Age: 28
Education: Degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Profession: Communications expert
Did you know? Maria Artemenko collects different editions of “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and now her collection counts more than 25 various copies in various formats and languages.
Running a charity initiative on top of one’s regular job may seem like a lot, but not to Maria Artemenko. She runs three.
Artemenko was a junior partner at Gres Todorchuk PR, one of Kyiv’s top PR agencies, when she started three non-profit projects, which she says can be defined as “effective charity:” Dobrodiy (Benefactor) Club, Giving Tuesday, and Charity Center Ukraine are strategic initiatives popularizing the culture of charitable giving in Ukraine.
Artemenko credits her success to the constant support of her parents.
“I have been making all my decisions in life on my own, while being constantly aware that they hold my back,” she says.
As a child, Artemenko enjoyed 11 years of professional ballet training, and made her first-ever money from going on a dance tour to South Korea.
Artemenko decided to finish her ballet career when it was time to prepare for university. She graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, with a major in journalism.
A career at Gres Todorchuk PR followed. There she quickly became a junior partner and a team leader. In 2018, Artemenko was asked an important question: what she would do, had she known that she would not fail. That got her thinking.
So, Artemenko decided to pursue her big dream — run charity projects.
“This is a great period when you are trying to do it all. And then the most interesting things start happening,” she says.
Challenging times followed this decision and “storm came after storm,” she says. Now Artemenko runs three non-profit projects, promoting charitable giving in Ukraine.
Being very devoted to her vocation of a communications expert, she also teaches corporate communications. Part of the reason to do it is to promote her charity initiatives.
“The influence zone of each person is richer (in opportunities) than we can imagine, and that is what we teach in Dobrodiy Club,” Artemenko says.
The club provides children in orphanages with career consulting, helps them with college applications, and teaches them financial literacy.
Another focus is to show children that they can help others. Once, a class wanted to visit quest rooms, for which Artemenko asked them to “perform 30 good deeds,” like planting a flower, helping an elderly person, or asking a friend about their problems.
Artemenko saw that they loved the experience.
Dobrodiy Club’s goal is to help underprivileged children become “self-reliant individuals, who can fulfill their full potential in life.”
Another of Artemenko’s projects is Giving Tuesday, an initiative promoting this charitable global movement in Ukraine. Giving Tuesday is a Tuesday after Thanksgiving Day, when people donate money or volunteer. In Ukraine, it takes place for the second time this year, on Dec. 3, 2019.
The success of the Giving Tuesday in Ukraine was noticed by the headquarters of the initiative in the U. S. They invited Artemenko to share her experience at the initiative’s convention in North Carolina.
This year’s Top 30 Under 30 award by Kyiv Post is the second one in Artemenko’s family. Her husband Oleksandr Todorchuk received the award in 2017 for launching UAnimals, an initiative to promote better treatment of animals.
