Chapter One. A Little About Me

Before I begin to tell my story, let’s get to know each other a little. Who am I? Where am I from? What led me to start writing? It all began with a desire to understand myself and, perhaps, to give someone support and inspiration.

Hi everyone. My name is Nadia. I was born on October 11, 1984, in Ukraine, in the sunny city of Odesa. I studied at a Ukrainian school with an advanced English program. At the age of 16, I started working — my career began with basic product packaging, and five years later, I was already an administrator of a large store.

In 2004, I entered a technical college, and then in 2006, I enrolled at the Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies. In 2011, I got married. In 2012, my beautiful daughter was born, and in 2014 — my wonderful son.
Since childhood, I’ve loved photography. I guess it started around the age of fifteen — at first, I used old mobile phones. At 16, after receiving my first paycheck, I bought my first “soapbox” — that’s what compact cameras were called back then. My passion for photography only grew stronger. I couldn’t afford a better camera for a long time, but the dream never left me. And one day, it finally came true.

During the day I worked at the store, and at night I took photos. That was my world, my escape. In 2018, my life changed dramatically — I got divorced. It was a very difficult period: stress, depression, loneliness. It was then that I bought my first professional DSLR camera.

Photography saved me. I dove into the world of sports: first boxing, then football. I felt a growing desire to learn — writing, video editing, YouTube, websites, journalism. A whole new world began to open up before me.
And then the war began. It’s hard to put into words just how difficult it was. I’ll probably talk about it a bit later, when I’m ready.
Now I’m in the Netherlands. A completely new life began here. But everything that happened before — it’s my path, my story, and now I’m ready to share it.

To be continued…