Episode Transcript
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 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 Tetiana Yehorova.
Tanya is a Ukrainian girl from Ternopil.
She is a member of Girls Leadership Academy 3.0.
Currently, she is working as an English teacher and she started her own speaking club to help
Ukrainians improve their English speaking skills.
Tanya plays the guitar and the ukulele.
She enjoys volunteering and traveling.
She has visited many cities in Ukraine, as well as traveled to Bulgaria, Italy and Poland
multiple times.
Tanya loves to spend time and travel with her friends and to try new things.
She also attends acting classes at the Ternopil Academic Theater of Taras Shevchenko, and
she will have a play premiere in May, which is very exciting.
Tanya, how are you today?
OK, first of all, I want to thank you for such an amazing introduction and for giving me
the opportunity to participate in today's podcast.
I'm feeling good.
Yeah.
What about you?
I feel blessed.
I feel very happy and super curious about you as a person.
So I'll begin with this nice first question, which is, Tanya, if the people who know you
best and love you very, very much, your friends could describe your personality, what would
they say about you?
OK, thank you for this amazing question.
I would say the first thing that will come to their minds is that she's kind of leadership.
She's kind of a leader because every time there's any kind of opportunity to show myself
or to participate in some projects, I will be the first one or one of the first ones
that, you know, take this opportunity and participate in that.
Yes. So then they will say, I think she's funny.
Yeah, because it's kind of my thing to make some good jokes and then everybody laughs.
Yeah. So I really like doing it.
And then, yeah, I think they will also say that she's interesting, yeah, because she can
talk about any topic, she can support any kind of conversation.
Yeah. So that's the three most things they would say, I think.
Thank you. I have so many questions, especially about the leadership part.
And let's speak to explain and explore your mind.
What is to you the definition of leadership and what kind of leader or what kind of
characteristics do you aspire to have as a girl who is also a leader?
OK, thank you.
It was actually hard for me in the beginning when I was like a child to be a good leader
because somehow I had this character that, you know, it's better to do everything only by
myself than to give someone else like an opportunity to help you or something.
So I had to kind of overcome this feeling, this thing in my mind.
Yeah. And after that, I think, yeah, I started being a better leader.
And about the definition of leadership and who is the real leader for myself.
Yeah, I think the leader, first of all, is the person that can lead people.
So that's I can say like really obvious.
So but if we are looking at this question deeply, like more deeply, I would say it's a
person that can lead and then can motivate other people to do better things, to create
better environment, to improve our planet as a whole.
And I would say is the person that cares about others because, you know, there's a big
difference between a boss and the leader.
Like the boss, he just gives you a command, he just gives you things to do, things to
say, etc. And he doesn't usually care about how you feel, about what you think, you just
have to do it. And the leader otherwise is the person who cares about your opinion, who
listens to it, who who can lead maybe you to some better options, better opinions.
But he will care about it.
And yes, so that's kind of the definition for me.
Thank you. I love that definition.
And you mentioned that it was harder for you in the beginning.
Well, there are many women nowadays who may be too shy or they worry, what if people
don't care about my ideas or who am I to be a leader?
And so many things like that.
How did you overcome it?
And what is your advice to other girls and women so that they will have the courage to
try to be a leader and learn to be a leader without worrying about criticism?
That's a really great question.
Thank you. Yeah, that's a really common thing that lots of girls may feel like too shy.
They may feel like their opinions don't matter, like that, oh, I won't say that because
there will be people that will say the same thing.
No, like each opinion really matters.
Like, how did I overcome it?
I would say I just started to work on my speech, on how I speak so that I can influence
people and they will listen to me because the way that your idea really matters.
But what matters maybe even more is how you present it, how you can show the world
what you think. So just if you are not sure that the idea is 100 percent best, like 100
percent, I don't know, like great, just show it the way that it's the best.
So just think of this idea as it's the best, even if it may not be the best one.
So, yeah, and also I think it's a good thing to work on your self-esteem, on maybe to work
on some things that you may not like about you.
That's OK. We may sometimes feel like this and that's absolutely OK.
But try to not focus on that because you can think that other people don't see your, I
don't know, maybe some things that worry you about yourself.
But it really shows.
It shows when the person is confident, when the person is believing in what they are
saying. And otherwise, when the person is, may not be like really confident and may not
be fully in love with their idea, with their speeches.
Yes. So just my advice would be that believe in yourself.
Yeah, I heard, I know, I remember one phrase that I heard like two years ago or
something, believe in yourself because no one else will.
Like you're the one that leads you, like no one else can decide, can make your life
perfect. Yeah. So everything starts from you.
Just believe in yourself, believe that your ideas are great.
And the way you think about yourself, the way you think about your ideas will show other
people in an unconscious way.
That's actually, I have an interesting story.
When I had to move to another school, I had this idea in my mind that I want to show
other people like a better version of myself that is worthy of love, of good manners
showing to them.
And so I created this mindset in my mind that I am this kind of person.
I am worthy, I am lovely, I am cute, I'm interesting, I'm exciting to listen to.
And that actually worked because the first day that I walked into that school, there
were already like people talked about me.
People said that, oh, she sounds like funny, interesting person.
She's so beautiful.
Like and these things gave me such a power.
They empowered me that much that, oh my gosh, that really works.
It's not just some words that other influencers may say or something.
It's really, it's a real thing.
So fake it till you make it.
Fake something that you really, really want to be until you make it.
So that's, I think, my advice.
Thank you so much for the advice.
I love that.
And I noticed that within the younger generation of Ukrainians, especially Ukrainian
girls, there are many who are aspiring for leadership.
They're interested in volunteering, which is different maybe to other countries or
even to other generations.
Is there something about the culture now, even before the full scale invasion of
Ukraine that is building towards more girl leaders that is encouraging leadership?
Can you share a bit about the culture in general?
Of course, after the war, it's much more.
But I mean, in general, how is it?
Is there something that motivated a lot of the younger girls towards leadership and
towards volunteering?
Share your perspective.
I think when the full scale war started, more youth started thinking about their
lives, about their opinions on everything.
And a lot of people started being more interested in Ukrainian history.
And so that way, when youth, when young people in Ukraine read the stories about
the people, historians and people that created some art things in Ukraine, when
like in history, I think after reading these stories, after reading what they went
through, they were, they are inspired to create better environments, to be
leadership, be a leader.
And also, I would say, I would say there are lots of opportunities, lots of
different projects in Ukraine, really, to help youth develop themselves.
And I'm currently in this Girls' Leadership Academy, it's totally free.
It's just a project that helps young girls develop themselves, develop their
minds, talk about really important topics like gender equality, like mental
health, etc., etc.
So this project and a lot of others projects really, really make an impact on our
youth thoughts, our youth mindset.
And that's a really great thing.
I'm really grateful to all these people that create such projects and, yeah, and
really help our country to, you know, have a better youth so that our country will
be better in the future.
Thank you.
And since you mentioned the war and the full-scale invasion, how was that day for
you, February 24th?
How did you hear about the war?
What did you feel?
Did you believe it or you think it was not a real news?
How were your emotions and how did you change as a girl from that day until today?
Thank you for this question.
It's actually really, I don't know, a relatable question.
Yeah, so about that day, I don't remember much from that day.
It started just as usual day.
I woke up at 7 a.m., I was getting ready for school.
And when I was having my breakfast, my mom said to me, Tanya, you're not going to
school today. The teacher wrote that there's no school today.
And I was like, school?
No school today?
Why? What happened?
The weather is OK, everything is fine.
What happened? And then she said that the war started.
Yeah. And I was like, what war?
No, it can't be true.
Like, no.
So there was some kind of denial at first.
And then I was checking, right after that, I was checking the channels on Telegram or
just social medias and listening, hearing all this news.
And people were writing me like, how are you?
Are you OK? Are you in the safe place?
Yeah. And it was just a shock.
I was just laying on my couch and thinking, like, what should I do?
Like, what would I do?
Like, what what what I'm going to do?
Like, what will change?
What will not change?
So, yeah, I just didn't know anything.
As more of the people in Ukraine, there was a thing about not knowing what is going to
be. Like, is the situation will be worse?
Should I get packed?
Should I, you know, like free from Ukraine?
Or should I stay, like, if everything will be in stable condition?
So, yeah, but after that, like, we went to get some grocery shopping.
There were a lot of a lot of people in the shops.
Yeah. And I met my really great friend at one shop and we just hugged each other.
And then out of nowhere, we started crying.
So I haven't seen her crying like in my life, but we knew each other for like 10 years
because we are like friends from childhood.
Yeah. And that was such a shock to me.
So she didn't know what to say.
She didn't know what to feel.
But the only thing that we could we could express, it's just tears.
Like, and how are you like, what are you going to do?
Like, that's what we felt there.
Yeah. So then then our parents went to my parents, like, went to the bank to get some
cash and to get some oil, you know, for the car.
So that if the situation will get worse, we can flee like fastly or something.
Yeah. So most of the day I was just laying on my couch, couldn't do anything, couldn't
think about anything but the war and talking to my sister and I don't know, yeah,
chatting with friends.
So that's that's how the first day went for me.
And about next days.
So first week was very tough, like the toughest, I guess.
Yeah. But then I heard about news about like that you can volunteer.
Yeah. So you can come to that place, volunteer, you know, need some some things for
the Ukrainian army.
So I went and I was volunteering for almost every day.
And because I didn't have school, I couldn't think about anything like really, really
important for me.
I was just thinking about what should I do today if I'll die tomorrow?
Yeah. So I was just trying to live like it's the last day.
And yeah, and yeah, then then my mom started talking about like fleeing from Ukraine
and I didn't do didn't want to do it at all.
Yeah. But we eventually were living in Poland for not so long, like two weeks.
Yeah. But this experience was actually an interesting one because we lived with a Polish
family that hosted us.
Big thanks to them.
You were really amazing.
So yeah. And that was an opportunity for me to speak about history.
So we spoke a lot about Ukrainian history.
They shared me some moments of Polish history.
And it was really interesting because I wasn't really fluent in Polish history.
Yeah. I was really interested in Ukrainian history even before the full scaled war started.
Yeah. But yeah, I was it was a great experience about like sharing, having an opportunity
to share your culture, what it went through and other options, other topics with people
other nationality. Yeah.
So that's how when the first the first like months to free or something.
Then it was better.
But the bombings were still happening.
And I had to sleep in the corridor of my flat because I was scared.
And I remember one time I was sitting in the corridor waiting for my mom to come from
work. And I hear the voices.
I hear the helicopters.
I hear the it's hard to explain, but just it's so loud.
And it's kind of like a plane is just really near your house.
So I was like, oh, my gosh, what is that?
Like there's no alert.
But why is this thing happening?
So I went through all the chats.
No one was talking about it.
And I was like, what is that?
And so I phoned my mom.
I was I said, like, go home immediately.
Like there are some planes.
And yeah, but it was Ukrainian army, so everything was fine.
They were just flying, yeah, watching the situation or something.
Yeah. So and how this year changed me.
I would say this year was the most life changing of all other years that I've lived.
First of all, I really changed my mindset.
Like, for example, yesterday I was watching my, you know, older like TikToks or
something that I took, that I created like a year ago or more.
And I just look at this Tanya and I don't recognize her.
She's not that tiny.
She's not the child anymore or something.
It's different part of me that I think will never come back.
I think like when we are talking about characteristics that I that I like started
having started possessing this year, I would say it's yeah, I started being more
a leader, a leader person.
That's for sure.
I started, OK, I will say at first the good characteristics about that.
Yeah. And about good characteristics, it's leadership, it's understanding, it's
maybe more self-development that way, like more I'm more interesting as a person.
I started caring more about what I'm doing.
Like I started postponing things.
Like, yeah, I started being more conscious, I guess.
Yeah. And about bad things that happened and that I achieved from the war, I think
I started being more anxious.
So there are lots of times in my life when I can just go home, like go somewhere and
I from nowhere hear the alert, the sound of alert.
And it's called like a syndrome of phantom alert or something.
I don't know how it's called properly in English.
Yeah. So that's the thing that you can just leave your life and then there's little
sound happening or just nothing happening.
And you just hear siren out of nowhere.
Yeah. So that's some bad things that I achieved from that.
Yeah, I understand.
And all I can say is Slava Ukraini.
Tanya, thank you so much for participating in this podcast, for sharing your life and
your voice. I am grateful and honored to have you here.
I wish you all the success and I appreciate you sharing your experience and
perspective.
Yeah. Yeah. Really.
Thank you for having me today, for giving me the opportunity.
Yeah. For the listeners, listen to the episodes and don't forget about supporting
Ukraine. We are still going through a war.
There are still bombings.
There are still people that are dying and that need help.
So help Ukraine.
Yeah. And have a nice day.
