Natalia was born and lived all her life pre-Russian invasion in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

On day five of the attack on her homeland, she fled the city with her two children; seven-year-old son Luka and four-year-old daughter Mia. Apart from her two children there is no one else in Natalia’s family as her parents are dead and she divorced from her husband, the father of her children, an age ago. Natalia and her son and daughter were aided in getting out of the city by her friends, who themselves were to flee a brutal conflict for a second time: the first in 2014 from Donetsk when the Russians first invaded. Once again to run and now from Kyiv, where they had managed in the preceding 8 years to begin a new life. 

As a young girl, Natalia dreamed of being a librarian, that smell of books, the special light of libraries, those large windows and all those books, books, books that you could just dive into. The different types of fonts, the covers, the reams and reams of pages. This world fascinated and called to her. She yearned to live in this magical realm.

Yet Natalia entered adulthood in a completely different direction; "Before the full-scale invasion, I worked as the head of a ‘brand and communications services’ department at a large bank," she says. "In Prague, I would like to continue working in advertising, I am actively looking for a job in this direction, but so far luck has not smiled on me... but I believe that I still have a long way to go on my journey."

"What's next? Nataliya smiles and replies; "Just live...".