E168 Milana Platonova

Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother. She is really my superhero. That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities, perspectives, and emotions about this world. In these difficult times in human history, we need to bring the people of the world together. And when we hear the voices of women, when we listen to real lives of women from other countries, we connect our cultures without our differences or stereotypes, and we get inspired by their stories to live a better life. That's what this podcast is all about. My guest today is Milana Platonova. Milana is from Krivirich, Ukraine, and currently a third-year student in VN Karazin Kharkiv National University. Her subject is international relations with in-deep learning of Chinese. Milana is an activist and member of the All Ukrainian Social Democracy Platform. She is also engaged in the development of the youth sector and together with her team held several events in this area. Milana, how are you today? Hi, Aziz. Thank you for the invitation and I'm really excited to be here today. I'm honored. I'm happy. I feel very lucky to have you here and curious about you as a person. So I'll begin with this nice question. If your friends, the people who know you best, could describe your personality, what would they say about you? Oh, I think that if my friends will describe my personality, they probably will say that I'm energetic, I'm persistent, I'm confident. Of course, emotional and maybe loyal. I like that. And I want to understand a bit more because you study international relations, you're someone who organizes events, which is something that needs a lot of logic, a lot of rationality and organization, yet you describe yourself as emotional. And of course, emotion gives you passion. But how do you balance both because usually it's difficult, like artists are very emotional but chaotic. They cannot be organized or someone who can be like an accountant, they control too much their emotions and therefore they're too organized and don't have enough passion. So how does it work for you? Actually, for me, it's really important to be involved in different fields, in different areas. Because I can't sit on one place, I always want to do something new and to know something new. So I'm trying to balance. Of course, you're really right that it's really hard sometimes, but I'm a really emotional person. So with my friends, for example, I can be really friendly, but in like a business era, let's say like that, I try to be more concentrated. I understand. And that makes me wonder, if you are someone who likes to try new things, to explore, to experience new emotions, usually you get bored very fast. I don't know if it is about you, but normally this is the way. So how do you do things that are long term, things like studying that can get boring and repetitive or being in the same place for a long time? How do you add emotions to your life and keep yourself disciplined even when doing boring but important things? Actually, I try to motivate myself. I see the goal and I go to it. For me, it's not so hard because in the past I used to be a professional tennis player. And I grew up in a sports family. My father was a professional football player, so I had a discipline in my childhood. And for me, it's not a problem now. Great. And when you said that you're a professional tennis player, it made me also think that requires a lot of discipline like in deep learning of Chinese, which is difficult and long term. Why did you choose Chinese? Why the focus on China and Asia compared to any other part of the world? Are you a girl who was always in love with K-pop and Japanese anime and the Chinese culture and you wanted to explore that? Or how does it happen? I don't know how it happened. Since my childhood, I was really interested in learning foreign languages and started learning English. Then I started learning Germany and then I decided then why not? Chinese, it's a great language. I just wanted to get closer to their culture because it's really interesting and it's really unusual for us. That is why I chose to learn Chinese language. Thank you. And I'm still curious about you. I want to get the full picture. I didn't even know you were a tennis player. I want to know more. So let's imagine typically, and I know the situation now is very horrible, but in an ideal world, how would be your day, a day that gives you all the emotions you want as well as progresses you towards all the goal you want? Where would you live? Would you be on the beach in Greece or in Hollywood, California or in Shanghai or Tokyo? What would you do first in the morning? Would it be like yoga or reading or meeting friends? I don't know, but can you describe an ideal perfect day for you? Where would it be? Would the weather be spring or autumn or winter? I don't know if you're a lover of snow. Tell me everything. Oh, yeah. I really like yoga, you said about it and I just like, yeah, I want it my perfect day. I think that it will be somewhere in America or in London. It was my dream since childhood to really want to be there and I hoped to be there someday. So I think that it will be maybe autumn or winter. I can choose because I like both. So I will start with a glass of water of course, then of yoga, then I will have my maybe some classes of Chinese or Germany because I really like it and really enjoy the process. Then maybe I will have a work. I really enjoy now and I'm working like a social media manager. So I really like it. Then maybe I will meet with my friends and in the evening I will have maybe tennis, some tennis, yeah, or go to the gym, something like that. Thank you. I'm surprised. Why America if you're very fascinated with the German language and the Chinese culture? I don't know, but to be honest, I all the time I really like English language. So that is why America or London and Germany and Chinese, it's like a hobby, I think. So just I started learning English and then I decided, oh, why not to continue doing that? I like your attitude and I'm curious to understand specifically to you, what does it mean to be a woman? What is the energy of femininity? How do you compare it to the energy of masculinity? Maybe you experience masculinity, your energetic masculinity side in business, like you said, but with friends is more femininity. How would you explain how it feels? What is it? What are its characteristics for you specifically? You said about masculinity, oh yeah, it's really important question now. And I think that we should, we should support each other, especially now women, we're really in hard situation, so we can actually, we can do anything and we do it well. So we just not, we should not be afraid just to start. I agree 100%. To ask you a bit more about your activist work, the All Ukrainian Social Democracy Platform and Developing the Youth Sector, first, what did you feel the youth sector needs in order to develop more? What is interesting about it? And in general, how much do you feel that that culture of freedom in Ukraine encouraged the democracy and is part of the creation and development of the democratic institutions? Oh, that's a really interesting question. First of all, I want to start, I want to explain what is a platform is about actually. Our platform is, we engaged in the development of youth sector, as I said, in our country and in certain parts of the country. So we're trying to develop even a small communities as well as we're doing volunteering work, which you understand is really important for now. So about democracy situation in our country, I can't say that it's now in a good level, but I hope that in the future we will solve that issue. Thank you and I love your optimism. At the same time, I know the situation is very difficult. So how was that February 24 for you? How did you hear about the invasion? Did you believe it? Did you not believe it? What did you do? Why did you decide to be now in Ukraine and not be like many Ukrainians who are safer in other parts of Europe or North America? Tell me your story from the moment you heard that the Russian invasion started and your emotions in that day and the story of you from that day until now. Yeah, thank you for that question. I will start the week before 21st of February, to be honest, anyone believe in it. So we just we heard about it and we talked about it, but we just decided that the enemy just wanted to confuse us and distract. So I didn't believe in it, but I was at the moment in hierarchy. So I used to live there and it's the first city which Russians started to bomb. So I woke up about 4 a.m. just because of strange noises and I didn't understand what going on. Then I just looked out of the window, which was really dark. And I saw like a volley fire and I was what was going on, what I should do. So I didn't even call to my parents. I thought that maybe it's something that will solve. So I was really scared. I used to live with my mates, so I wasn't alone, luckily. So we decided to start packing our luggage because then we heard alarm and we just it was like a panic. So we decided to pick an emergency suitcase for a day skit, food, warm clothes, because you know, in such moments, you remember all the action movies and just what they will do. So I need to do something like that. And now I'm laughing. But at that moment, it was really hard. I called to my parents and luckily they are really caring and it was really dangerous. This city now, even now, the city is really it's crashed and it's booming every day. So my parents decided to back me to my hometown. So there was in the road about eight hours, I think. But usually we spent about three, three and a half. So it was hard. It was hard because at that day there were a lot of huge crowds in a petrol station and it was a lack of petrol. So it was literally impossible. But they did that when they finally arrived, the enemy was already in the city. And when we left the city, we passed by a column of tanks. We didn't know it was our equipment or not. So it was a really scary for me and of course, for my parents. So finally I get home. And after that, my mother's city Krivorich also started bombing. So my mother was really afraid of that. And we decided to go to Hungary. And I used to live in Hungary for three months, I think, but it was harder. It was really harder to be there than here because you all the time think about your parents, about your relatives, about you all the time with the news and you don't understand what's going on. So we decided to go back to Ukraine. And I'm really happy that I'm here. Thank you. I'm happy you're back in your country. And all I can say is slava ukraini. Hello, I'm Slava. And how was life now for you there in Krivorich? How was the situation? Did you before imagine you can be living in an okay, I don't mean it is okay, but like have some kind of normal life in a state of war? How was your emotion? Is it changing all the time? What are you doing to keep your mental health? Tell me everything. Yeah, it's really hard now. But what I can say, all Ukrainians were really brave and strong, because we are used to this explosion and we return to our normal life because, you know, the first time, I think the first half of the year, till maybe June or July, we just stuck, we stuck in that moment and we didn't realize what we should do. So now, of course, it's really hard. It's really hard because we have, for example, I can say about myself, I have work and I have study online lessons. So I just spend all the time in my laptop. And of course, I need a connection and good internet. So when the enemy bombed us, actually it happened every day. So we can just don't have light and don't have connection. And it's really hard just to find a place where you can, I don't know, send a message just to your parents that, okay, I'm okay. Don't worry about me. And yeah, it's really hard. Yeah, it's really hard in a mental level. So in some way, we're really confused. I can imagine your confusion and it's really, really difficult. Nowadays, how can you explain the difference and change in the culture of the people and of Ukrainians to others? Imagine someone who had never knew Ukrainians or only visited Ukrainians before the war. How did it change? Because some of the girls from Ukraine I interviewed, for example, they said, oh, before the war, I wasted so much time or I was a workaholic. But now I know every day plans can change and things can change. So I try to enjoy every day, to spend time with family, to not wait in the future, to be happy. And it changed their mindset because of the war and the experience. Some said they have more maturity. They don't care about the small problems because they have seen the big, big problems and death and destruction. So in general, in Krivirich, did you notice a difference in the culture of the people and their mindset, even in yourself and your friends? Yeah. Thank you for the question. And I absolutely agree with that girl. And I can see what's going on in my city and in Ukraine at all. So people, we started to, we began to support each other more. We began to think about others, not just to be like selfish, think only about ourselves. No. Now we're trying to do everything. We don't want to leave it for later because we understand that maybe we don't have time to do it because we're really afraid that we can, we will not have tomorrow. That is why our attitude towards even the simple things, it's absolutely changed. So yeah. I admire that it's absolutely very important. And to finish this, what is your advice to the youth and other women in Ukraine and in the world? Some things maybe you learned about life and being happy and living well that you wish someone told you two years or one year ago that you can share with them. Maybe it helps them increase their confidence, be more happy and take more action and progress and have their voices heard. Yeah. I can say that don't be afraid to try. Don't be afraid to act because everything depends from you and you can change everything and you have the power to do it. So just be confident and believe in yourself. Thank you so much, Milana. This was my privilege and my honor. I appreciate understanding you, hearing your thoughts. I wish peace and victory for Ukraine. I wish you to have your American dream and I wish you all the success in the world. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you for the podcast. I'm really happy to be here.