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Describe WE Talks, and why you believe it's different from other "empowerment series."

WE Talks (“WE” standing for women empowerment) is an event series for female entrepreneurs and professionals organized on a monthly basis. The idea of WE Talks was to create an intimate environment where our attendees can build relationships in an organic way, based on mutual interests and shared values. We encourage our guests to learn not only from our speakers, but also from each other, to connect exchange contacts, and stay in touch. WE Talks is a “safe space,” where it is ok to express your vulnerability (most speakers on our panel address not only their past challenges, but also the current pressing issues), and to ask the community for support and guidance. We also hope that as our community grows, our members meet future business partners, advisors, investors, and friends.

After attending many business events in NYC and internationally, I have noticed that women are less likely to network and introduce themselves than their male peers. That’s why, at every event that we host we try to make curated introductions and make sure that each guest meets at least three people relevant to her business.

Part of the inspiration for WE Talks was birthed from a negative experience at a popular "empowerment" event. Share that story and how it motivated you to start WE Talks.

Ever since I moved to NY, I have been searching for a community where I would feel comfortable and could turn for guidance. A while ago, I attended a very interesting and intellectually stimulating women summit aimed at empowering female founders and helping them scale up. As the second day of the conference was coming to an end, the participants were encouraged to publicly express their take always. After a long hesitation, I asked for the microphone. It was a big challenge for me, being terrified of public speaking and English being only my third language. I am not sure whether my manner of speaking, or my accent was the reason why the host cut me off after 10 seconds and asked to hurry. After not getting the support I had been looking for from something that was described as the most inclusive and friendly community, I decided to start my own. At WE Talks, we are very inclusive and don’t make judgements based on your accent or physical appearance. If you are driven, ambitious, thoughtful, and giving - you are always welcome here!


Why is now a more important time than ever for a WE Talks?

I believe the women movement to be one of the most fascinating phenomena of our times. The woman’s role has changed so much in modern society with more women taking leadership positions and starting their own companies. The modern woman is wearing more hats than ever. In the 80-s, a successful woman was expected to pursue an education and then to get married and raise children. Right now, women are expected to have successful careers, be equal financial contributors to the family, and yet maintain their traditional “feminine” roles, including taking care of the home, cooking, and raising kids.

Yet women with full-time jobs still earn only about 77 percent of their male counterparts' earnings. About four-in-ten employed women  say they have experienced some form of gender discrimination at work. There is also a serious gender gap in startup rates of men and women, where there are about seven women entrepreneurs for every ten men entrepreneurs. The statistics is pretty gloomy in both corporate and startup world. The share of female Fortune 500 CEOs has dropped by 25% in 2018 to 5%. Female founders receive only 2% percent of the venture capital. Nevertheless, female-founded startups generate more revenue and do it with less funding.

I think networking a paramount to business and personal success. For ages, men had men only clubs, including cigar clubs, university clubs, golf clubs etc. Even nowadays, male investors and intrapreneurs would go out for drinks and talk about business. Women are starting to do it, but just don’t do it enough. Curated networking, right introductions, and a solid community would help narrow the gender gap.



You were a model, then ran a nonprofit, and now you've started WE Talks. Where did you learn to have the courage to "put yourself out there" and take risks again and again?
I think risk taking is in my DNA. I grew up playing tennis competing on a Junior Circuit and simply couldn’t envision a predictable and “normal” life in Moscow. I come from a very patriarchate society where women are encouraged to study and to meet future husband in the their early 20s, then to get married and to take care of the home. The entrepreneurship “à la russe” usually includes your husband or father “buying” a beauty salon/ retail brand/ fashion magazine and the woman “running it”, usually without a solid understanding how business operates and mostly without ever becoming profitable. It just wasn’t for me. My biggest fear in life was not that of failure, but that of leading the most predictable life in Moscow and being like everyone else. I saw modeling not as long-term career path, but a way to explore the world, gain financial independence, and eventually move to the US (I got denied for a tourist visa but approved for a work permit in the fashion industry). My parents and friends thought I was completely out of my mind when I quit a well-paid job in finance to move to Milan, but in less than two years I had enough savings to invest in real estate in Russia (one of the best investment decisions I have ever made).


Modeling is one of the most competitive industries in the world where thousands of women compete for one job. The supply outweighs the demand dramatically, and consequently most models (even the most accomplished ones) have to face rejection on a daily basis. Embracing rejection and maintaining confidence at the same time is one of the most important lessons I have learned from modeling.

What's a challenge or failure you've faced in your journey thus far? From growing up in an intellectual family in Moscow until now. How did you get through that challenge? What did you learn from it that has led to your entrepreneurial resilience today?

I grew up in the 90-s in Moscow, one of the most dramatic and controversial times in Russian history. When Soviet Union collapsed, my family was on the one hand excited about the future opportunities, but in the other hand, completely unprepared for capitalism. In order to provide, both of my parents had to quit high rank government jobs and to start their careers from scratch trying to embrace entrepreneurship – something that used to be condemned during the communist regime. In 1998, Russia experienced one of the worst financial crises in its history, resulting in our government defaulting on its debt. The situation was so unstable and unpredictable that my parents thought it would be safer for me to get enrolled in college two years earlier than I was supposed to. We just couldn’t predict what would happen next. I took high school graduation tests and then the college entrance exams (Russian system din not have SATs back then and every college required students to take particular exams to be admitted).

My family has always placed a high value on education and the only option we thought would help me succeed in life was the Moscow State University of Foreign Relations, famously referred to as “Harvard of Russia” by Henry Kessinger. My entrance grades were excellent and I got the state scholarship covering my tuition and living costs. Most of the students studying with me were coming from a completely different “oligarchy” world, driving (or being driven) the most expensive cars in the world and being accompanied by bodyguards. Girls would fly to Milan and Paris to shop the latest Chanel collections. I was an outlier, a normal kid, taking a bus and commuting for 2 hours to get to school. And I was pretty unhappy feeling that just didn’t belong to this world and got there by mistake. Not having many friends, I focused on my studies, graduating Cum Laude top on the class with only “A” grades in my diploma. Now looking back, I am incredibly grateful for something I used to see as a traumatizing experience. I would have never grown up as ambitious and resilient had I been given all the opportunities my peers had at a young age.


What's the biggest challenge(s) you're currently facing as you grow WE Talks - personally and/or professionally - and what are you doing to navigate that challenge(s)?
WE Talks started as an idea and became a rapidly growing community. We were expecting just about 30 attendees at our first gathering, but ended up having over 50 guests. Consequently, we have been growing at a 50% monthly rate and just had an event in partnership with TOPSHOP with over 100 attendees, including more than 30 entrepreneurs. One of the major challenges would be to keep growing at a sustainable pace and to turn the community into a business.
When I was just starting WE Talks, many told me that the event space market in NY in very saturated and that without a significant experience I the event space it would be incredibly hard to create a quality community. And yet here we are,


Anything else you want us to know?
After hosting a few successful events, WE are planning a bigger and better event in fall. In fact, WE are making a statement that women should not be judged based on their external beauty and should be rewarded for their intellect and hard work.

The majority of our society still emphasizes the importance of female physical qualities, such as beauty, body, or photogenic skills.  Miss USA, the famous Beauty Pageant previously owned by Donald Trump, until this summer required the participants to pose in a swimsuit paired with high heels. Effective this year, the show will abolish the bikini contest. We think that it is time to take one step further and to finally start rewarding women for their mind, hard work, and creativity.

Our idea is to host a “Beauty Pageant” for female entrepreneurs and to have the top five finalists do a five-minute pitch in front of our jury. The finalists will not only get a money prize, but also receive a significant exposure to investors and media. We are hoping to get at least a few hundred applications as the application is completely free. Female founders should have equal opportunities and resources to their male counterparts. We hope that our event will encourage other female entrepreneurs and help them advance in their careers.