Today we’d like to introduce you to Daria Mudrova.
Hi Daria, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I sold my company “My Beauty Box” in Moscow and then came to NYC around six years ago. After such a big step, I decided to refresh my perspectives, get some rest and travel around. Shortly afterward, I realized that I am in love with NYC, the people there and the opportunities that the city offered to me. I decided to improve my English. I started more actively collaborating with beauty and fashion brands, and began writing articles for magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Glamour and Vogue. At the same time, I set up a Manhattan-based contemporary art gallery with my friend. Last year, I received my O1 visa for extraordinary talents in the US. That was an amazing experience! As a content creator, I collaborate with brands and help them to create their social media content. I also I started my show called “She Did It” that is currently on Spectrum Channel 1993 and Youtube. My guests share stories about their career paths in the US, and both the successes and challenges that they have gone through.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Oh yes, there were lots of struggles. One of the biggest challenges for me was starting from scratch. As an immigrant, I experienced the language barrier, cultural differences, and such basic things as finding friends, where to live and just generally figuring out how it all works – business, taxes, credit cards, insurance and even the subway in NYC. On the top of being competitive with locals, I had to prove that I can work in this country and bring value here in order to obtain my O1 visa. In the beginning, I felt that I was pushed to the bottom layer of Maslow’s Pyramid. I am happy I eventually got back on track. I had a chance to work with emerging artists setting up Orchard Galerie and multiple freelance projects. I created content for such brands as Sephora, Caudalie, Timberlands, Diptyque and other amazing brands. I also experimented working on different creative projects while I was looking deep into myself and discovering what it was that I really wanted to do. I wanted my project to have a sense of purpose and to mirror who I am, what I stand for, my values and my beliefs. It is a lifelong journey I believe and should be a major challenge that everyone undertakes. I want my project to help people to find themselves and give them the tools to be happy, to define what success means to them, to live a life of purpose, and to make their dreams come true.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Being a creative entrepreneur, I am constantly gaining new skills and working on improving both my business and myself. When I was building My Beauty Box in Moscow in 2015, I didn’t have lots of successful examples of female entrepreneurs in Russia, but I was inspired by American female entrepreneurs that were building successful businesses at that time. Some examples were Birchbox founders Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna – we actually adopted the Birchbox model in Russia for “My Beauty Box”, Jessica Alba and her brand “The Honest Company”, the founders of Gilt Groupe, Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, and their book “By Inventation Only: How to we buid Giltand changed the way millions shop”. At that time, social media was not nearly as developed as it is today, and we were pioneers in Russia building the brand My Beauty Box using influence marketing and selling samples as our marketing strategy. When I moved to the US, I still had access to lots of shows on streaming platforms, youtube, and podcasts with advice and success stories, but not many personal stories of challenges and struggles female entrepreneurs went through. I interview format shows and decided to create the She Did It show, which honors inspiring stories and voices of extraordinary, talented women in the US who exemplify strength, resilience and inspire others to take action. Women that are brave enough to stand out and express themselves overcome obstacles, judgments and social barriers on the way to their dreams. I am impressed by my guest’s achievements, challenges they went through and stories. Knowing how hard it can be, I want more people to be able to learn from them and to create a community of talented women who support each other. I hope to develop this project on a bigger scale and experiment with other platforms, like podcasts and maybe larger networks.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Being the boss of both my business and my life means that I take full responsibility for both the good and bad that happen with that. But I think I am generally a lucky person. I am lucky with the people I meet. The people surrounding me are talented, open-minded, supportive, and very inspiring. I guess this is my luck, and it plays a big role in my life and business. You can find this in all of the interviews on She Did It, all of the stories on my blog dariamudrova.com and all of the adventures I share on my IG @darimudrova.
I am curating the content on those platforms, and I am open for collaborations where I integrate ads featuring the best products and services from female leaders and entrepreneurs.
Contact Info:
- Website: dariamudrova.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darimudrova/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dasha.mudrova
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/mudrova_daria
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shediditshow
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/shedidit.show/
Image Credits
Dress: @vassa_co Photograther: @frankzhangny
