Faces of Leadership

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your professional life?

For many Ukrainians, the biggest professional challenge was finding their professional purpose after February of last year (2022). If you speak to people, many of them did not know much about weaponry or military equipment, but somehow everyone got involved in volunteering to provide this for our armed forces on the front line. Many people who were doing jobs that were not related directly to defense, like me, found that they were in a situation where they just felt useless for days, weeks, or months. What am I doing in local democracy if there are people dying?  It was a challenge to accept this new war reality and eventually reach the understanding that the most efficient way to contribute to Ukraine’s victory is by doing what you’re good at professionally.

What does being a “current or future leader” mean to you?

Being a leader would mean doing things that encourage others to do and think of more than they used to. As a Ukrainian abroad, you bear a lot of responsibility in the sense that you don't want to send the wrong message to other people. You always have to behave, to be like a diplomat advocating for your country and mobilizing support. Leadership is needed to ensure that our communities are well organized because we cannot afford to be indifferent about that.
 

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your professional life?

As someone who has observed peacebuilding processes, it is impossible to be unbiased. Especially if it's your home, you feel something about that place, and it can influence your work. I overcame that challenge when I understood that it's not a problem as long as you are aware that you have your opinion, and you are open about it. To stay unbiased is the biggest challenge, and I think everyone has experienced this.”

What does being a “current or future leader” mean to you?

A leader is a person who has a vision and someone who can be trusted. I think what is important is to delegate, to have a vision, and to trust people… You have to constantly learn and try to understand the topic and the environment in which you work in all possible ways.

What or who inspires you in your work?

I feel inspired when I see civilian and military Ukrainians being released from captivity and witness the positive results of international advocacy in support of Ukraine. I also feel inspired when the Ukrainian military has success on the frontline.

What is the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in your professional life?

The biggest challenge in my professional life began on February 24, 2022. On this day, I was in the center of Kyiv at the Center for Civil Liberties office. Our team resumed the work of the Euromaidan SOS initiative. I started coordinating Euromaidan SOS's work 24 hours a day as people contacted us for evacuation, finding people, and transferring humanitarian aid and organizations that could help. I was working with a lot of information, tragedy, and grief at that time, and I felt stressed and scared about the war. For the first three months of the Great War, I lived in someone else's apartment. I worked in the corridor of the apartment (two-wall rule) and in a bomb shelter because rocket attacks and troops were constantly coming from Russia. The Russian military occupied Ukraine and had reached Kyiv.

What does being a “current or future leader” mean to you?

Having a community that relies on you is a challenge. You cannot give up on people who trust you. That also means that you're not only responsible for supporting them with what they need but also there is a responsibility to answer questions that may have no answers. So, the role of a leader is to inspire the community, give them hope, and support them. We have a very big task ahead of us to rebuild Ukraine and understand how to bring back normality to the lives of those affected by war.
 

What or who inspires you in your work?

The members of my team inspire me in my work. After a large-scale war started in Ukraine… we remained committed to the values of equality, human rights, women's rights, and a better future for our country. We have worked hard to promote gender equality in Ukraine, even conducting national events during the blackouts. It's important to keep the topic of women's leadership in the national discussion… in order to ensure that the women who are leaders today are able to work on the national level and sit at the table where the decisions are taken during the war and the postwar recovery.

What does being a “current or future leader” mean to you?

Horizontal links are the superpower of Ukraine that we have confirmed during the large-scale war… We are organizing ourselves by building communities, small projects, and moving forward. A leader has to understand what the global challenges are…and by small steps contribute to solving this global [challenge], which in our case are security, peace, women leadership, and economic and social issues.

What or who inspires you in your work?

We were under occupation for five months, and we needed to do something, so we moved to the Odessa region, where I went to work as a practical psychologist at a school. I realized that children needed my help because my daughter also needed my help. I saw that the teachers were also anxious, so I began to look at implementing a program for them as well, as they should be good mentors to the children.

How do you, as a current or future leader, help to shape a better world?

The way that I help to shape a better world is through the work I do. The Children at War program gives therapeutic and developmental resources to teachers, and the benefits of this are felt by the children. This approach singles out everyone as an individual, providing teachers with tools to provide psychological assistance to children and a reference point for what the mental and emotional development of this generation of children should look like.

What or who inspires you in your work?

My colleagues and my family inspire me in my work. My main motivation in doing what I do is because I want to go home to see my friends and family. I believe that all people have the right to live in safety and freedom.

What does being a “current or future leader” mean to you?

To be a leader is to be responsible, ready to organize people, inspire people, and help them to make the world better. If you want to be a leader and work with people, you should set a great example…and inspire people by what you are doing.

What does being a “current or future leader” mean to you?

[Leadership is] taking an active role in social life, political life, and business life. It's thinking beyond your own needs or your family, [and about] a bigger community, city, country, region, and world. [It’s] taking responsibility for that and performing action. If you are there, you just do it. And of course, it takes time. It's a learning process. It's a lot of slow experimentation. But if you're on that path, people see you shining and radiating with energy and passion…I believe that people should be influencing the life around [them]. Everyone should be a leader.

What or who inspires you in your work?

I have met so many amazing activists and I know international experts and public officials… people on the ground near the war-affected zones have to rearrange their lives. They have to maintain [their] energy level and do extra work. People volunteer and donate and support others. They have to support themselves first, but they have this resourcefulness. This is outstanding that [they have the ability to rebuild] when a settlement is almost destroyed and [they have] hope and vision. Because hope is what drives things. When people are depressed, when they're down, nothing will move around. But they have this internal fire that can ignite others. [I have] big respect for those people.
 

What or who inspires you in your work?

Before the war started in February 2022, I was looking [up to people] outside Ukraine, [such as] some international leaders and people who inspired me [with] their work and their brilliant life. But now Ukrainian people, Ukrainian women, and older Ukrainian men and children inspire me to do my work because my country [in] the last year and a half has shown that we are [a] very strong, brave, and united nation. If we stay together, we will survive. We could build a better future for all citizens, all my neighbors, my friends, my relatives, and especially the men and women who are fighting now in the armed forces of Ukraine.

What does being a “current or future leader” mean to you?

I changed [my point of view on what leadership is]. If you asked me two years ago, I would say that it is to be as effective as possible to create big projects, raise a lot of money for my projects, and for my NGOs to do something big in Ukraine and to change this system. But now [leadership is] doing my work every day, doing it professionally, and keeping my team in good condition. [Checking] to see if anyone from my team needs some help, especially if their families are very close to the frontline. It is my responsibility to help them go through that life situation and to keep our work stable, professional, and [create] results.

What is the biggest challenge you've overcome in your professional life?

It's a challenge to do my work because the war is constantly changing. Every day something new is happening, the situation is different, and you need to be adaptable and flexible. It requires a lot of attention and mental energy... It's really hard to work on difficult and sensitive tasks. Last year, I worked on a lot of humanitarian aid projects, providing cash grants and other things… Now, I'm working on social cohesion and answering questions like “How we can strengthen the social fabric inside of Ukraine?” But it's a war and we are speaking about unity and tensions and those are things that will change and solidify over time. I personally had difficulties deciding if I still wanted to work in peacebuilding. The situation is tough and all the work we had done over the last six years was gone, so it feels like starting over. We had to decide what projects to start again. We had to ask, “Is this working with conflict-related issues in the war?” It’s one of the most challenging things. 

What is the biggest challenge you've overcome in your professional life?

For my friends, my colleagues, and me, I can tell that we are really exhausted. We are burning out. For several months, we have tried to take care of ourselves, as it’s very important to us. As a group, we have conversations about how we can manage what is happening, how we can save our active energy, and how we can help each other. There are a lot of components, including mental health, physical health, and working through trauma.

How do you, as a current or future leader, help to shape a better world?

I am a trainer on gender equality and I believe that education is the most important thing. I believe that human rights and gender equality are basic rights. The basic problem when you’re working on human rights is that you do not see results very quickly. You are working against a prevailing attitude of stereotypes, stigma, and discrimination. I use a three-part gender approach- relief, resilience, and recovery. I use these exact skills now in my work, on a very small scale. It’s not always about humanitarian aid. Sometimes it's about conversations like “How are you? I want to help you. I understand you. I have had a similar experience". So, it's about leadership and humanity.