Olena Svitlytska is a theater and film actress, influencer, and mother who confidently combines her creative profession with the development of her personal brand. Her path is a story about the courage to change, discover new opportunities, and not lose oneself, even when life forces a new stage to begin.
Exclusively for Business Woman international magazine, Olena Svitlytska spoke about the moment when creativity became her life’s work, roles that change worldviews, the balance between publicity and personal space, motherhood, inner discipline, and the power of self-love that helps overcome any challenges.
1. Olena, your creative path was formed in the field of cinema and theater. What moment was a turning point for you — when did you realize that acting is not just a profession, but a life’s work you want to dedicate yourself to?
Thank you for this question. In fact, the turning point happened when, after graduating from university, I went to work at the New Dramatic Theater on Pechersk.
I played for one season, and then pregnancy happened in my life. It was then that I realized that during pregnancy I would not be able to fully engage in my profession. This became the very moment when I realized that, as a woman, I had to find another creative source of income, because I simply cannot live without creativity. This is what pushed me to develop a personal brand independently of the acting profession. That’s how I started my career on Instagram.
2. Over the years of work, you have played various heroines and lived many stories on screen and stage. How does each role change you personally, and are there characters that leave a special mark after the work on a project is finished?
My acting profession is special because it gives me the opportunity to immerse myself in the life, destiny, profession, and feelings of other people — my characters. Of course, the brightest memory right now is my latest role in the TV series “My New Shore” (Miy Novyi Bereh). This is a girl who desperately fought for her independence, individuality, and professional identity in a field that is highly undervalued in the modern world. She used to be a pole dancer, but later became a successful businesswoman and always treated this profession as an art.
It was an absolute pleasure for me to personally meet the girls who engage in this type of creativity. They are real athletes — strong, slender, and disciplined. They dedicate an incredible amount of time to training, sports, nutrition, and working on their bodies. They constantly participate in competitions and relentlessly move toward their goals.
That is why this role became a vivid example for me of how the acting profession allows you to immerse yourself in a completely different world, very different from my own life.
3. Today, being a public figure is not just a profession, but also constant interaction with the audience. How did you find your own balance between openness to fans and preserving your personal space?
In fact, I am a very open person, it seems to me, even too much so. I am sincere and frank. This is both a plus and a minus, because there will always be people who can use something against you, especially when your audience exceeds 200, hundred thousand people.
But over time, I learned to build boundaries and protect my personal space. For example, right now I highly protect my personal life. I don’t want to share it; I want it to be something of my own, special and intimate. It even seems to me that the magic of feelings fades a little when you tell the whole world about them. Therefore, I want to maintain this state of privacy for as long as possible. Of course, when I have an official husband, there will be nothing left to hide, because the marriage registry will show whose Olenka became.
4. Recent years have been a period of great changes in your life. What helps you go through new stages, accept changes, and find opportunities for development in them?
Self-love, self-care, and discipline help me best to go through transformations and new stages. Discipline regarding my body, health, and beauty. When you take care of yourself, go to bed on time, eat right, surround yourself with comfort, and create conditions that give you strength, energy, and resource, then an inner support appears. It is this support that helps overcome any life obstacles.
5. You combine motherhood, creativity, and public activity. How do you manage to balance the role of a mother, an actress, and a woman who continues to realize her own ambitions?
I am, of course, pleased that it seems to you as if I manage it easily and that I can balance. But in reality, it varies. Sometimes I dedicate more time to work and then pay less attention to the children. Or vice versa — I completely immerse myself in motherhood, and then my Instagram or acting activity drops.
I am a woman just like everyone else, and I have the right sometimes not to balance, but to do what my soul needs. You know, children grow up very fast, and this time is unrepeatable. Every minute of their growing up is unique, and I want to live it mindfully, savoring every moment. That is why now, when I see how fast they grow up, I want to spend even more time with them and literally tear it out of a busy work schedule.
6. In the modern media space, women often face judgment regarding their appearance, personal life, and choices. How do you feel about public attention, and what helps you stay true to yourself?
I am absolutely calm about public attention. I observed my feelings, analyzed how I react to it, and I can say that it is even pleasant for me. The attention of women is especially pleasant, because it is an interaction, a live communication that benefits both sides.
I have very few haters. My audience loves me just as much as I love them. We share new discoveries, experiences, different periods of life, and health and beauty hacks. Therefore, the attention of my audience is probably the best gift and the most valuable result of my work.
7. What main piece of advice would you give to women who are currently at a stage of change, searching for themselves, or afraid to start a new stage in their lives?
First of all, you need to allow yourself to experience all emotions — despair, sadness, pain, if they are present. But at the same time, it is important to set a certain deadline for yourself, after which you start to gradually return to life and take care of yourself.
Prepare balanced food for yourself, spend more time in the sun, surround yourself with people who give support and love. Give yourself pleasant emotions, take care of yourself. It is through self-love and self-care that you will be able to fill yourself with the resource to later have the strength to support others as well.
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Photo: from the heroine’s archive