Valeri Manziuk: “I am lucky to meet people who inspire me”

Valeria, tell us how you manage to do everything and where you find extra hours in a day?

In fact, the secret is simple - I have a good team - now we are all in different time zones, which allows us to keep in touch with partners 24/7. For a long time, I didn’t believe in delegation and very often didn’t trust new employees, putting everything on myself. But when the scale grew and I realized that because of my desire to control everything, we were losing speed and clients, I had to expand. And it was the best decision this year.

You are from Ukraine, tell us how the situation in the country affected your activities and what your “Ukraina Razom” Foundation is doing?

Not only me, but most of my team. I can definitely say that we have become ten times stronger, morally and mentally more stable. Although, of course, emotional unrest did not bypass anyone, and absolutely each of us was at the limit of our capabilities more than once, but continued to move on. I sincerely admire every Ukrainian today, their strength and courage! I am proud that I am Ukrainian!

As for the fund, it was founded back in 2013 with the aim of supporting talented youth. Unfortunately, social networks and the site were hacked with the outbreak of hostilities, but we have already partially eliminated this problem. We continue to support talented young people and provide educational and internship opportunities around the world. Definitely, now there are many more such opportunities and there is good support from foreign partners.

Let's get back to your main activity, how did you come to producing and where did your career start?

You know, my life is so unpredictable that I can say - it's the will of chance. I have always been interested in brand promotion, communication with opinion leaders and the target audience, I constantly analyzed why some projects take off in the international arena, while others spend fortunes on promotion and burn out. Now I can say with confidence that I am doing what I love, but I didn’t come to this right away. Initially, I graduated from the Kyiv Institute of International Relations with a degree in international economics, but after an internship at the Ministry, I realized that I needed something more and I started my second higher education - International Law, which I graduated with honors. I planned to deal with international contracts, went on an internship at Law and Justice Committee in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and even worked there for several years. After there were many projects in Europe and the USA, I organized business tours, worked with startups, lived in San Francisco for several years, promoted Ukrainian brands and many others, until I realized that I like to think over a development strategy for companies and brands, engage in their promotion, analysis of the target audience, interaction with opinion leaders, media communications - therefore, it is necessary to design it as a full-fledged production.

What inspires you most in your work? You know, there is such a philosophical phrase: what is more important for you, the path or the result?

So I can say with confidence that I enjoy the work process when we, together with the team (and I was very lucky to find the same crazy workaholics like me, who have eyes burning from their favorite work and with whom we are constantly in touch) think through how this or that brand, advertising company will enter the market, with which bloggers and where we will work, and all other details ... but I’m also happy with the result, when you see that everything has started and is working! I really believe in people and I can say that in my life I am very lucky to meet people who inspire me and with whom I can move mountains!

Tell us what projects you are currently working on and what your plans are for the future.

Now I'm thinking about registering a company in the US. I am very motivated by the current level of the market and working methods: all decisions are made very quickly and professionally - people value each other's time. In addition, projects that are launched in the States become popular in the world much faster. Even taking outdoor advertising - we were one of the first to launch ads in Times Square as part of a personal brand promo - and it has worked! Since I always initially test all the options on myself, we launched my shooting in my favorite Ukrainian brands on the main advertising area in New York! I still remember how exciting it was - one of my most vivid memories in my life, although I perfectly understood how it works.

What would you like to wish the readers for the next year?

First of all, I would like to wish all of us a peaceful sky over our heads and that all our loved ones are OK. And also, don’t forget that everything is possible in this life - so believe in yourself and never give up! Each of us builds his own destiny and you will definitely succeed!