E046 Masha Vysotska

Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 0:08 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 rare girls are inspiring. And this is what this podcast is all about. Hello, my name is Aziz and my guest today is Masha Vysotska. Masha is a flex alumna of 2017, and the senior at Minerva University USA concentrating in brand management and scalable growth. Marsha enjoys discovering the world learning behavioral science, doing tarot card readings and approaching life with a slow living mindset. Marsha is proud to study in the most innovative university in the world, and to experience different lifestyles in seven countries. During her four years studies at Minerva she shares her life in Tiktok as well, at Marcia adventures. Marcia, how are you today? Masha Vysotska 1:23 Hi, thank you so much for having me. I'm doing well. Thank you. And yeah, that's a great day in Malta today where I'm currently in. So I'm really happy about that. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 1:35 I'm very happy for you, you sound excited, you sound positive. And to begin this conversation by understanding a bit more about you. If your friends are the people who know you would describe who you are, what is your personality? What would they say? Masha Vysotska 1:55 Oh, that's a tricky question, because it makes me think from their interpretive lenses. But I think that they would say that I'm kind of person who likes to have fun, but also is open to deep conversations and discussing serious stuff. So I guess I would say balance between these two. And also a fan of slow living, as you already mentioned, no matter how busy my life gets, I'm trying to listen to myself to my needs, and trying to enjoy the life and every moment. So I guess this slowly in mindset really helps me to kind of survive and not even survive, but to go through the life and just enjoy every second. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 2:41 You must be a medium psychic, tarot readings have helped a lot because my next question was gonna be about slow living. And I'm curious to ask you, a lot of people will think Oh, my God, you study at Minerva. It's really difficult. You must be studying 24/7 live in like with some vitamin B six, and B 12. And all this stuff so that you don't need so much sleep? How can you reconcile slow living with all the tasks and duties and adventures and things that you do throughout the day? Masha Vysotska 3:18 Yes, that's a great question. And I think I spent three years figuring it out that in at Minerva, I think that the most and the biggest priority for me that I realized is that if I'm not in the resource, if I'm not fulfilled with the energy and the resource, the effort that I have to put into the assignments into the I don't know, social responsibilities, I just cannot cope with them well, so I just realized that kind of like listening to what I need, like, even at what time I need to wake up, or what are my priorities for this day? Like, is it assignment? Is it academics? Is it socializing, I guess that's what made me feel like I need to kind of slow down. And physically, we cannot do everything at once like we are all humans, and we all need to sleep well to eat well, to like exercise to feel well as well. So I guess just realizing that you have only yourself at at last year at the end. And then everything else is after that. So just listening and also prioritizing. What you think you should do today is very essential. And it's more important than any assignment or any, like, maybe socializing that you don't really feel like doing on certain days. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 4:47 Thank you. That's really important. And there is this idea that in order to get to a goal, you must start first sacrifice your health yourself, everything until you arrive and then When you have arrived, you can have a more balanced life. Again, for more clarification, why do you feel or believe that's the wrong way to go about things. Masha Vysotska 5:12 I mean, I think nowadays in the society, we are very much pressured to achieve things and to go to the goals, you know, like, kind of sacrificing everything, sacrificing your well being and sacrificing your relationships with people. And I think this is a wrong way to go. Because like, at last you what you have is on yourself, as I already mentioned, and if you don't feel happy with your life, if you don't feel satisfied, you won't flourish, and you won't feel like you achieved the goals that you wanted to you can set a goal and then when once you have it, you can realize that oh, that's not what I wanted, at least at the end. Right? So I guess this is the wrong way, because people focus on the end goal and not on the progress. But the truth is that, I guess personally, to me, I'm enjoying the process of achieving this goal as well. So it's all about the process as well. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 6:11 I really like that. Thank you. And to pivot into something that is related, but could we not? Are out three days? How did you get into this hobby or activity? What do you believe about life? How are things happening? Tell me your whole Meta physical, spiritual approach? Masha Vysotska 6:35 Yeah, that's a really great question. And I think that I got into that maybe like, one and a half year ago, I was always interested in spirituality, but specifically Tarot reading came into my life when I went to one of the tarot readings back in Ukraine. And that woman literally scared me to death. Like she told me all the bad stuff, she told me like something that was happening in my, in my life, like some dark magic or something. So I got really scared. And then I started questioning this Tarot reading stuff. And I just concluded that if I'm very interested in that, why, like, why not trying it by myself, you know, and I just got the cards and I self learned over the summer. And I just loved it so much, because I think about Tarot reading and tarot cards in general, as a tool to kind of see the energy of the person or the energy of myself currently, and then see where the person or I should direct that energy to achieve or to get whenever I want, or whenever, wherever they want. So I guess it's not like something, you know, scary or magical, or I know some people are scared of that. To me, it's just the tool, and it doesn't depend on the religion on your viewpoints. So this is just something that helped me and my friends as well. So yeah, it's just helps to direct the person and to make the right choices. I guess. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 8:13 I like that. And I'm really interested in learning more about your perspective about the energy of the person which you mentioned. Are you an empath? Do you feel people's energy? And how do you explain it? Do you feel there are people in this world that as soon as you meet them, you're like, Oh, my God, I feel like you know, you're all my life or in a previous reincarnation, it's so nice and smooth, and some other people that can be nice or whatever, but the energies reject each other, et cetera. What's your perspective on this? Have you experienced it? And how important is energy for you? Masha Vysotska 8:51 Yeah, that's also a great question. I think that, first of all, I'm not an empath. And I think that being an empath is very hard, emotionally to feel the people to feel how they feel and kind of take their energy and their perceptions, as well. So I guess it's like, a little bit, I'm also kind of happy that I'm not an empathy. Because I think it's, it's very, very challenging, but from perspective of feeling the energies of people, I guess, that I'm trying to be more observant at first, but also being open. Like I have some topics or, you know, like some limits to be opened with people when I see them for the first time, but then going into deeper conversations or being more open and become very close friends. It's very, like challenging for me in the way that I'm very selective with my surrounding. And I guess, as you mentioned, like if you click with the person right away, or if you feel like you're, you have been knowing them for the whole life. So, from my experience, it ends up being toxic or it ends up being not what you expected. So I guess now I'm trying to be more rational and cautious when I feel like there is some chemistry or something right away. I'm trying to be more cold hearted and more rational not to be kind of damaged or short in the future. So I guess stable and healthy development of relationships and energies is more like it's better for me rather than chemistry in the very beginning. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 10:36 Thank you. And why or how do you feel other people can hurt you? Is it related to the black magic voodoo? Found the Tarot Oh, man that told you or because, look, sometimes, it's for people to know you. You have to be yourself or therefore you open up and then the wrong people will behave in a way that is hurtful, but all very say is, I'm not the right person to be in your life and the right people will get to know that you're compatible fast. Do you know what I mean? Let me know more. And explain the toxicity are speaking about because it sounds very, like very mean sociopath people. Masha Vysotska 11:25 Yeah, I think that, like being toxic here, I guess I meant not the people, but the relationship I ended up with. So I guess it comes from both sides. And I think that here, the most important thing for me personally, because it depends on my reactions a lot. It doesn't, it doesn't mean that the person is bad, or they behave like you know, hopefully, or, like sociopaths or something like this. No, I think from my side, when I feel like the person really matches me at first, I guess I build a lot of expectations in my head, and I start idolizing them. And then when those expectations are not mad, of course, I'm disappointed. And I'm very sad. And like maybe some of the actions that people make, yes, they can be bad sometimes. And this contributes to those like, this is not what I expected. But in like, overall, we are all humans, and we all make mistakes. So I don't blame them for that. So I guess the most important thing here is not black magic, but not building expectations from my side. And then also just like letting people believe in on their own and then see if our energies match and not like dragging each other into each other lives. For like forcibly. Yeah, so yeah, Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 12:51 thank you. So that sounds to me, like brand management, I guess that's why you chose it or you create expectations. And over time, through the content or the actions you show the values you stand for and let the relationships develop over time. Yeah, exactly. Why did you choose brand management and scalable growth? What's the story behind that? Masha Vysotska 13:15 Yeah, I think that I chose first of all, I chose business industry in general, because I think it's applicable everywhere. No matter where you study, no matter. No, doesn't matter where you open your business, I think it's always in need. And people will always need products and some brands and like we will always be consumers. That's why I chose that industry. And then as for brand management, I guess brands have now become really like, important for people because some people see in them, even like persons or like image of a person or like a close friends and they are being loyal to them, rather than just the producer of the product. Because if the brand has their image, if the brand has their like message and values that the consumers share, I guess it's not just the company that sells something, but also like, you know, like a messaging or the transparency of something more important. And the product is just the addition to whatever they're messaging and scale. And I'm really like excited about that. I'm really passionate about developing this messages and kind of like attracting new customers and making sure they see all the advantages of the product that we are given but also the the values, the guiding principles that the brand has, and why scalable growth I guess it's just because I'm I was interested in the startup environment, but I got to work in those contexts. So I think scalable growth is like a middle in between startups and international companies. And I think those have also a lot of like kind of growth to have. That's why I think scalable growth is one of the, like, best decisions for me personally, because it's not that big as international companies where you feel like you're contributing, but you don't really see the results of your work. But also, it's not a startup that is very risky. So that's why scalable growth companies I think are more like balanced. Yeah. But you can also kind of influence the overall result. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 15:37 I agree very much with this reasoning. And I'm curious about your brand and perspective, as a country. How would you think about the brand of Ukraine? Do you think it was, especially after the invasion and the war, etc, branded correctly? What is the future brand that you might want to build for it? And if you had an opportunity to be like, one of the branding experts for Ukraine, how would that be? Masha Vysotska 16:08 Wow, that's such a creative question. I've never thought about that. And I'll have to improvise now. Not that I was ready for any of the questions before. But I think, first of all, Ukraine's main value is freedom. And that's what we are observing now. And that's what we saw in the previous years as well. And not only since 2014, but I think since 1991, when we got our freedom. And I think people who live in Ukraine, all share this value. And this is the most important one for us currently. And, yeah, I think also, now, support is essential. And this is another value. And I think, like countries kind of that are now watching that from outside, they can see that people really value their freedom. And I think, for us, this is the most important thing. And other than that, like nothing really comes to my mind, except for that, like, I remember when I was in the gap year program, we had this motto, I'm Ukraine, I love freedom. And I think I relate to that since then, like, Oh, my life, and I will be related to that as well. And as for the future, I guess we will just have to keep that and not allow any, like government, any other government. Any other people take it from us. So I guess, yes, freedom is our religion kind of thing. Or, you know, our motto, you call it however you want. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 17:48 Thank you. That's really, really interesting. And I loved your perspective on it. And to ask you, since we're speaking about Ukraine, and the whole situation, how was February 24 for you? How did you hear about the war? How did you feel what happened? Tell me the whole story. Masha Vysotska 18:09 Yeah. So on February 24, I was spending my semester in London, studying at Minerva. And I remember that I slept through the morning, like the awful morning when the explosions, you're in the country. So when I woke up, it was maybe 9am 9:30am. And actually, my flatmate woke me up, because he was reading all the news online. And when I looked at my phone, I saw like a lot of messages from my friends from my family members. And I was shocked, like, I was lost and shocked and confused, I guess, because I couldn't believe that this is happening. And I immediately started to call my parents to make sure that everything is okay. I also have a seven year old sister and it was very, like, I don't know, like very scary for me to think even what they are going through back in Ukraine. And yeah, so I was just crying. And I didn't know how I could help because one thing is that like, one thing is when you are there, and when you're physically there, and you physically can help to kind of calm down your mom, you know, to make tea or I don't know, to like, help them pack the stuff to move out of the flat. And another thing is when you're away from them and when you're safe and like my mom said that you should be happy that you're safe and you should take care of yourself now but I just couldn't because I couldn't like fully realized that this is happening and my family is in danger and my friends are in danger as well. So I guess I was just really scared, confused and very lost. In reality, and during the day, I couldn't really do any of the academics. And I just, yeah, I just was alone to process the stuff that is happening. And of course, follow the news. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 20:12 Thank you. I understand. And it was really, really hard that was there actually, in Kyiv when the war started with the sirens and the evacuations and everything and you now seeing how this war is going, how the economy of Ukraine is suffering, with cetera and so many millions of Ukrainians are now abroad, they had time to start a new life and new education, new jobs. Do you feel when it's time for Ukraine's victory, that people will think yes, it will be difficult, but I will return and rebuild. Or they're saying, Well, I have a good thing here. Let me work abroad and send money and help to the country back home. What do you think, from you speaking with other Ukrainians, etc, is the more likely path? Masha Vysotska 21:08 This is a very complex question, because I think that I cannot like answer for millions of people who fled, like who had to leave Ukraine because of war. But I guess there are a lot of people in my kind of circle of communication, who want to come back home and who wants to continue living there, especially my generation I think we are more optimistic about that and optimistic about country's development. But also I can see a lot of people online on social media who are sharing that they will not go back especially those who faced the invasion twice, for example, in 2014 and now and I think those people just kind of losing the hope of the country flourishing or the country being free completely. So I think that it like both options are working for the country, whether you're helping from outside or from inside, if it makes sense, but at the same time, I guess if a lot of people especially young people leave Ukraine now and never come back, we will lose a lot of like resource of talented people, and the country will definitely suffer. So I guess I cannot forecast even with Tarot card readings. I cannot forecast how many people will come back, but I really hope that it will be sufficient for the country to grow further. Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 22:41 Thank you and useful about burrowed? Do you have any story of like, something surprising or something really, really, like spooky or crazy that happened after you discovered or did or a Tarot reading about it? Was there like a miracle or coincidence something that furthered your belief in it? Or as you said, it's only about the energy and reading the energies? Masha Vysotska 23:09 Yeah. Also, great question. I think that for myself, I am never surprised by the coincidences that happen. Like I'm, I do tarot card readings frequently for myself, especially if there is a new month coming up. Like, for example, for September, I will do one for myself, you know, for general like 12 areas of my life. And I think when some coincidences happen in my life, which is like 95, probably percent of time. I'm not really surprised. But when my friends for example, asked me to do tarot card readings, and then I do it and then after a while, they are like, Oh, my God, Masha, you arrived. Can you do another one for me, please? I am very surprised. Like I think one story I remember is that back in December when I was visiting my family in Kyiv, at home, I did a tarot card reading for some waitress in some like place with hamburgers. I don't even remember that place. And she was she was just there. And she saw that I'm doing tarot card readings for my friend. And when my friend left, she came up to me and said, Can you please do one for me? And I said, of course. So I did one and I don't even remember. I don't remember what I told her. I don't remember what was the reading about, but she reached out to me maybe like two months ago, after all this time? And she said, Oh, do you remember you did a tarot card reading for me and everything you said is actually correct. And everything happened and I'm so thankful for your like directions and you know your preparation. So I was really really surprised. And like, that didn't scare me. But that just like made me even more confident that this thing works. And if you also believe in that if you're open to that, it will definitely help you Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 24:59 fail. Thank you so much, Marsha. This was such an interesting conversation. I learned a lot about you and all I can say really is Slava Mcrainey. Here I am, Slava, I wish you a good day. Thank you again, and enjoy Malta and keep sharing on your pic doc, Masha Vysotska 25:19 thank you so much for having me.