Meet Nastiya Kai

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nastiya Kai. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Nastiya with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

My dad mostly, but I come from a family of hardworkers.

My grandparents come from families of farmers and then moved to the city all during the Soviet Union times where you couldn’t dream really and people had to work insane hours just to provide for their kids. Literally everyone was struggling to get by.

My grandpa was in the police force, then started his own security firm (keep in mind – starting a business wasn’t something that was allowed then). My grandma worked in the ER and would pick up extra shifts and not sleep for days only to come back home, take care of her kids and rush back to work. My mom worked as a model and was barely home because she worked crazy hours too, so my grandma would take care of me. My dad’s life is his job, it’s what he loves to do, what his hobby is.

The reason why I say that my work ethic mostly comes from my dad is because when my entire family happily retired my dad didn’t. He can’t have a day off because he doesn’t know what to do with his life on a relaxed day.

This is how I am too. As wild as it sounds – working is my hobby. I love everything that I do and I love enjoying the fruits of my labor.

The only hobby I never tried to monetize is racing haha

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My mom worked in fashion since I was born so I was introduced to this world very early. She was a model and owned a concept store in Moscow, where I lived until I turned 13. She’d bring me to her store, would take me to all of her buying appointments, photoshoots, everywhere she could.

So naturally, growing up, I never really considered doing anything else.

However, my dad is an amazing singer and piano player so this is something I was introduced to quite early too. Even though I always knew I’d be in fashion – what I really wanted to be was a singer. I just knew it. Can’t really explain it.

My dad bought me my first electric piano when I was 10, but my parents never really took my passion for music seriously and I was terribly bullied so I didn’t have the voice to speak up and say that this is what I want to dedicate my life to.

I attended a performing arts school briefly, but the environment was toxic and I was always placed in the back row because I was bigger than the other kids. Once I lost 10 kg only to be “likeable” at 12 my mom took me away from there.

I then left home for boarding school and fully moved away from Russia. My family never moved with me. At 16 I dropped out of high school and moved to London on my own. As you can tell, I was quite a chaotic teenager. I studied art and fashion. Attended UAL for Foundation in Photography, then got accepted to all 3 Bachelors of my choice which were Fashion Photography, Fashion Illustration and Magazine Publishing.

I ended up at BSc Psychology though. I started a swimwear brand at 20 that didn’t do very well but gave me a lot of experience and knowledge given I never studied business or fashion at that point.

I would still make music throughout all these years though. No one knew. I’d play guitar in my bedroom, write songs that I never showed anyone. It was engraved in my mind by my family, bullies, tutors, that this is something I’m not good at and shouldn’t even be considering as a career path. I auditioned for X Factor once, but failed because my throat would close up whenever someone asked me to sing.

I then did a fashion Masters in Paris and moved back to Moscow to start the first premium zero waste clothing brand in the country. I was an expert in sustainable fashion, was the first and the only one to import rare fabrics such as Pineapple Leather into the country and spent 4 years on educating people about what being a sustainable brand really means. The problem was that I started too early. People weren’t ready for this yet, sustainable fashion was this entirely different reality and I was trying to build a premium brand with quite experimental designs and convince people to pay for a concept they’ve never heard of before. I was in over my head a little

There came a point where I didn’t know why I was doing what I was doing anymore. I started therapy and they kept telling me that I shouldn’t be doing what I didn’t wanna do just because I’m good at it or because everyone else tells me to. After a while I gave in and started making music.

I released my first song in 2021. This was a massive step for me. I never even promoted it though because I was too scared.

In 2022 I made the decision to drop everything, make music full time and move away from Moscow.

Long story short, it was probably one of the biggest challenges of my life but I now live in LA, released an album, about to launch my merch which I would like to eventually grow into a lingerie brand. Baby steps though.

I chose myself and didn’t regret it once. I’m the luckiest girl on Earth

My merch launches on Halloween at www.mydemonera.com

I’m also playing a show on November 6th at Freehand Los Angeles!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

My stubbornness definitely. If you tell me I can’t do something – I will do everything in my power to prove you wrong

My impulsiveness. I used to hate it as it took me to weird places in life but I learned to use it as a skill to fully eliminate fear. Think of it as jumping into cold water. This helps me make difficult decisions

In terms of knowledge – I’m a big believer in the school of life. This obviously doesn’t apply to careers such as a doctor where getting the education is crucial.

However, if you’re a creative, or starting a business and such – the education isn’t a priority. To me, universities exist to make connections, and have fun of course. The first – I missed out on and deeply regret.

To be honest, you need to learn how to speak to people, how to sell yourself, your art, your product. You need to know your product inside out too and that you don’t do in school this is something you learn on the go.

Most of the information we learn in uni is available online. Getting the education is a great choice, however, if you can’t or don’t want to – don’t ever let that stop you

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

Admitting that no one immediately became successful. Media is deceiving. Just because you only find out about someone once they’ve “made it” makes it seem like that’s just overnight success when 99% of the time it’s not.

Playing shows that only 5 people show up to is difficult

Getting rejected is difficult

Being told you’re too much or not enough is difficult

I wish I had the recipe to overcome this but I don’t. I struggle, cry, and get back up. Just like everybody else

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Image Credits

The main photo: Anastasiia Litvinova

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