We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Yuliya Gorenko. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Yuliya below.

Yuliya, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We believe kindness is contagious and so we’d love for you to share with us and our audience about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Scents of Ukraine is a brand driven by kindness. The project was born in March 2022 as an impulse reaction to Russian aggression in Ukraine.

As a Ukrainian who found shelter in the US, I felt the urge to help my country. I started to hand-make scented candles to raise awareness about the war and to gather funds for humanitarian aid.

I was going out to farmers’ markets and community events to sell my candles and hundreds of people stopped by to express their support and solidarity. Many of them gave me a hand when I was feeling so low and hopeless.

The kindness, compassion, and empathy of people I never met before gave me hope and strength to carry on.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Born and raised in Ukraine, I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life pursuing a career in marketing. I’ve always been interested in communications and creative advertising, and I could never have imagined that I would develop a passion for crafts. I guess, the war truly changes you.

As I had to leave my country in February 2022, I started to look differently on many things in life including my purpose. Now I dedicate most of my time to fundraising initiatives for Ukraine and candle-making became one of them.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

In my case, being true to what I stand for has been the only strategy I followed. In every aspect of my brand, I express my core values. People see the authenticity and big purpose behind the product and choose to support it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I think the whole story of my brand is a story of resilience. When Russia started the full-scale invasion of my home country, I could barely find the strength to go about my day-to-day life. The cruel and atrocious reality got me paralyzed. My candle-making project is what helped me get through this.

Since the conception of Scents of Ukraine and up to this day, resilience has been the thing that kept me going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://scentsofukraine.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scentsofukraine/