We recently connected with Anya Oleynik and have shared our conversation below.
Anya, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
A lot of my resilience comes from having my mom as a role model. She came to the US from Ukraine and raised me and my sister by herself. She worked really hard to support us and give us everything we needed. On top of that, she would always lend a helping hand to others in need. This motivated me to do well in school and try my best at everything I did. I wanted to someday make an impact on the world and help others in a way that would make my mom proud.
I have also overcome a lot of challenges, rejection, and failure in life. I was a competitive marathon runner but had to stop when I developed a heart condition that forced me to change my entire lifestyle. I needed several surgeries related to my condition, including the placement of an internal defibrillator. Running was a big part of my identity and I lost that. I replaced it with other hobbies, like fashion modeling, and found other ways to exercise such as weight training and swimming.
In 2018, however, I had to stop modeling after I had nose surgery for breathing issues and my nose subsequently collapsed and became deformed. I avoided going out in public for several years and needed six surgeries altogether to repair my nose. Nevertheless, I met a wonderful community of people online from all over the world who had experienced something similar and helped me find a doctor who was able to give me my life back. We also supported each other emotionally and I made a lot of great friends. Many people who have seen my photos from that time asked me how I was able to go on. What helped me was finding a cause I was passionate about. As I was at home a lot, I watched wild foxes and other animals outside and learned more about them. I learned about the suffering that fur farmed animals experience and I made it my mission to help as many of these animals as I could. It’s something that continues to drive me to work hard so I can have the financial means to support more animals and contribute to campaigns to end fur farming. I also use my voice to speak out about fur farming, animal abuse, and other injustices whenever I can.
Finding a career path has been challenging for me but I never gave up or settled. Even though I was a straight A student in high school and college, I got rejected by Harvard and other Ivy League schools. I nevertheless completed a bachelor’s in biology and two master’s degrees, in clinical psychology and business administration, and am working on my third master’s, in quantitative finance at the University of Maryland. I previously started my own company and even though I had to shut down operations, I gave it my best shot and learned a lot along the way. I aspire to work in venture capital or another area where my diverse educational background and experience will be valuable.
There have been many times where I have felt dejected and like I just wanted to give up. My faith in God and my desire to help animals and people keeps me going. It is never too late and many successful business owners and inventors didn’t succeed or make a discovery until late in life. Even on a small scale I can make a positive change to the world by helping those I encounter. Like Mike Tyson said recently, who cares about a legacy, or who remembers our names after we die? For me, legacy never mattered, I just really want the world to be a better place.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am working on a master’s degree in quantitative finance and aspire to work in venture capital, where I can make use of my diverse background in biology and healthcare, psychology, business, finance, fashion, and animal rescue. I want to help as many animals as possible and encourage others to adopt a pet from a shelter, volunteer, or donate to animal rescue nonprofits if they can. I would like to network with other creative people and see what we can achieve as a team.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Skills and qualities that have helped me most in life are discipline, motivation, and communication skills. Discipline can be developed through routine, training, and measuring progress. Motivation comes from finding a cause you are passionate about and using that cause to motivate you to not give up. Communication skills are really valuable when working with people, as is necessary in any profession, and are something I developed in school especially with having to write many research papers, but are also something that others can learn online. There are great online courses and I would encourage others to learn useful skills like writing and coding. I think Artificial Intelligence is also something that is playing a huge role in every industry and people will need to learn how to work with it.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I think there is a need for both types of people: those who are highly specialized in what they do, and others like me who have a well rounded background. It has been a lot harder for me to find a traditional job with my background and education since I have not worked long enough in one specific field, but I think the fact I have experience in so many different areas will allow me to succeed in something like venture capital. I realize I need additional skills and understanding in finance and coding, which is what led me to quit my job as a financial advisor and pursue my third master’s degree. Hopefully, I will be done with getting degrees after this one, but I believe lifelong learning is essential for everyone and there is much that can be learned from the internet or networking with others.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/anyaiw
- Linkedin: https://LinkedIn.com/in/anyaiw
Image Credits
David Bosworth photography
Daniel Images photography
Dale Marks photography
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