Yevhenii Bespalyi

Poland has become a motivator and driving force for me to develop intensively. Living in Warsaw, you see the scale of life. Skyscrapers, successful people around you, many businesses and large companies… It expanded my perspective and after moving from Poltava (Ukraine) I realized that it was possible to live differently. First, I looked for a job so that I could feel comfortable and not bother my parents with my own expenses. I tried working in the warehouse at an H&M clothing store, and then realized that I would do anything to make my job less physically demanding. It was during this time that I learned about social media marketing (SMM). I have always enjoyed everything related to this topic.

My development in this field was quite fast, but not easy. I worked every day, with no days off. In the first year I created more than 17,000 Insta stories for my online clients! My time in front of the screen was 12-14 hours a day – I woke up with my phone and went to bed with it. The clients interested in promoting their social media changed, and I kept growing. Clients included entrepreneurs, millionaires, business owners, experts in various fields. My income grew steadily, as my friends and colleagues noticed. They kept asking me how I got to this level and if they could do it themselves. It was after these questions that I started teaching people. At first individuals, then I formed groups of 5-10 people and realized that it worked. My students started making money, and in some cases they even worked on more successful projects than I did. So I decided to scale up the process and in the last 2.5 years I have trained more than 300 students. In Warsaw, I met influencer Nastia (@asiia_ss), who has been in the industry for more than 3 years. We decided to combine our skills, experience and knowledge and set up our own SMM Academy. We held 2 courses, which were attended by more than 130 students.  Most of them were from Poland. Now I feel that sharing knowledge is my calling, so I continue to create information products both for myself and to help others. Now, by way of example, I’m also working as a producer on the Kazakhstan president’s stylist course.

Before the war in Ukraine started, my students came from Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Baltic States. After February 24, I decided to develop the Ukrainian digital market, so I focus on Ukrainians around the world. Students who have completed our courses are in Ukraine, as well as Poland, Germany, Canada, USA, Slovakia, Lithuania, France, Indonesia, and I even have some students from Australia. The courses take 1-2 months to complete, depending on the tariff and development vector the student chooses.

Studying at our university gives me, first of all, the opportunity to socialize in Polish society. I met amazing people who helped me find my way in this country. I am convinced that it is impossible to stay alone at our university. There will always be people who will suggest something and support you in different ways. Every subject and lecturer has influenced me in some way. I like to learn new information all the time, so I see my studies as a game, where you gain knowledge and experience in public speaking, presentations and creating projects.

At the beginning of the war, I started working as a volunteer at the Media Center at the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland. Since the flow of information was huge, my team and I helped provide information support. Now our team creates large-scale media projects to combat Russian propaganda and fake news. At the media center, I act as a producer of social media projects – I create content for Ukrainian celebrities, manage social media accounts and help implement media campaigns in cooperation with Polish and Ukrainian television. I am extremely grateful for this experience, and more importantly, for the university’s understanding of my work. Although it is sometimes difficult to do so many things at the same time, my activities don’t interfere with my studies and I manage to combine the two.

One of the goals of our media center is to build positive relations between Ukrainians and Poles. We see all that Poland is doing for us, how it has opened its homes and welcomed Ukrainians. Orphans have also come to Poland from orphanages in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Several times my team and I have organized offline events to bring Polish and Ukrainian children together in joint activities. On the occasion of Women’s Day in Poland, we organized braiding and hairstyling workshops with professional hairdressers from Ukraine, and on the occasion of Boy’s Day we held a soccer training session with professional Ukrainian goalkeeper Boris Kubovy. 

 The children received small gifts and sweet presents. Polish and Ukrainian kids exchanged contacts and we hope they will become friends in the future. It is at such events that our hearts start beating faster, because we realize what an important thing we are doing….

We are proud of the project “Thank you, Poland” – a video campaign thanking Poles for all they do for Ukrainians in Poland (https://youtu.be/wJgpWb6ZUds). The video has received more than 30,000,000 views on social media, Polish television and outdoor advertising. It was also shared by the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, and published on her Instagram and Facebook, for which our entire team is extremely grateful!

I was a volunteer in Warsaw from the first days of the war. During that time there were about 70 people living in the apartment I rented. They were friends, friends of friends, and sometimes strangers who needed help. Last month, together with volunteers from Sun for Ukraine, we organized two charity exhibitions in Krakow and Warsaw. The exhibitions featured paintings by Ukrainian artist Yulia Angeluk, as well as Russian trophies from the war. More than 20 Polish and Ukrainian media reported on the exhibition, and we donated all the money raised from the sales to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We are talking about tens of thousands of hryvnias. 

In other words, I realized that I could be useful to my country by being here.

The Vdiachni project was created to show the gratitude of Ukrainians to the Poles for the support and help provided to this day. We involve well-known diplomats, artists and politicians, and publish posts in which they thank Poland and Poles. 

And the other project I am now involved in is the Polish news portal Gazeta.pl’s Ukrainian edition Ukrayina.pl. I am responsible for the social media promotion of our editorial team. We are a portal in Poland that writes in Ukrainian and is followed by Ukrainians both in Poland and Ukraine, as well as around the world.

All of the recording sessions with celebrities that I’ve done have been for our Media Center’s projects. I’ve had experience creating both short videos and larger projects. On Poland’s Independence Day, the Media Center and I helped create a congratulatory video for Ukraine’s Ambassador to Poland, Vasyl Zvarych, and Ukrainian Folk Artist Jamala performed the Polish national anthem with Ukrainian children. Recent projects include an event with Masha Efrosynina at a Ukrainian school in Warsaw. I’ve also recorded videos for the Vdiachni profile of music groups Kalush, Tvorchi, Tina Karol, Andriy Deshchytsia, Nadia Dorofeeva, Yulia Sanina, Go_A, Alyona Alyona, Tayana, Oleg Skrypka, Alina Pash and others.

Warsaw is an amazing city! I have been living here for almost 3 years now and I am still amazed by its beauty and grandeur. My favorite place to relax is the Royal Baths Park, where there is a magical atmosphere everywhere: you can meet peacocks, swans and admire the museums in the park. I love walking along the Vistula River – it’s my place of power. Near the Vistula is the wonderful Museum of Modern Art, which I visit when I want to find a fresh breath of creativity and new ideas.

***
Thank you, Zhenia, for your activity and endless motivation! We are sure that just getting to know you can become an inspiration for people around you! 

Good luck!

Alona Trokhymchuk,
UEHS in Warsaw