Today we’d like to introduce you to Olesya Winkler
Hi Olesya, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Being born in Moscow in the Soviet times, I had no idea I would ever live in the US. My family was doing well and I always loved and keep loving my homeland. However, it’s exactly in Moscow where I met my husband Peter through work in PwC and since then in the last 10 years we have lived in 4 countries like Czech Republic, Switzerland, Russia and eventually the US. I joke that in 2014 I started my “international tour” which is still continuing. When you live in other places you understand how the systems work in different countries, you start to compare the pluses and minuses. And at some point I wanted to start sharing with people my experience of living abroad and this lead to the creation of YouTube channel in Russian and then in English. It’s funny that in Moscow university I specialized in radio and TV journalism but for many years I have worked in public relations because it was trendy and I liked it. At the end I still came up with organizing “my own tv channel” in a way, which I completely did not plan.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When you come to the US being mature, you always come with “your baggage”, in my case a Russian baggage. Meaning it’s easier from the beginning to communicate with people like you and it takes a while to understand a different mentality, culture, small talk specifics and other details. I still remember how shocking it was to see smiling people in American supermarkets especially after living in Switzerland where the attitude towards foreigners is much more reserved and cold in a way. In America, even though Russian-American political relations are very tense, I have never really felt a negative attitude towards myself. I find it pretty amazing, in the last 6 years here I have come across many interesting positive creative people. And I can only hope that on a political level Russians and Americans can cooperate in a more peaceful way like usual people in real life.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Since I have invested a lot of time in content creation on my YouTube channels, supported by my little armies of Russian and international fans, I learnt some new skills like filming, editing, scenario writing, navigating the fast changing trends in the social space. This gave me opportunities to dig into UGC – user generated content- creation. While YouTube is great and its a long term marathon for me, I was looking at where I can use my filming skills and earn extra income and I found that UGC creates great opportunities. The fact that small and big brands are now ready to demonstrate their products in the hands of real people and not always professional models is pretty amazing. 20 years ago we couldn’t even imagine that smth like this can be possible. I am amazed by the fact that in my little universe I can be a director, a filmmaker, a model, an influencer, a trendsetter, a mom and many other roles. So within UGC projects I focus on the things I like and truly believe in like wellness, healthy lifestyle, fashion, family. I like to stay who I am – a Russian woman with my desire to look good, to be a great wife and mom for my kids, to learn about new healthy trends and fashions, to focus on the positive – how can we be more kind to each other? How can we smile more often? What can we eat so that we have to go to the doctor less often etc? America, and particularly California is a very interesting place to be because so many cool things, inventions and trends are actually created right here. Life is short and the world is currently crazy so we need to surround ourselves with beautiful things, positive thoughts, healthy habits to make sure we try to make our every day full of positive moments even if these are small moments of happiness. There is a rough Russian saying – we do not choose the the time, we are born and we will die at this time.
What matters most to you? Why?
For me my family and my kids always come first. I invest incredible amount of time and efforts into growing bilingual kids who would understand the mentality of Russians and Americans deeply and from inside. My husband is very supportive in this approach and we are happy that we have the opportunity to show kids 2 sides of the story, different perspectives and show them the world which is very different and sometimes it brings new insights. Every year we travel across the globe, sometimes twice. It’s challenging and requires a lot of resources but I am happy we can still do it. Otherwise, in our daily life when kids are at school. I am a content creator, collaborating with brands and filming vlogs about my life. And when kids are back home I am first of all a mom, supportive mom, serious mom, entertaining mom, depending on the day:) At the end, mom is the most challenging profession of all which I’ve tried but it’s worth it..
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/olesyawinkler
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olesyawinkler?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092544187840&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@followthewinklers7566
