Alina Shamanska: “Home comfort is a happy and cheerful family, even if the house is a mess!”

Alina Shamanskaya has an audience of millions of subscribers, which increases daily. In just a few years, the blogger has managed to become close to a huge number of people. People come to her for advice, listen to her recommendations, respect her social position, and take her as an example in building relationships with her husband and son. Some, on the contrary, criticize for frankness and public disclosure of important issues that bloggers usually hide.

Alina Shamanskaya was the protagonist of the digital cover of August and told Woman Magazine about the importance of sex education for children, the power of blogging to help those who need it so much, and creating harmony in the family.

Alina, many bloggers are now developing personal courses for maintaining and developing Instagram. Do you plan to create your own course?

During quarantine, I was approached by a company that creates similar online courses. They take care of all the technical part and promotion, and the blogger shares his experience, reveals facets of creativity, talks about creating content. To be honest, there are already a very large number of such courses, but later I realized that everyone’s experience is unique. I really do have something to say and share. It is quite possible that in the near future I will implement it. But at the same time, I do not want to share the profits with anyone, so I am waiting for inspiration to organize the whole process by myself, without intermediaries.

Your feed style has changed noticeably lately. What does this have to do with anything?

With love. It has to do with loving my subscribers and my blog. At some point I wanted more aesthetics, stylish images, “air” in the photo, and creativity. I try to keep up with the times, learn new Instagram trends and please people not only with content, but also with quality visual content. It brings me pleasure to look at the holistic picture of my tape.

Did the quarantine affect the family relationship? How did you survive it? Has anything changed in your relationship with your husband?

I can’t say that the quarantine had any effect on us. We are creative people and during the quarantine, for example, I had a little less work than usual. When you’re busy with a case, there’s no time or desire to have an argument for no reason. We didn’t even have time to watch a single show. A big plus is that we walked and spent time together with the baby more often.

What do you think is a woman’s role in creating family comfort?

It’s the same as a man’s. No woman wants to create family comfort for a husband who abuses her and does not appreciate her. It takes love and care for a woman to have the desire to create that comfort.

And it’s up to the woman to decide where the vase or candle will stand. Everything is different now. It used to be thought that homĕ comfort was the corners washed to a shine, everything was overstitched, cooked, and only with our own hands. I think it’s all nonsense, because when a woman is tired, unhappy, but the house is clean – what kind of home comfort is that? Home comfort is a happy and cheerful family, even if the house is a mess! The main thing is to have something to eat and smiles on your face. A cleaning company can always do the cleaning.

The topic of sex education is coming up more and more often now. At what age do you think you should talk to your child about sex and related topics? 

Our baby is not yet 3 years old, but he already knows very well that he has genitals and what they are called. I believe that you should start telling your baby about the structure of his body as soon as he starts to talk and think a little bit. We should call things by their proper names, not “pickle” or “banana,” etc. Also, Arthur knows that he came out of his mother’s tummy from the love of his daddy and mommy. I think that from the age of five it is okay to show pictures that show how animals reproduce. And at the age of 7 or 8, talk softly about sex, but not in vivid detail. Around this age, we already had rumors about what it was.

Should sex education be part of the school curriculum?

It’s a must! Just like nutritiology and the psychology of relationships. I don’t understand why such vital subjects have not yet been introduced into the school curriculum. We don’t live in the USSR. The Internet is ahead of the books. Schools just have to somehow catch up and change the system, the material, and its presentation.

Through your Instagram activity, you not only manage to keep your audience energized, but you also manage to solve social problems or help those in need. Have you experienced any hating because of it?

Can someone write nasty things under a photo of a little girl who has cancer, for example? Her life is worth a lot of money, and I’m asking you to help collect it. Can anyone write nasty things under a petition to sign a petition to chemically castrate pedophiles? There are, of course, people who behave inadequately and can write that this is PR, but I block them immediately and do not meet again ugly comments from them.

Why do you think many people in our country have the cliché, “Kindness should be done quietly” in their minds?

If I don’t show my subscribers that I help financially sick kids myself, how can I ask people to do that? We still have a lot of silly clichés from the Soviet Union. It also comes to mind: “The louder you laugh today, the louder you will cry tomorrow. How could anyone invent such a thing? Be quietly happy so no one will envy you, don’t stand out, be like everyone else, do good quietly, etc. I, on the other hand, believe that the louder you do good deeds, the bigger the wave of goodness that infects other people. Regularly I donate part of my income to charity and sometimes I even post screenshots of the checks in the story. I do this intentionally to set a good example. I get a lot of thanks from my subscribers. They write that in the hustle and bustle of the day they often forget to do such things, but coming to my page can always find someone to help.

What do you do when you feel emotionally burned out?

Bloggers very often feel emotional burnout. I know from my colleagues. When you give so much energy, it’s impossible otherwise. It is necessary at least sometimes to get enough sleep and give yourself permission to rest from work.

Now it is especially popular domestic tourism. What locations in Ukraine for recreation to your liking?

I love Odessa! That spirit of the city, the streets, the restaurants, the architecture, the sea air, the cheerful people. I love Lviv for the pours on every corner and the special atmosphere. And Kiev. It’s very standard for me, I guess. These are my favorite cities in Ukraine.

When they open all the borders, where will you fly to first? Why?

To America! This is the place of my power. I’m already looking forward to flying there again to recharge. Usually, I have enough emotion for 2-3 years. It’s an indescribable feeling when I’m there – it feels special. It is a very powerful country that heals my soul and inspires me.

Three things that help you keep the light inside you?

• Good physical shape and appearance. If I don’t like my looks, all is lost.
• A son and a husband. They should be fine.
• Feedback from subscribers. It’s very important to me to be needed.

I want to ask every woman to feel free to love herself. Strive for self-actualization and mental happiness. If you are happy, your whole family will be happy.

Photo: provided by Alina Shamanskaya

Cover photographer: Pasha Matoga 

Journalist: Maria Holotiy