Here begins

My Story.

A story where the lightest moments are closely intertwined with the darkest ones. Come with me through these fragments of the past, and I will show you what made me who I am today.

My childhood

It wasn’t easy, single-parent family, complicated relationships with loved ones, arguments, and scandals—things that either break you or make you stronger. In my case, every fear, anxiety, and sense of injustice became a challenge that shaped who I am now.

My grandfather, my mom’s father, used to become a different person when being drunk. He could hurt my grandmother. My mom was fed up with all of that. So, when my father raised his hand to her for the first time, she left him.

I was just a 1.5-years-old child.

Nowadays, you could hardly imagine all the struggles my mom had to go through. Moreover, she was only 23 years old.

Betrayal by parents who didn’t provide her shelter at their home, aggression from accounting colleagues at the factory due to constant sick leave for her child, the inability to find rental housing because it was prohibited by law, even for a short time, life on the station in a “mother and child” room with a one-and-a-half-year-old baby in her arms—no internet with answers and advice, no psychologists, coaches, mobile phones, social media…

To keep going, not to give up, not to give up on the child—all of this requires incredible strength.

If you ask me who in my life is a real example of

Strength and perseverance

I will definitely say that it is she, an incredible woman, my mom!

Each hero of my story, same as me, has personal strengths and weaknesses. Any action has a reason. I am not going to judge anyone. I just want to take my reader’s hand and lead you through the fragments of my life, somewhere bright, somewhere not so much, but that’s the very essence of my journey.

You’ll see how, step by step, I approached the life I live now ❤️

My brightest childhood memory

Just imagine an incredibly beautiful dinner table with a real chocolate mousse on it, despite the period of shortage after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Working in a laundry which collaborated with a restaurant, my mom somehow managed to surprise me with such a great present on my 7th birthday!

Closing my eyes, just like now, I see the tablecloth, the festive table, my friends—how happy I was then, and such moments were rare! 🥰

Recalling these moments, I want so much to hug my mom. No matter what difficulties she had to overcome, she always tried to make my life happy. I remember how she didn’t sleep all night after work to sew a dress for Barbie for a school contest. She had no other choice but to use scrap materials like curtains and fail.

Of course, she got very tired. It’s never easy for a woman to carry everything on her own. So, I decided for myself that I would have a two-parent and happy family!

Mom’s fatigue often turned into nervous breakdowns. I didn’t want to upset her, so I did my best not to show my emotions. I hid them deep inside.

When I was scared, I remained silent;

When I disagreed, and the sense of injustice tore me apart from the inside—I remained silent;

When my soul cried out loud—I remained silent…

That was my way to reach

a Jedi level 😊 in controlling my emotional expressions.

You can argue whether this way is right, but that was my path. And now, in unexpected situations at work when many lose their temper, this skill allows me to maintain self-control, to make balanced decisions and to be the leader for others.

Relationships with adults didn’t always go smoothly, but that doesn’t diminish my love and gratitude toward them, especially toward my mom 🙏❤️

What was my dad like? In some ways, unique because he went from the top to the deep bottom.

A cheerful, intelligent leader who was said to be a real social butterfly, the best turner, trusted to work with precious metals, a wonderful fisherman who could easily identify if the ice was strong enough for fishing almost only by the smell of wind. He was an ardent football fan who used to know the names of all the coaches and players for many years of football history until…until he hit rock bottom due to alcohol. I was there all the time.

Memories of my dad are often inseparable from his mother, my grandmother, who was the person I always keep the kindest and most tender feelings for 🥰.

She was the one who was up nights with me, helping my mom, not my dad. She provided us with shelter even after my parents had divorced and my mom’s dad had kicked out his daughter with a baby in the cold weather.

My grandma was always an initiator of all our meetings with dad and she insisted on my coming to her house on weekends. These were soulful and warm gatherings. I loved staying with my grandmother; it was always cozy and homely calm with her.

My grandma was very positive, cheerful, she knew a lot of poems and songs. It seems that I still hear the words of those songs inside my head and my grandma dancing a polka. She did her best to make my dad closer to me, he didn’t refuse, but he never was the initiator of that.

Lesson from my dad

He never became the person I could count on or turn to when going through some difficulties in my life. He didn’t keep his word. He could promise something and not fulfill it.

Only now do I realize that against this backdrop, a clear setting formed for me: if I promise something—even if the world is falling apart, I will fulfill it.

But there is one memorable gift I received from my dad—a gold bracelet, I think, for my 16th birthday. I believe my grandmother bought it. She believed that gold was the best appropriate present for any birthday. During the war, her family managed to survive only thanks to selling their jewelry to a pawnshop.

It really doesn’t matter for me now whether my dad bought the bracelet or my grandma. They will always remain in my heart, and my grandma’s words said once turned my life upside down and changed it forever.

Turning point

Once, my grandmother asked about my progress in school. If I am not mistaken, we were talking about speed of reading. I said my score was “4” (equivalent to “B”) and continued talking about school.

My grandmother stopped me and returned to the answer about the score.

“Are there any straight-A students in your class?”
“Yes, Svetlana, she has an “5” (“A”) in reading.”
“Why not you? Do you want to be mediocre?!”

It may sound harsh here. But her words didn’t offend me; they made me think. Indeed, what prevents me from getting straight A’s?! Furthermore, I wanted to please my beloved grandmother. It was a real tipping point for me, since then it became important for me to be the best, the best in studies, in competitions, at work!

I really started to make an effort in my studies.

And even now, despite the fact that I managed to accomplish a lot, I keep learning with a great enthusiasm and interest 🥰

My grandmother’s words became only the first push in my achievements. Life later brought me new teachers. One of them was my computer science teacher. She had her unique non-standard approach to teaching. She tried to develop our mindset, she applied various techniques which made our both hemispheres work. It was innovative. One of the typical tasks was something like “write 20 similarities and 20 differences between a table and a crow.”

Try it 😉

She believed in me more than I did!

Once there was a situation; I don’t remember all the details, but I remember that she gave the class a very difficult task, it was much more difficult than we used to do at our level. I came to her and said that we hadn’t learnt it yet. She looked at me closely and said, “If anyone can solve it, it’s you!”

And she was right. Inspired by her belief in me, I found the solution to the task.

These words strengthened my self-confidence so much that many subsequent achievements I owe to them 🙏

Since I was 6, I would go to the summer camp, I was feeling so grown-up and independent. I remember my mom telling me the story of how she sent me to camp and left the keys to the house in my bag. Thus, she had to follow me to take them.

“I arrive and see my Yuliia surrounded by girls, sweets, strawberries next to her. Everyone is happy, laughing,” my mom would tell me.

It has always been easy for me to team up the people, companies, and a little bit later, strong and cohesive teams.

I also didn’t have a lack of attention from guys. One of the most handsome boys in class was a friend of mine, I mean he liked me.

But in adolescence, a serious issue arose that threatened to develop complexes in me—problematic skin. Yes, I was a pimply adolescent girl 😫. And only due to my status of straight-A student and my self-confidence I managed to avoid bullying.

There was one of my classmates, whose mom traded import things and made gifts to the teachers, would occasionally try to tease me. At this age students can be very rude and mocking. I learned to defend myself and each next clash made me more experienced in setting my personal boundaries and taking a stand for myself in public.

I am even grateful to this boy because this situation taught me to set the bar and stand up for myself when being threatened, but I am still learning to hold boundaries with friends when it’s hard for me to say “no” to them.

In middle school, I participated in math and biology olympiads, and at the end of the 8th grade, I took exams and entered a physics and mathematics lyceum for gifted children patronized by the President.

It was incredibly hard to go into the unknown and leave everything behind!

In school, I had a status, a best friend we were so close with, mutual feelings with a boy, everything was clear and familiar, and I had to leave all of that and start all over again where everyone was the strongest.

It was one of the most challenging but the rightest and the most significant decisions in my biography.

All high school I was focused only on studying all the time, otherwise it was impossible to be the student there, the worst students were immediately expelled. But the holidays were a great opportunity to think about personal life. 😉

My mom worked at a laundry in a resort on the Azov Sea shore at that time. Just imagine: holidays, youth, the sun, the sea… I fell in love 🙈

The children, whose parents worked at the resort, spent the whole summer there, too. We formed a large and friendly group, like one big family. And I got a boyfriend.

He was two years older than me. It was love, full of romance and moonlit strolls. We wrote poems to each other, and during the school year, were communicating via postal letters.

We broke up when I was in my last year of high school because of the distance. We lived and studied in different cities. Later, some of our common friends told me that he suffered a lot after we had broken up.

I really cared about that but it was time for me to come back to studying and my thoughts were once again occupied by studying. The first year at the physics and technical faculty at Dnipropetrovsk National University was not a joke 😉

I had no idea then what I was going to do in the future, who I wanted to be. I just diligently immersed myself in a new learning.

First marriage

When studying at university, I met my first husband. He played the guitar and he was a great singer. But I was truly amazed by his own lyrics. They were full of inner meaning and a real beauty of images! He had great potential!

One of my main qualities is the belief in people and the ability to see their best and strongest sides, even if they don’t see it themselves. And sincere support and organizational skills make a mixture in which it is impossible not to achieve results.

Our relationship became strong enough and we decided to live together, we were happy. Inspired by my support, he formed his band and began performing publicly.

Just after university, we got married, and we started living a more responsible life as a family. My husband worked, and I also started looking for a job because the money was enough only for the minimum, and I wanted more. Unfortunately, a factory was the only place where I could work in my degree field. So, I ended up in the largest chain of household and electronic equipment stores in Ukraine, where I managed inventory accounting.

After the wedding, my responsibility for the family, for his parents increased a lot. But it increased only for me. My inflated expectations led to the fact that one day I saw his engagement ring left on the nightstand.

He left the ring at home. Took it off and left it! Remember, in my childhood, I decided that I would definitely have a happy family? So, I believed that I would get married once and for all and be happy.

Thus, it was the moment when my world, my entire universe collapsed.

To nowhere. Again.

Pride and self-respect took over in me. I packed up and left. First to my friend’s place, then I rented the first available apartment.

At this time, a part of my soul was dying, the past me was dying. Thoughts of death began to seriously creep in. If only I had then the slightest idea of what was waiting for me “around the corner”!

I went through these emotionally difficult challenges thanks to work, where I had already moved up the career ladder, my friends, and deep supportive conversations with my classmate from the lyceum, Oleksii (remember this name, you’ll come across it again a little bit later 😉). He also went through a tough divorce, and we had a lot in common to talk about.

My main realization at that time—I turned off all of my expectations and accepted the world as it was, not as I saw it in my rose-colored glasses.

No matter how terribly it hurts you in the moment, everything happens the way it should. Thus, the Universe has something better for me around the corner.

I moved to Kyiv.

That’s exactly what happened to me. I got a promotion at work and was invited to the central office in Kyiv. I moved to the capital and started learning programming.

Once again, a way to nowhere, from stability to the unknown. But I was moving forward with no fear or hesitation.

At that time, Oleksii, that same classmate from the lyceum, and I started living together. He worked and I, while staying at home, immersed myself in studying programming. As a result, I created an application for patient pre- and post-natal data tracking.

Oleksii worked as a pediatric cardiologist in one of Kiev’s best clinics. We planned that I would get a job there as a programmer. But since it was a government structure, having a diploma in programming was required.

So, I went back to studying. I entered the National Aviation University for a second higher education. At the same time, I kept attending programming courses for practice. There, I was noticed by the teacher and invited for an interview at the IT company.

I passed the interview for a programmer, and thus began my career in IT!

In the fall of the same year the company sent me on my first business trip to the USA to meet with the customer. 🤩

But Oleksii and I had a dream, for which we would have to give up everything and go into the unknown again.

Moving to the USA became not just a dream but a real goal.

We started by learning English.

Each of us was growing in our careers. I became a team lead for 1 team, later for 4 teams.

Oleksii made a marriage proposal to me and I said “yes”. Therefore, we had official and religious ceremonies.

Having bought an apartment near Kyiv, we managed to have a designer’s repair made on our individual project in it. It was a significant step for our family formation.

In December 2014, our wonderful and long-awaited son, Myron, was born.

Child development became my priority for the next 7 years.

I went on maternity leave for 8 months to come to grips with motherhood and the study of early child development. Oleksii and I even managed to travel to neighboring countries to visit all the seminars of a famous neuropsychologist.

Although I kept working and going on business trips.

After a while, the customer decided to hire a manager from my company, and I submitted myself as a candidate. I was approved for that position. This is how our long journey to obtaining the Green Card began.

At that time, Oleksii made a challenging decision—he left his job. He gave up the opportunity to become a head of department to avoid long separations during my extended business trips. We could hardly imagine then how long the process would take us!

It’s incredibly tough when you’re neither here nor there. You are not planning anything and it feels like you’re losing the ability to dream, because there is no sense to dream about the past and you have little idea of the future.

My company applied for a U.S. work visa for three years in a row. Just when we were considering alternative ways, it finally happened. My application won the lottery, but still, many steps lay ahead.

I moved to Florida. Alone.

And started from scratch again!

Three months without my beloved husband and son were incredibly challenging. Living there I had the possibility to see my 4-year-old son just once a day during our phone call. While listening to Myron’s childhood impressions, my soul was crying. I wanted so much to hug him, bury my nose in his hair, and inhale a native scent.

In late summer 2019, the visa transfer was completed, and I became a Software Development Manager at Bandwidth and moved to North Carolina.

But most importantly, my family arrived 😍!

Challenges with our visa continued. Even though I had a work permit, Oleksii had no right to work having his type of visa. It was incredibly tough for him. However, we didn’t give up and focused all our efforts on obtaining the Green Card.

I climbed the career ladder in the company, but it wasn’t easy. I had never felt such a lack of freedom. I tried to control every word and move to avoid hampering the visa process. We had put too much at stake.

I continued actively learning, attending various management and team leadership workshops and seminars. I entered Harvard and after completing three online courses, I received a Certificate of Specialization in Leadership and Management.

Then, the war in Ukraine began.

The spring seemed non-existent for me. Easter began and ended, the sun was shining outside, but I felt like I wasn’t there, nothing but deep around. I remember sitting on the playground, kids were happily running around and I was just crying with tears rolling down my cheeks.

It seemed like my life had stopped and only my work and studying continued because it was impossible to put them on hold.

In August 2022, I got my Green Card.

A 12-year global goal is finally achieved! 🙏

And what’s next? I love my job, I’ve become a Director, highly valued, leading significant projects. But what’s next?

The last months of 2022, I was involved in organizing the move of my godson’s family from Ukraine. Thus, I had to leave the setting of big goals behind.

Only in early 2023 I started looking forward again. I completed a course on building, promoting, and scaling an online business. During this training, I explored different aspects of my experience and gradually understood what I wanted to do, where I wanted to grow, and how to scale it 🔝

I became the CEO.

In late July 2023, I officially established my company, Botigram LLC, and became the CEO. I know how to achieve what I want! But was I born this way? Probably not.

It’s crucial not to be afraid to try.

If you have a dream, if something inside you urges to manifest in life, take risks. It’s scary for everyone, but giving up the dream is much scarier.

I’m not saying everything will be smooth. There will be mistakes, but they’re part of the experience that makes us stronger and more mature. Money and success come to those who act. I know this from my own experience:

When I entered the lyceum

When I left my first husband

When I moved to Kyiv

When I left a promising job to study programming

When I moved to the U.S. alone

When I decided to establish my own company

I took risks. A lot. But otherwise, I couldn’t. Those were steps that led me to a life I am happy in.

Let me share a story to illustrate

what happens if you're afraid to try...

When my mom worked in the laundry, once she had an opportunity to open her own. There were even people willing to help her. She could have started her own business because she had the necessary experience and knowledge.

But she was afraid to take risks. She didn’t even try. No matter whether it would have worked out or not. The main thing, I believe, is not to have the nagging sense of wasted opportunity.

Sharing my own story, I want to show you that you need to try, because you have no idea of what lies around the corner.

DON’T STOP! Pursue your desires boldly, set ambitious goals, live this life out of curiosity, not running away from…, but seeking towards…

When we decided to move from Ukraine to the States, we left a stylish apartment, a good career, growth, and prospects. By contrast, in the U.S. we had almost nothing then. We had so little that our then two-year-old son literally slept for several nights in a suitcase.

But I didn’t give up. The pull towards the new, loyalty to my dream, and development moved me forward. One of my life mottos to this day is:

«If something doesn’t suit you—change it, if you lack something—create it!»!

And now...

I have slightly opened up my past to you, inviting you into my present, where I am learning to build a company, create passive income, invest, develop myself and my brand.

My consultations

Here ⬇️ you will learn more about a directions I am testing.

Botigram

And here ⬇️ about the company and our first product.

Website by Katia Walton.