International Women's Day

For International Women’s Day we’re celebrating some of our professional partners from Ukraine. In what has been a difficult year, we share their thoughts on their career, their achievements and most importantly hopes for the future.

Nadiya Kochanik

TO HELP SUPPORT THOSE IN UKRAINE

Please donate & share.

  • Come Back Alive — purchases of equipment and medical aid kits to save the lives of Ukrainian soldiers.

  • United 24 — the official fundraising platform of Ukraine.

  • Tabletochki — raising money for Ukrainian children with cancer.

What is your name and where are you based today?

My name is Nadiya Kochanyk, I live and work as a skin therapist in the city of Uzhgorod, which is located in western Ukraine.

How long have you been working with Meder Beauty?

I have been working with Meder beauty since 2015.

What do you like about being a skin therapist?

In my work, I am most fascinated by the moment when I see how women’s eyes light up because they are satisfied with the health and beauty of their own skin and like themselves.

What are the challenges you’ve found in your career?

During the lockdowns, my patients experienced a lot of stress, and with the beginning of the war, this problem became even more pronounced. This greatly affected the condition of the skin – increased sensitivity of the skin and aggravated chronic problems, primarily such as rosacea and acne. And here the wonderful Meder Beauty products, designed specifically to work with these problems, provided a great help.

It was necessary to change the tactics of treating patients, first of all, to restorative and supportive ones, and active stimulation due to injuries, such as acid and retinol peels, for example, to be postponed until better times.

It was a very difficult task to provide all our customers with the means to which they were accustomed, and which became even more necessary during the period of acute stress at the beginning of the war.

After all, the logistics of many companies were simply paralysed. I am infinitely grateful to the company Meder beauty and personally to Tijna Meder for such important and timely support of our consumers who were forced to find themselves abroad, for the opportunity to get cosmetics in any corner of Europe.

How has your life changed in the past year?

We have all aged for a lifetime. Over the past year, I have heard so many terrible stories of people’s experiences, both in my office at the reception and at home, because a family from Kharkiv lived with us for three months. So many mutilated destinies, so much pain and hatred… And this will remain with me forever.

What are your hopes for the future?

I look to the future with a burning desire to wait for the end of this nightmare as soon as possible and to see the restoration and flourishing of our beautiful Ukraine. And it will be so, I believe in it with all my heart.

What is the most important piece of advice you’ve been given?

To survive stress more easily – you need to act, help those who need it as much as you can. Our unity is our great strength that makes us an invincible nation.

Tetiana Shalahina

What is your name and where are you based today?

My name is Tetiana Shalahina and now I live and work in the Netherlands, particularly in Rotterdam.

How long have you been working with Meder Beauty?

Meder Beauty was one of my first brands, a perfect start I think, so I have worked with it for about 6 years.

What do you like about being a skin therapist?

In my mind it is a wonderful profession, where you could combine intelligence, passion for knowledge and development, communicational skills and business orientation. But what is the most unique — is a natural combination of science and beauty, I adore this tandem.

What are the challenges you’ve found in your career?

The biggest challenge for me is the challenge of growth, when you are not alone anymore, and you have your colleagues to whom you need to transfer your knowledge and experience as effectively as it could be. Alongside growing business, I should remain and continue to grow as a professional — that I find really tough.

How has your life changed in the past year?

Oh, a lot. I would say completely. I fled from war to a new country alone with my son, and here I am starting all over again… but thanks to my family, friends, and community I am still going and dreaming big.

What are your hopes for the future?

I hope war will be over as soon as possible, and Ukraine will thrive. I hope my business will become more stable and prosperous and I hope I will open a beauty salon in the Netherlands and will practice Meder Beauty here not alone, but with my dear new colleagues.

What is the most important piece of advice you’ve been given?

You know, sometimes I have doubts whether I am doing the right thing in my job, are my beliefs about skin and skin health really relevant, because sometimes I go off of the mainstream. But a friend of mine told me — always rely only on yourself, you know better, because your beliefs are the result of hard work and analysis. Maybe such advice sounds pretty simple and even banal, but it helps me go my own way, as Meder beauty does.

Liubov Nazarenko

What is your name and where are you based today?

My name is Liubov Nazarenko, I am a Ukrainian founder of Naturalezza skincare service and skin therapist.

How long have you been working with Meder Beauty?

I’ve been with Meder Beauty for almost 7 years. Wow! Already 7.

What do you like about being a skin therapist?

I just adore my work, I was lucky, as they say, to find myself and my passion. It is difficult to single out something. I love everything: the kind of female clients I have, communicating with them, waiting for new protocols and tools, training, results, etc.

What are the challenges you’ve found in your career?

The last year seemed to be the scariest in my life, along with many challenges.

If we talk specifically about work, then the main challenge could be how to preserve our customer base as much as possible, when almost all women were forced to evacuate to other countries from the war, saving themselves and their children, but this did not happen thanks to the fact that already more than 6 years, I have had an online consultation format. Thanks to this we have continued to work with clients and keep our results. That is, the main challenge is to preserve what they were able to create.

How has your life changed in the past year?

The most difficult thing this year has been to keep faith in humanity and goodness, and not to drown in hatred, when there is so much grief and evil because of the aggressor country. It’s also been difficult as well because of the reduction of development and the rejection of the plans that were, but I believe that we will be able to do everything after the Victory of Ukraine.

What are your hopes for the future?

My only hope and wish for the future, apart from life and health, is to hug my relatives who are under occupation and that there will NEVER be a war in my beloved Ukraine, and the regime of tyranny will be destroyed!

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