Find out who is Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine

Last February 16, Olena Zelenska posted a photo on Instagram with her husband, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in which the couple wears casual, cheerful clothes, launching a social media challenge to their citizens on Ukraine Unity Day. . It was a call to celebrate the people of Ukraine despite their differences.

A little over a week later, that happy portrait of the president and the first lady appears to be a postcard from a previous life, not just for them but for the entire Ukrainian people now suffering a deadly attack from Russia after the invasion.

But who is Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine?

Olena was born in Kryvyi Rih in southeastern Ukraine on February 6, 1978 and met Volodymyr Zelensky at university, according to the Ukrainian Women’s Congress website. The First Lady studied at Kryvyi Rih Gymnasium № 95 from 1985 to 1995.

Then Olena studied at the Institute of Economics in her hometown and earned a master’s degree in architecture, which ended in the year 2000. Three years later, on September 6, 2003, she married Zelensky and the couple moved to the capital Kiev, according to Ukrainian Women’s Congress.

Olena Zelenska rose to prominence in the world of show production and entertainment after being one of the founders of Studio Kvartal 95, a film, series and show production company.

According to data from the website, Zelenska participated in the creation of the programs “Liga Smichu”, the film “How the Cossacks…” and the project “Kvartal Feminino”.

Inclusion and gender equality

In April 2019, with the election of Volodymyr, Olena Zelenska took over as First Lady. At that time, her schedule was focused on humanitarian and social causes, as she commented in a September 2021 interview with the Diplomatic Courier organization during a trip to Washington.

A year later, the Covid-19 pandemic has become the most pressing issue on their agenda.

According to what she told in the interview, her approach to the pandemic aimed to prevent and combat domestic and gender violence, topics that, according to her, after Covid-19 were “the number two health problem, which has doubled since the beginning of the pandemic. ”.

The first lady had Covid-19 in 2020 and suffered from “moderate complications, with pneumonia”. Other issues she has led in her role are those related to gender equality, early childhood education and the inclusion of the Ukrainian language in Europe’s cultural offering.

Olena said she pushed for Ukraine to join the International Equal Pay Coalition and her efforts in early childhood education are related to “breaking down barriers for girls in STEM education” (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

She has supported Ukraine’s Paralympic team and is also recognized for leading the initiative to provide audio guides in Ukrainian at key historic and heritage sites around the world.

“Our nation and society have a rich history that spans centuries and we contribute to the world in many ways. The arts and history are two of the most effective ways to highlight and connect cultures using soft power,” Zelenska told Diplomatic Courier.