Elena Chernova: How to keep the balance between career and personal life

Has passed a way from the head of the legendary first glossy magazines in Ukraine, magazine “Natalie” – to the publisher of the Ukrainian version of the chief in the world of fashion magazine – VOGUE UA.

– Who or what inspires you? Why?

I am inspired by my job, colleagues, friends, books, nature very much… But what inspires me most is my daughter. I want to give the child all the best in this life: the love of parents, a happy childhood, a good education, the opportunity to travel. I like that modern children already at a young age know what they want from life. They have more information than we had, they can get a full picture of the profession and to make a choice. And this is one of the most important elections, because the half of life we spend at work. And if you don’t enjoy, you’re a miserable person.

My daughter was engaged in music and painting, and graphic design. I thought she would choose a creative profession. But 14-15 years was broken: she was seriously interested in biology and chemistry. Now she’s 17, she’s preparing to enter the University, she chose a degree in biochemistry and going to do science. I understand that this is a very difficult career, but I support it because I see sincere interest.

– How do you “reboot”?

The best relaxation for me is reading. I read a lot. All the classics I read in my youth, now sometimes reread favorite authors. Try not to miss high-quality news. Get pleasure from printed books you can hold in your hand. I love well-designed and beautiful books. It is also my profession: the more you read, the better you know how to write.

My second passion is travel. They not only give the opportunity to see something new, but are an inexhaustible source of inspiration. I carefully plan their trips, read a lot about new places, I try to see the maximum. Beach holidays do not like, you are our husband taste the same, so we travel a lot by car. But sometimes, and books are pushed to the journey. After “Eat, pray, love” I look to Italy and wanted to visit Bali. After the novels “midnight Children” and “Shantaram” had a desire to visit India – not a tourist, but real. Literature opens up the world and mentality of a particular country. From the books of Haruki Murakami and Yukio Mishima, you better learn Japanese and understand their culture than any guidebook.

– How to find and keep the balance between career and personal life?

Before the baby, you could work 16 hours a day, and it did not interfere with my personal life: my husband is exactly the same workaholic as I am. But then a lot of time began to take care of his daughter, and at some point I told my husband: “Considering my employment, I think we’ll hire me an assistant who will have to live – and not only to clean but to cook.” And the husband snapped, “I am the hands of others I will not!” But I found a woman that was so delicious, that foreign hands husband ate with even more pleasure than with mine. So all problems are solvable, you just need to properly organize your life.

When her daughter was 6 months, I was asked to leave from a maternity leave to work – to lead the magazine “Natalie”. Of course, I was in doubt: whom to entrust the baby? How to do everything? The nannies then I changed a lot until I found one that could truly trust. Was remorse due to the fact that a little time spent with the child: at 8 in the morning left the house and came back at 8-9 PM. But over time I realized that it’s not the amount of time spent together, but its quality.

The experience that I got in, “Natalie”, is priceless. It was the first in Ukraine magazine. We did it with a very strong team: Natalia Uliankina, IREN rozdobud’ko, Natalia Nikishina and many other fine journalists. It was a real cultural phenomenon: to the editor came in a few hundred emails a day from readers. Audience reach was 30 percent of the population. We even went creative evenings in Ukraine and the gathering sold out.

– What career achievement are you most proud of?

My first place of work – the newspaper “Boulevard”, where I began working when I was still a student. “Natalie” I was promoted from marketing specialist to Director of the magazine. Later he headed the publishing house “Karavan-Media”: launched the magazine “Caravan of stories”, “ArchIdea”, published books, created websites. All these stages are unique and important. Now I am working in “Today Multimedia” on the position of the publisher of VOGUE magazine. It was the most interesting and challenging start to my career. In glossy journalism, the brand itself is a “peak”. The most difficult was to collect superprofessionalnyh team. Everything else for me was not new. I remember when my daughter was little, I told her that I have a very interesting job, and she said, “Well, what is interesting? You’re always sitting at the computer or communicate with people.” I was lucky in life: I communicate with very interesting people, with the strongest professionals. It is a great thrill!

– What childhood dreams have you fulfilled in life?

I think that embodied all the dreams of his childhood. Is it possible it was in Soviet times to dream that you go abroad, and even more than once? Remember, little dreamed of the phone screen, where you could see the grandmother, and not only hear, because I saw her only once a year, when the family went on vacation from the military camp. Now it is a reality. Today the dreams come true much faster. Once I went to press tour to Vienna with journalists from other publications, and lunch at the restaurant sounded interesting question: what is your dream? Many had nothing to answer: do you dream mostly in his youth, and in 30-40 years, have already set goals and achieve them. And no one had any fantastic dreams, except for one colleague, who suddenly admitted that he dreams of going to space. It’s a sign of the times: almost all feasible. By the way, and the dream of space, too.

– What we have not asked you, but you would like about it have to tell?

I never had idols, but I always read a lot about people who have achieved success. I wanted to understand how they themselves are motivated, how to build your destiny how to overcome obstacles and failures… And I want to share my favorite phrase from Coco Chanel: “Everything is in our hands, so they cannot be omitted”. I absolutely agree with this outstanding woman of 85 years, she was holding a pair of scissors, worked, worked and received pleasure from life.

A SHORT INTERVIEW

1. How would you describe yourself in one word?

– The personality.

2. Three books that you should read.

– Can’t choose three. Can you name his favorite writers: Chekhov, Marquez, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Proust, Eliot, Kafka, Faulkner, Huxley, Nabokov, Umberto Eco… too many to mention…

3. What would you learn in the next three years?

For work and business I would have updated knowledge in the field of Finance and taxation: this sphere in our country does not relax.

And for myself, I would like to learn how to manage the boat, plan to learn fly yoga and TRX. And my dream is to learn how to write scripts to retirement had something to do.

4. Meeting or “Facebook”?

– Meeting.

5. Book or movie?

– Book.

6. Owl or lark?

– Lark.

7. Coffee or fresh?

– Fresh.

8. Brunette or blond?

Smart.

9. Jeans or skirt?

Dress.

10. Heels or comfortable shoes to go low?

Heels.

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