Episode Transcript
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 0:00
Femininity is powerful in all its forms exceptional women. Rare girls must be appreciated in every way for their perspectives, actions, thoughts, and their unique ways of being. Such girls are inspiring. And this is what this podcast is all about. Hello, my name is Aziz and my guest today is Lilia Minko. Lilia is the vice president of outgoing global volunteer for AISEC in Kyiv, Ukraine. She loves dancing, learning languages, discovering other cultures, and currently she's studying Swedish and Dutch at Taras Shevchenko National University here, Lilia, how are you today?
Lilia Minko 0:59
Yes, I'm fine today. Thank you so much, and how are you?
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 1:03
I'm feeling grateful, lucky and very, very curious about you. And I want to ask from all your hobbies. Which ones are you doing these days? More often? Which ones are you most active with?
Lilia Minko 1:21
Thank you for your question. So I can say that I'm doing different hobbies right now, because I have really a lot of time. First of all, I want to say that one of my favorite hobbies is to learn new cultures to learn new languages. So right now, most of my time I study languages is that is Swedish Dutch. Also, AM, for example, practicing my English and watching different movies or film something like that. And sometimes, I'm dancing at home. Yes, it's also my favorite hobbies. So I can say that I'm doing all my hobbies right now, because I have time for this.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 2:10
Thank you. And if you could say something that is similar between you dancing at home, and you learn in languages and learning about new cultures, what is common between them? What emotional or interesting that is similar about that?
Lilia Minko 2:30
Thank you for the question. I can say that. Maybe it's my love to this hobbyist. Because when I'm learning languages, I can say that I'm so happy. And I'm that and when I'm dancing in my home, I'm also so happy so I can say that it's really my big Lau to what I'm doing right now.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 2:55
I like that being and feeling happy. And this podcast is about femininity about women and about all that. What is it for you to be a woman? Is it an energy? Is it a look anaesthetics? Is it a behavior? How would you describe it? And what makes you feel like a woman?
Lilia Minko 3:20
Yes, firstly, I can say that it's my power. Because I'm sure and I can see that women right now are so strong, they are so powerful. And I can say that it's all about behavior. It's about aesthetic. It's about everything, actually. It's about a strong, really strong energy, a strong power of being women. So yes, I can say that it's, it's about everything.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 3:55
Thank you. And since you described it as power and about everything, what is masculinity and how you experience a man for you? What is it and how is it different to a woman?
Lilia Minko 4:10
Okay, I can say that masculinity, of course, it's also very important, and I really believe that as masculinity as femininity, yes. Thank you so much. They were both so important there in its place, really an important role in my loves in my life. So I can say that. It's both it's very important thing right now.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 4:39
Thank you and tell me about dance. Have you ever had that experience of dancing where you feel like Time stops like you're moving in slow motion, and almost watching yourself doing something really cool and magical? Or is it more for you or about energy released in energy, feeling energy and just almost like chaotic fun
Lilia Minko 5:07
for me. First of all, of course, it's about energy. Because I've been dancing for eight years. And I visited to really a lot of championships, something like that. competitions. And every time when I'm dancing, I feel myself really happy. And as you have already said, like, the time really stopped, and I'm feeling myself happy. I'm really proud of myself, because other people can watch my year dance. And they appreciate this, especially when it when it's, and when we are talking about competitions. And yes, times really stop in this moment, and I'm feeling so happy.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 5:59
What is the importance of other people watching you do something that makes you very happy? Is it different to if you're doing it alone and feeling that happiness at home or without people watching?
Lilia Minko 6:14
Actually, I can say that, of course, it's not so important when people look at you. But it makes me feel happy when people are satisfied of my work. So for example, I can motivate them, I can inspire them. And after my dances, they can also start to dance. So yes, it's more about motivation. It's more about inspiring other people. And in this occasion, I guess I can say that it's so important. Yes,
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 6:50
thank you. If you are to describe what is the meaning of inspiring others, what is inspiration? How does someone feel when they're inspired? What would you say?
Lilia Minko 7:05
I can say that it's so important, because I'm now a vice president, and I am working with really a lot of people, for example, in my department, and I'm a leader, and I should inspire my team every time. I see when they are inspired by me, they have fire in their eyes, if you if you can understand this, this feeling so I can feel them. It's so important to feel people. When you're talking about for example, when I'm talking about my experience, about my year, I don't know about my internships are where I was interested in interested in my experience in this country, about my hobbies. And I'm, I'm feeling satisfied and feeling proud of myself. And they also feel me, and they have fire really in their eyes. And this is really inspiration. So it's something it's so important not only to inspire other people, but also to be inspired by another people. So I can say that the inspiration plays really important role in my life.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 8:16
I really love that. And we cannot not speak about the situation in Ukraine and the war and the invasion and all that. How did you experience that first day of war? Where were you? And how did these weeks change you as a person?
Lilia Minko 8:34
I think that this situation changed every person in Ukraine. One day before the war started, my aunt called me. And she said I was in Kia and she said be go home. Please. We are waiting for you one day before the war. And I came home I was engaged and I came home. I'm from the region. And we were talking a lot. I have plans to go to this, like on weekends. And we were talking about the deaths about other places in Ukraine. And we were really happy because we spent really the whole evening talking about Ukraine. And when it when it started, like at 4am, my friend from Korea called me and she was shooting she was crying a lot. And I really had goose bumps on my body. I didn't believe really. I woke up I started to read news and I was really shocked. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep I couldn't doing anything really. And it was really so hard for me to understand what's going on right now. It was so hard for the first week. Yes I was laying on my bed all the time, I was reading news, and that's it. But after this, I understood that live one. And I started to, I started to live trying to live. So I communicated with all my friends all the time, I communicated with my team, with my family, I started to do some exercise and something like this, I started to do my everyday routine, so to to feel myself better. And yes, it helped me a lot. And I can say that, of course, the situation changed me so much. I understood that people should be ready for everything. Like, you should be ready, really, to live in different situation. And let's move on. And you should understand that you have your family, you have your friends, and you shouldn't give up, especially when you're a vice president, and you have really a lot of people who you are leading. And yes, I understood that. I can't give up i shouldn't want. Even in this situation, I started to help our army, I started to volunteer more and more, and it really helped me. So yes, I think that this situation changed to really me a lot.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 11:32
Thank you. And if someone is listening, and they want to become a better leader, maybe become a vice president someday or anything, what did you learn about leading people, and what's your method to inspire others and motivate them?
Lilia Minko 11:51
First of all, it's so important to feel your people like to meet people, it's not so easy, because people are so different. So you need to have really good communication skill. So you can feel people you can, you can feel what they want to achieve what they want to do. And you should always educate yourself, first of all, and then your people, every time when, for example, we have different meeting, I'm preparing for two for three hours to create something unusual to create something new, to give really useful information for these people, to inspire them in different ways. I'm also for example, when I want to motivate them, I'm preparing different motivational speeches. So I'm reading different information in internet. So yes, I prepare different presentations, something like that. So to do my best for this people, like because I'm responsible for their experience in their organization, if we're talking like common, I'm responsible, I'm finally responsible for their results for their experience. So I should do my best to motivate them to inspire them to give them useful information. So yes,
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 13:23
thank you so much. This is absolutely so fascinating. And you're very interesting. And you're a very good communicator. So how did you learn that? And how do you see communication? In your mind when you think about communication? Is it for you like sharing yourself? Is it for you a logical and structural exercise? Like what is your approach or way of thinking about communicating clearly,
Lilia Minko 13:56
okay. My leadership experience started, when I was at school, I decided to apply for a president of the school and I was a president. And from this time, I was so interested in communication, because I saw, like a lot of leaders, and they were talking always that the most important thing is communication. And I started to read a lot of information about how to communicate, right, how to share your emotion, how to, like speak structurally. So, as you said, and I started just to serve different information, and I can say that it's about different things. It's about your behavior. It's about your minds. It's about your thoughts, because every person is so different. So for example, when I'm talking, I'm doing I I'm, um behaved like, my behavior is so different, and I like it. But some people when they are talking, they, for example, they are staying and they didn't like moving or something like that. So it depends on the person. But my advice is to, to learn different information about this, and then implement this like to try different things. And then every person will understand what is better for the certain person. So, the most important things, don't be afraid and always experiment, always trying something new. And then everyone can understand what is better for the person.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 15:45
Thank you. And again, returning to the situation in Ukraine, what are your thoughts about what will happen next? Do you think this war will stay a long time? Do you think it will finish soon? Do you think the millions of Ukrainians who are living abroad now will return to Ukraine? Or do you feel they started maybe a new life so they will continue outside?
Lilia Minko 16:12
I really, really hope and I really believe that this war will end soon. Because as we can see, Ukrainians now are so strong. A lot of countries, a lot of foreigners, they are talking about Ukraine, they are talking about this situation, and I really believe that this will answer. And as for people who move abroad, I also really, I don't know for sure, because it's, of course, this kinda difficult question. But I think that mostly people will come back to Ukraine, because they should understand, I think they should understand that Ukraine need people like after the war, Ukraine will need us, especially young people, because our generation is the next generation who will lead Ukraine who will lead this country. So I really believe that our Ukrainian youth understand this. Because for example, when I'm talking about my friends from Korea, from the University, from Isaac, a lot of them are now abroad, but they are missing Ukraine so much, and they want to come back so much, and most really, mostly of my friends, they will come back. And I hope that really a lot of people will come back and we'll help you create after the war.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 17:50
Thank you so much. And there are some sociologists and psychologists who think can say that this war will leave a trauma on the personalities of all Ukrainians and all the Society for generations to come. Where there'll be a lot more depression, helplessness, negativity, do you agree with this? Or what is your perception based on the people you know? Or do you think when there will be a victory day that will be such a celebration that everybody will become much more positive, dynamic, and heal all the traumas,
Lilia Minko 18:30
and this is actually so interesting, I think that of course, we will have trauma in our lives. Because this is horrible situation. And we will remember this for all our life. And we will tell this to our children and something like this. But I want to believe and I want to hope that after the celebration, people start people will start to think positively because it's a responsibility is the responsibility to build new Ukraine, if I can say so. It's a big responsibility. So it's very important to stay positive to create something new to do everything for Ukraine to unite with other people. So I really want to believe that everything will be okay.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 19:32
Thank you so much. Lilia, this was enriching. This was wonderful and super valuable. I wish you to keep going. And Slava Ukraini
Lilia Minko 19:44
Heroyam Slava, thank you so much for this. I'm so happy to participate in your podcast.
