on experimentation became the foundation of how I understand accents today.Â
 In college, I studied Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) and completed multiple certification programs in English teaching. I also began volunteering in high school, teaching English to Hispanic immigrants, where I first discovered how much I enjoyed helping people improve their communication.
When I started tutoring English during college, I initially focused on grammar and vocabulary. But I quickly realized I wasn’t passionate about that side of teaching. What truly interested me was pronunciation and the sound system itself.
As I began working more deeply with adult learners, I noticed something important: even when students could produce individual sounds correctly, their overall accent often didn’t shift. It became clear that accent was not just about isolated sounds—it was about deeper, coordinated movement patterns in speech.
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That realization pushed me to go further. I began studying more advanced approaches focused on oral posture, mouth anatomy, and the physical mechanics behind speech production. I invested in additional training and resources that explored how native and non-native speakers differ at a structural level—even when individual sounds appear correct.
This completely changed my approach.
Instead of treating pronunciation as separate sound problems, I began working with how the tongue and mouth move across sounds as a system—and how those movement habits shape the overall accent.
I’ve been working in the field of accent modification for around five years, and today I work with clients on a very precise, close-up level—often analyzing tongue placement and movement in real time so I can guide exact physical adjustments during speech.
My background at a glance
- 5 years specializing in accent modification
- Fluent in Spanish and Italian with near-native accents in both languages (self-taught)
- Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)
- Multiple certifications in English teaching and speech improvement
- Experience working with adult professionals from a wide range of language backgrounds and professions
Let's get started
3-6 Month American Accent Coaching Programs
 One-on-one weekly coaching calls + ongoing WhatsApp support. I personally guide you step by step, with live correction and accountability.
