After training under Liudmila Kalinina, they moved to the husband-and-wife team of Valentina and Valeri Tiukov, who coached them in Perm.

Ushakova teamed up with Sergei Karev in 2005, moving from Perm to Moscow in order to train with him.

[1] Originally coached by Nina Mozer, the pair switched to Natalia Pavlova ahead of the 2007–08 season.

[1] Ushakova/Karev won the bronze medal at the 2008 Russian Nationals and were sent to the 2008 European Championships where they finished 5th.

She has coached Arina Cherniavskaia / Antonio Souza-Kordeyru[6] and Albina Sokur / Roman Pleshkov.