Eugenia Gordienko: «Difficulties are opportunities for personal growth»
Don’t stop there, impress with results and love. That’s the slogan Woman Magazine is presenting the heroine of its September digital cover Evgeniya Gordienko. The author of the first book in the CIS on influence-marketing “How to work correctly with bloggers” and a methodology that was included into the educational course of the National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, co-founder of the producer center for bloggers, ex-marketer Nike, speaker TEDx and Synergy Digital Forum in an exclusive interview for Woman Magazine told not only about self-realization, but also about personal life.
“I am convinced that everyone has some talent. It’s just a question of whether they use it or not,” you told us earlier in interview (hyperlink). How do you spot talent and know you’re on the right track?
I recommend trying out different areas, testing hypotheses, and looking at feedback from the world. When you’re on the right track – everything will be easy and fun, it will feel like the universe supports you, putting all the puzzles together.
From the very beginning of my career, I worked with bloggers and did influence marketing when no one called it that yet. Then I worked at Nike, it was an amazing experience for me: there I grew up a lot, learned how to work properly with opinion leaders, met a huge number of Influencers and celebrities. Next, she herself founded an agency that helped brands promote themselves with the help of bloggers. Over time, this evolved into a production center. I teamed up with a partner, and now we’re doing the nation’s biggest launches for millionaire bloggers, as well as creating cool educational products that change people’s lives.
Step by step, I intuitively learned my life’s work, which now motivates me and brings me tremendous pleasure and results. It is very important to look for your niche. There are so many possibilities in the world, and there is a mission for everyone. It’s only worth the effort to find your talent and bring it out to its fullest potential.
From an early age you began to realize yourself in different spheres of activity, and now you work in influence-marketing. What pluses and minuses in your activity can you point out?
If we talk about working with bloggers, I can say that at different stages I have lost about 100,000 dollars with poor risk analysis, lack of contracts and technical assignments, miscalculation of analytics. But this is a good thing, because these situations have made me a strong expert. Each time I took better account of all the errors, analyzed my work, looked for pitfalls, dealt with conflict situations. Now this experience allows me to do cool launches and enjoy the results.
I see a lot of pluses in my work. First, it is a promising area that will develop and scale every year, both in our country and in the CIS. This sphere gives the opportunity to communicate with interesting people, constantly get acquainted with leaders and successful people from different spheres: sports, show business, blogging, entrepreneurship. Secondly, I like creating products that change people’s lives. My students admit that I give them faith in themselves, and by taking my courses their lives are divided into “before” and “after. Some are getting out of debt, some are making their first $2,000 to $3,000 from scratch, some are crying with the realization that life is filled with color and a new supportive environment of like-minded people. It inspires me and motivates me to realize my creative ideas, to influence the world with the life experience I have.
I approach the minuses with caution. For example, communication with a huge number of people can both bring pleasure and provoke burnout. But I try to find a positive side to everything.
Crisis = growth. Do you agree with that? What crisis situations influenced your development as a professional?
I absolutely agree with that. I believe that all difficulties are opportunities that are given to us for personal growth and to work out inner clamps. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have moved on. All of the situations where I needed to step out of my comfort zone gave me a boost and really impacted my professional development.
Three years before August 2020 you were in a relationship. A year has passed, and now you have another man by your side, with whom you very quickly found common ground for a serious relationship. How did it all start?
Andrei and I met when I was working as a marketer at Nike. We didn’t have any chemistry at first sight then, everyone was in a relationship and happy on their own. But during the mastermind period we often spent time together, talked, talked about our goals, methods of achieving them, exchanged experiences, talked about frank things, we became very close. It was a format of absolute trust and openness, where we (and 6 others) moved toward our goals and shared our most personal. We knew everything about each other: fakaps in business and relationships, perspectives on life, childhood traumas, attitudes toward jealousy, abortion, and LGBT. There doesn’t seem to be a topic we haven’t discussed. By discussing very personal and vulnerable moments, we formed complete trust and acceptance of each other. The strength and speed of our relationship is owed to the mastermind, because the foundation of trust and deep respect was laid long before the courtship began.
When the first snow fell in November, that’s when this story began. “I opened the door of the empty apartment around 9 p.m., sat down at the table with the thought that winter had arrived and I was tired of having no one waiting at home. I want a relationship. I knew who I wanted a relationship with, but I had been putting it off for weeks. I call @jenny.gordienko and hear on the phone: “I’m not sure if we can see each other today, it was a hard day… I’ll think about it and in the next 10 minutes I’ll answer if we can meet”. Zhenya wasn’t sure, and I was sure we’d see each other tonight. I just got in my car and drove to Pechersk. I knew she lived there somewhere, but I didn’t have the exact address. When she wrote the address, I was already there. The conversation was several hours long. Time has stopped. And a new phase began,” – says Andrei.
The next day I was at a birthday party at the blogger Orest Murya, and Andrew came to pick me up with a huge armful of white roses. It was very unexpected! All around cameras, flashes, all the guest bloggers clapping their hands and shouting, “Bitter!” And he, like in the movie – he came, he saw, he won! I believe in fate. And in the fact that everything happens on time. I don’t think it would have worked if we had started earlier. We were hardly “ready” for each other.
What do you value most in a man?
For me, very important in a man is purposefulness, scale of thinking, ambition, reliability, firmness, ability to show kindness, as well as to take care of his girlfriend and show gallantry.
How do you feel about prenuptial agreements? Is this a trick or a necessity?
I knew from childhood that I would marry once and for life, so for me personally there was no point in a prenuptial agreement. I have a great example – my parents have been together for over 30 years, and I’ve seen an example of true love since I was a kid. My grandparents on both my mother’s and father’s side lived happily together until their last days, over 50 years. And I could feel how much they loved each other, and I can still see how much Grandpa pines for Grandma. I grew up with the firm conviction that I too would choose one man for life, with whom we would build a loving family and live happily ever after.
“A successful man always has a woman behind him,” the saying notes. Do you think a woman affects a man’s success?
I believe that the right woman strengthens the man, so she should be there for him, not behind his back. If you haven’t met “your” man yet, don’t despair. It’s just that the universe has a better plan for you that will come to fruition the moment you are fully prepared.
The two of you are leaders in your respective fields. How does this affect personal relationships?
It’s very cool for personal relationships, because we speak the same language and understand each other. I believe that our environment mirrors us, and as we grow and change for the better, we attract people who mirror us. In life I have been very lucky to have people around me, which I am insanely happy about. They are always strong, successful, talented people who are several steps above me, thanks to whom I am growing much faster: I learn from them, adopt their thinking patterns. Andrei and I look in the same direction, so we have no competition with each other for self-fulfillment.
You’re in great shape. Tell us about your attitude to diets, good nutrition, sports.
I am not a dieter, as I prefer a sensible diet, self-care and sporty lifestyle. I’ve been involved in sports all my life. My parents joke that I learned to run first and then to walk. I was a professional track and field athlete for 15 years, after which I got injured, but I still continued to run. Now Andrei and I go to the gym together, and I think it’s a necessity for anyone. Sport is life, it gives us energy. If you love yourself, you will take care of your body. It’s important to like yourself, to inspire and get high from your appearance.
Together with Andrei, you run every morning, regardless of weather conditions. How has this run affected your relationship? Does this process bring you closer together?
It all started as a challange with my man: we agreed to run together for 30 days. A week later I agreed to a year, and two more weeks later we had a serious conversation, after which I made him a promise that I would run with him for life. Andrei has been running for six years. I’ve been running for eight months, Andrew inspired me by his example. I think it’s a cool tradition we have, and it’s brought us very close together. It makes us feel like we’re on the same page and every morning, even when we don’t feel like getting up, don’t feel like doing anything, we make an effort to get out and go for a run. It’s our shared values, our love of self-discipline, and our constant work on ourselves.
Where is the line between selfishness and self-love?
There is no limit, because any situation can be viewed through the prism of both selfishness and self-love. I think it is important to define personal boundaries and where there is a crossing of personal boundaries, it is important to protect yourself, thus showing love for yourself. And selfishness is a lack of concern for other people.
Text: Maria Holotiy
Photo: personal archive