Vira Zhovnenko is an entrepreneur, executive, and founder of Fashion West Ukraine. Her professional journey encompasses finance, sales, management, event production, and fashion, with every new stage serving as an opportunity to start anew and build something of her own. Today, Vira is building a fashion platform designed to unite Ukrainian brands, business, and the international professional community. In an open conversation with International magazine Business Woman, she spoke candidly about finding her life’s work, starting fresh at 46, female leadership, and her ambition to transform Fashion West Ukraine into a full-scale institution.
— Vira, your professional background covers finance, sales, management, event production, and fashion. How did your vision of your own business take shape, and why did you choose the fashion industry right now?
— In fact, fashion entered my life long before Fashion West Ukraine. Back in college, I designed and sewed my own clothes, and later even tried to sell them. I had to pause because my studies began to suffer. Later, life took me in entirely different directions for a long time. I worked in finance, sales, and executive management; I was a commercial director and a business co-owner. Along the way, I ran an event agency—and that was my great passion. Looking back today, I see that Fashion West Ukraine brings together so much of what defined different chapters of my life. Why now? Probably because previously, I was looking for something I knew how to do. Now, I am looking for what I am ready to build long-term. And that is an entirely different criterion of choice.
— Tell us about Fashion West Ukraine. What core concept are you embedding into this project, and how is it meant to differ from conventional fashion shows and events?
— I don’t want to create just another beautiful fashion event. A pretty runway show ends in the evening, the guests leave, and all that remains are photos and press coverage. For me, that is simply not enough. I see Fashion West Ukraine as a platform at the intersection of fashion, business, and people. It matters to me that a designer comes not merely to present a collection, a partner not merely to display a logo, and a guest not merely to watch a show. I want to cultivate an ecosystem where genuine connections, partnerships, sales, collaborations, and new opportunities emerge. My ambition is for FWU to evolve over time from a platform into a full-fledged institution. When that happens, the events themselves will be only one component of it.
— You describe Fashion West Ukraine as a platform for Ukrainian brands with prospects for European expansion. How specifically do you plan to help designers enter new markets and find partners and clients there?
— For me, it is of fundamental importance not just to bring a Ukrainian brand to Europe, host a runway show, and return home with attractive content. That is not market entry. I envision a model anchored by two major annual events: one in Ukraine and one in Europe.
The European direction should introduce Ukrainian brands to a real European landscape: potential buyers, partners, the professional community, and individuals who can genuinely facilitate a brand’s further development.
I strongly believe in the power of the right connections. Sometimes a single meaningful meeting yields far more for a business than ten polished publications. That is why, to me, a runway show is simply an occasion to bring the right people together under one roof. The truly vital work begins after the show concludes.
— In parallel, you are developing FWU Models Awards. What place does this project hold in your vision for the future of the fashion industry, and what opportunities should it create for models and modeling schools?
— FWU Models Awards grew directly out of the platform’s core logic. When we speak of a fashion ecosystem, designers are only one part of it. It also involves models, modeling schools, agencies, photographers, stylists, the media, and the corporate sector.
That is why the Models Awards is not simply a contest where winners are selected, trophies are handed out, and everyone parts ways. I want participation to lead to continuous momentum: new professional contacts, involvement in FWU projects, brand collaborations, and pathways to international arenas. In other words, it circles back to the overarching principle: every event must generate the next opportunity.
— You have restarted your life and career from scratch more than once. Which experience most shaped you as a leader and taught you how to navigate difficult decisions?
— I don’t think I can point to just one. There were several moments when I had to start over from absolute scratch. Following one of my divorces, I was left with two children and severe financial losses. During the war, at 42, I relocated to an unfamiliar region, stripped of my usual support network, and had to rebuild my professional life once again. But perhaps the most valuable lesson all of this taught me was never to define myself solely by what I hold in my hands today.
You can lose a title. A business. Money. Your familiar environment. You might have to shut down your own project. But if your experience, your intellect, your capacity to work, negotiate, and build remain intact—you are never truly back at ground zero. That is why tough decisions feel far less intimidating to me today. I already know that sometimes closing one door is precisely what is needed to finally stop waiting by it.
— What does female leadership mean to you today? And in your view, how can a woman stay strong and ambitious without losing her femininity?
— I see no contradiction between ambition and femininity whatsoever. It seems to me we spent far too long dictating to women what they ought to be: strong, but not overly so; ambitious, but convenient; successful, yet perpetually modest about their achievements. None of that resonates with me.
To me, female leadership is above all the right to be multifaceted. I can make uncompromising business decisions and still love elegant dresses. I can pursue large-scale business, revenue, and expansion—while remaining a mother, a wife, and a woman who values looking her best. One does not cancel out the other. And at 46, I am far less interested in living up to someone else’s definition of a “proper woman.” I am far more interested in living up to my own.
— You maintain an intense professional pace while consistently prioritizing your self-care and appearance. How do you manage to preserve your energy and balance, and look as though you have limitless strength for everything?
— This is where I have to shatter the pretty illusion. I don’t. I am not a person of flawless balance. In fact, I am not particularly good at resting.
If it looks like I have boundless energy for everything, it just means Instagram is doing its job remarkably well. I get exhausted. I burn out. I have mornings when I wake up and want nothing to do with making decisions. And I constantly have to train myself to recognize those moments before it’s too late.
Caring for my appearance isn’t the antithesis of serious work. I simply appreciate beauty. I love clothing, footwear, handbags, and thoughtful self-care. It is an intrinsic part of who I am, not an obligation to match a status.
So I have no secret recipe for “how to do it all and stay endlessly energized.” In fact, I view anyone claiming to have found one with deep skepticism. I simply try to design my life so that it holds more of what fuels my energy than what drains it.
Photo: from the author’s archive