Stories of Women’s Influence

A major meeting of the Women Influence Community (WIC) took place in Moscow in October 2022. The community’s philosophy is based on promoting the topic of women's influence. Women leaders from different fields of activity meet regularly to exchange experience and inspiration and to share their views on how they see their mission and how they influence the world around them.

Yanina Dubeykovskaya PhD, founder and leader of the Women Influence Community, expert in corporate, public, and political communication

Women’s influence is a resource that people should explore and use actively to develop the world today. Yanina Dubeykovskaya and members of the Women Influence Community founded by her believe that, unlike success, influence is the real mark an individual makes through his or her activities by changing destinies, opening new opportunities, and contributing to positive change in business and society.

The philosophy of the WIC identifies six ways of being a woman: professionalism, civic position, business, motherhood, creativity, and the ability to be a muse. The community’s forums often consist of six discussion panels with each of them dedicated to a different way of influence. However, the event was held in a special format this time. It brought together all the ways of influence at once. The meeting focused on the topic of the inner strength of ‘superwomen’, women leaders pursuing different paths of influence.

The Global Women Media news agency prepared a series of publications with the most vivid and interesting reports by WIC members. In this article, we combined the stories of how paths of influence can intersect and be joined harmoniously in a person’s life.

Lerona Narinskaya, psychologist, quantum psychotherapist, academician of the European Academy of Natural Sciences

According to Lerona Narinskaya, the main mission of a woman lies in joining the material with the non-material. That can be traced in different fields of activity at different levels. However, motherhood with its ability to give a body to a soul when giving birth to a new person is the brightest illustration.

Joining together the material and the non-material forms a powerful resource. Many people are used to measuring the world around them in the categories of money and material belongings. They don’t even notice the deep non-material side of life.

Lerona Narinskaya’s whole life is about connecting the non-material with the material and understanding the value of that interconnection. The expert has two degrees. The first one is technical, related to the exact sciences. The second degree is psychological, focused on working with the inner world of people.

Lerona Narinskaya started her professional path with entrepreneurship, which may be called a very ‘material’ sphere of influence. For 15 years, she was CEO of a chain of pharmacies.

Over that time, Lerona Narinskaya has given birth to and raised two children. Motherhood has become the entrepreneur’s second way of influencing the world. Today, her son and daughter fulfil themselves in architecture and film directing and contribute valuably to the world through their professions.

Lerona’s second marriage inspired her to step onto the path of the muse. She influenced the world by inspiring her husband who is a singer and composer. Today, Lerona Narinskaya also writes poems, songs, and books. The path of influencing the world through creativity is still an important part of her life.

However, the main focus of the expert today is about unleashing her potential as a professional. Lerona Narinskaya not only works as a psychologist with entrepreneurs at various levels but also trains psychologists herself. She has formulated her own quantum psychology methods. The expert uses them actively in her work. She also delivers training sessions and implements original projects.

The sixth way of influencing the world related to civic position has only started to be outlined in the expert’s life. However, it is already clearly visible for Lerona Narinskaya personally. The expert started thinking increasingly more about her possible civil contribution to her country and the world in general. Thus, she began to consider many of her projects and actions as a citizen.

Understanding one’s responsibility and ability to influence the lives of others is a level that is difficult to reach. It is vital to make sure that this awareness is not formal but sincere, coming from a person’s heart.

After coming into contact with all six paths of women’s influence, Lerona Narinskaya noticed: each of them has a greater or lesser degree of both material and non-material elements. That means that, for women, it is important to take energy from different sources to create, carry out their plans, and inspire all those around them.

During the meeting of the Women Influence Community, Lerona Narinskaya delivered a special training session. WIC members looked for those sources of energy and learned to connect the non-material layers of life with the material ones. That activity makes it possible to get the most powerful charge of energy and strengthen the creative influence of women in the world irrespective of the chosen path of influence.

Anna Bondarenko, owner of the Bon Anna fur brand, international expert in sable furs, member of the Italian Association of Furriers

Anna Bondarenko continued the topic of joining together the material and the non-material in her report. For a long time, the entrepreneur believed that she had a purely ‘material’ impact on the world around her by making women more beautiful. Over time, after receiving feedback from her clients, she understood that her influence on people through the brand is much deeper and more philosophical. Beautiful things give women joy and make them happy. That is where the material meets the non-material and thus strengthens the value of Anna Bondarenko’s work and that of her team.

Interestingly, Anna Bondarenko started her professional path as a journalist. She has always been driven by the desire to share her thoughts and say something important to the world. Today, as the head of a fur brand, she keeps pursuing her goal. However, now she communicates with the world not with words but by creating clothes.

As a journalist, Anna Bondarenko loves listening to people. Today, that helps her a lot in her business. To create something valuable and useful to the world and important to people, one needs to hear them.

The expert wished all meeting participants irrespective of their fields of activity to develop empathy and the ability to listen and hear. People are a bottomless storehouse of knowledge and thoughts. When they see that they are understood, they, like a flower, open up to ‘re-pollinate’ and share their experience, thoughts, and inspirations.

Maria Starykh, hotel developer

The idea that every woman somehow comes into contact with different paths of influence throughout her life echoed in Maria Starykh’s heart. However, in her report, the expert focused on only one way of influencing the world: professionalism. That was the most challenging aspect for Maria. At the same time, it was the best option to illustrate the main strength of a woman’s approach to any task.

Maria Starykh has been creating hotels from the phase of concept to their opening for 15 years. She collaborates with renowned international brands and has extensive experience in carrying out large-scale projects. When she first started building her career, the professional environment in the hotel industry was mostly men-dominated. Maria Starykh was to give tasks to men but it turned out that they didn’t always hear and understand her. Over time, the woman began to understand the approaches of the representatives of different sexes to work.

Men are often focused on the material component and practical functions. Women bring something that we can call ‘non-material added value’ to their work.

One can see that difference in different fields of activity. However, for Maria Starykh, it is most visible in the hotel business. It is important for women to make sure that a space is not just comfortable in practical terms but also cozy, having a certain atmosphere, and setting a certain mood. Today, when Maria Starykh visits certain places, especially hotels, she can literally feel whether their interiors and layout have that very ‘women’s influence’.

Nadezhda Shulepova, WIC Ambassador in the Komi Republic

As admitted by Nadezhda Shulepova, she first thought about women’s influence when she met the founder of WIC Yanina Dubeykovskaya. At that time, Nadezhda was already a mother of three children and a wife of an entrepreneur whom she supported not only in his professional development but also in his hobby of conquering the highest mountains of the planet. The expert came to understanding that she was following the path of a mother and a muse and had a certain influence on the surrounding people and the world. That enabled her to look at her life mission from a new perspective and discover new horizons.

Last year, Nadezhda Shulepova established a club for women in the town where she lives. The club’s concept is based on that of the Women Influence Community. Community members meet regularly to discuss six ways of how they can achieve their potential. The expert believes that such a project is extremely important for a small town.

Women living in small provincial towns need positive role models. It is important to show them how they can contribute to the world. Importantly, they can do it even by taking small steps.

Today, Nadezhda Shulepova sees her mission in inspiring and motivating women whom she can ‘reach’. That will create an effect of circles on the water, which will only grow over time.

Ekaterina Kuznetsova, Director General of the Legal and Accounting Services company

Ekaterina Kuznetsova sees a woman's main strength in the ability to address conflict situations softly and win ‘without a sword and armor’. Today, those principles are part of the foundation of her legal firm specializing in resolving tax problems.

The company’s lawyers never argue with their opponents. They see their task in conducting complex but mutually rewarding negotiations.

War has no winners because all its participants suffer losses. The ‘soft’ approach is about replacing combat with dialogue.

Today, Ekaterina Kuznetsova is not only a professional and an entrepreneur but also a mother of three young children. She has just started her motherhood path but she already understands that it will be an extremely responsible and interesting process. As noted by the expert, she was happy to share her experience in the field of professional influence with the meeting participants. At the same time, she was ready to adopt the experience of those women leaders who fulfil themselves successfully in raising children.

As emphasized by Ekaterina Kuznetsova, the WIC community brings together amazing powerful women with each of them having a ‘superpower’. At the same time, they are all united by the ability ‘to blow wind into the sails’ of their close people. Thus, they make it possible for others to reach the desired goals. That is why membership in WIC is so valuable for every woman in the community.

Viktoria Gusakova, Global Women Media news agency

Photos by Danila Sedov, student of the Faculty of Photography of the Institute for the Humanities and Information Technologies (IGUMO)

Translated by Nikolay Gavrilov

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