Meet The Founder 2
Born in the soulful city Kiev (Ukraine), I came to New York in 1989 with my 2.5 month old baby, my then husband, 2 suitcases (with mostly baby stuff), about $25 in cash, big dreams and a lot of passion for life.
I’ve been very fortunate to have had a pretty cool career in Fashion doing what I loved, then later the opportunity to transform it into a glamorous position as a Creative Director in Digital Product & Experience Design. And now, as an Entrepreneur, I have merged both worlds into one, my latest creation & passion - Untamed Hearts - the brand I have founded and believe, will touch thousands of people with energy of love, healing & protection. The brand that is more than a jewelry line, where each piece tells an unapologetic story of individuality, light & darkness, love & unity, that celebrates, connects and inspires people, where the message “Peace For All” is injected in every item we create.
I’ve often been asked,
"What are you doing? How did it all happen? How did you leave these dream jobs?”
Well, I will do my best to condense the story as much as possible and give you a short version of it:
Fashion has always been in my DNA. I remember myself being spell-bounded, watching my Grandma for hours in her atelier, tailoring perfectly fitted dresses. Since 9 years old I started to design and make clothing, first for myself, then for my mom, friends, teachers, clients… Fashion Design was my first true love.
Fashion has always been in my DNA. I remember myself being spell-bounded, watching my Grandma for hours in her atelier, tailoring perfectly fitted dresses. Since 9 years old I started to design and make clothing, first for myself, then for my mom, friends, teachers, clients… Fashion Design was my first true love.
Once I arrived in New York, the City quickly became my home, my teacher, and has given me so much inspiration as a designer.
Looking back at my 10 years in Fashion, seeing the clothing I have created on the shelves of Urban Outfitters, Anthropology, Nordstrom and then watching them appear unexpectedly in the movies and on the coolest TV shows, took my love affair with Fashion to a totally new height.
Even after I decided to leave the fashion industry, I ended up remaining loyal to my love and reconnected to it through the window of the digital world.
After an intense year of studying interactive design at Parsons, my first job landed me at the sharply heeled offices of Conde Nast and I’d found myself working at Style.com reporting on runways, designing the first ever independent site for W Magazine, next was Glamour magazine, Self, Brides, lots of marketing campaigns for Vogue, GQ and number of other publications. A few years later, I was given the opportunity as a Creative Director to upgrade and recreate digital product in the world of Daily News.
I have always been driven by passion, by the desire to take care of people beyond the surface, to find a way to make them feel. The idea of making their lives better and asking the question “What would they love?” from that place the process of creating people-centered product, would start.
Politics and performance metrics have never been my cup of tea.
So, many projects later it became more an more clear to me that working in the corporate world, as comfortable at times as it could've been, was not where I belonged.
I gave up security of the daily 9-5, began working with private clients, people with similar consciousness and close to me in spirit. Helping them to grow their new brands from the ground up, create new businesses, strategies and campaigns. Taking them through the creative process that only large corporations were able to afford.
At the same time I was studying (a lot of studying) from the best teachers in the industry like Eben Pagan, Jeff Walker, Kriss Carr and others, about new ways to create heart-centered businesses.
I was buzzing (still am) because finally, after 25 years of my professional life, I've found a community of people who have the same values and approach to what matters most.
In between all those things Untamed Hearts was conceived.
Here is the beginning of the NOW and the creative journey known as “Untamed Hearts”.
I believe that jewelry can be both beautiful and meaningful, and at the same time cary the energy that we, with special connections, inject in every piece - the energy of love, protection and healing that will help people to open their hearts and embrace our differences. Energy that today is very much needed in our world…
Thank you so much for taking the time and reading this far.
I hope this is only the beginning of our relationship.
I invite you to experience Untamed Hearts Collections, to connect to the energy, the inspiration behind the jewelry + share the love.
Here are a few of my personal favorites:
With all my love, xx
