OFFLINE BUSINESS BEYOND AFFILIATE MARKETING: MARINA'S STORY.

HWYD: Where were you born? Tell us a little bit about your hometown.

MARINA: I was born near Kyiv, in a town with a beautiful name - Ukrainka. It's a very beautiful place. There is the Dnipro River, the Stugna River, and there used to be a lot of forest... Now, however, there are buildings instead of forest. But back then, in my childhood, it was a very atmospheric, cozy place. It was a small town with a population of about 14 thousand. But it seemed to me that we were all like a big family. Everyone knows each other, helps each other, communicates.

HWYD: What was your family like?

MARINA: I was born into a modest family: my father was a military man and my mother was a doctor. As long as I can remember, my parents have been working constantly. They tried very hard to give me and my sister a future. Those were difficult times, dark times, I think, for many of us. But my parents did their best to make sure we grew up to be decent people.

HWYD: What was your childhood like?

MARINA:  I don't remember my childhood very clearly. I can't even tell you what I dreamed of or what I really wanted. But there is one incident that I remember very well. I had a sister who always knew what she wanted. What kind of gift she needed from Santa Claus, what kind from St. Nicholas. And what's interesting is that everything she wanted was always given to me. Why is it so? I don't know... But this moment is very deeply etched in my memory.

HWYD: How did you find school?

MARINA: To be honest, I did not do well at school. For the first five years, I was lazy, there's nothing to say. My parents were often called to school, even to the principal. But somewhere in the seventh or eighth grade, something switched in me. I suddenly realized: I can do more! And I gradually started studying. I finished the ninth grade with excellent marks. And since then, the desire to learn has not let me go. On the contrary, I still adore all kinds of courses, programs, and trainings. I am constantly learning something, and I get high from it every day.

HWYD: Did you have a childhood dream?

MARINA:Yes, since childhood I have dreamed of owning my own business. It seemed to be something extremely difficult, even unrealistic... But at the same time, it was pathetic and attractive. Honestly, I never believed that I could actually do it. And now I'm building something of my own, and it's so dear, so real...

HWYD: What is the most vivid memory from your childhood that has stayed with you?

MARINA: This is definitely my family. I can say that I had a real childhood. And, perhaps, I felt like a child until I was fourteen. And for this, I am incredibly grateful to my sister, grandmother, parents... For all those moments-for toys, for playgrounds, for laughter. For the fact that back then there was no such heavy responsibility that children in Ukraine now bear. Children who grow up in times of war... This is a completely different reality.

HWYD: Where did you continue your studies after school?

MARINA: I studied in the capital, in my native Kyiv. And since then, I have not left Kyiv - I still live here. To be honest, I didn't have much choice. I considered the options that were close to me: accounting, banking, finance. I've always been good with numbers, so there was little doubt about the direction. And here I'm grateful to my dad - it was he who suggested that I should go into finance, "grab the maximum," as he said. I found a college, passed the exams, and entered the finance program.

HWYD: What do you remember most vividly from your student years?

MARINA: The most precious thing that remains from those times is my friends. People who are still with me today. They had a great influence on me, on my worldview, on my choices. College and university taught me the most important thing - to be close to "my" people. And I still adhere to this principle. At every stage of my life, I found people who became a part of my path and stayed for a long time.

HWYD: Did you have to work while studying?

MARINA :Yes, I was studying on a contract, and I remember that it was not easy for my parents to pay for it. That's why I started working part-time when I was a student. Now, of course, students have more opportunities, and their salaries are completely different. But my first job was as a mayonnaise promoter (smiles). How I see myself now: I stand in the Ecomarket, near the refrigerator, for three or four hours, and offer people to try mayonnaise. I was paid 20 hryvnias per hour. But even this small job was important to me - I learned to appreciate what I earned and to be independent:

Adult life

HWYD: How did you get into iGaming?

MARINA: Honestly? By accident (smiles). At that time, I was working as a financier in a company and had no idea what iGaming was. But about a year later, I began to understand this niche better, and at the same time, marketing in general. It was then that I started to get fascinated by it.
While working as a financier, I gradually began to study marketing and affiliate marketing. Later, I moved to the position of an affiliate manager, hoping that this area would provide more opportunities for growth than finance. And, in fact, I was not mistaken.
In a fairly short time, I grew from an affiliate manager to a Team Lead, then to a Project Manager, the head of the affiliate program, and later became a CEO.

HWYD: What are you doing now?

MARINA: I am currently working as a CMO - Chief Marketing Officer. I have more than 40 people in my team. We deal with traffic and all the tools related to it. I'll be modest here - no pathos. It's just a daily job that I love.

HWYD: Did you assemble the team on your own?

MARINA: Yes, completely from scratch - in a year. And for me, as an introvert, it was a real challenge. It was very, very difficult to let 40 people get close to me. But at the same time, it became a point of growth.
I am probably different because I can see the potential in everyone. I always look for growth points in a person. And I try to meet them halfway, to be a human being - not a manager, but a human being.
My strong point is building processes from scratch. In both my current company and my previous job, I had a deep understanding of all aspects of work. When I recruit a team, people know that they can always rely on me. I will give them a hint, advice, contact, and find a solution. Because the mindset of an entrepreneur, a C-level employee, is to always see one step ahead. And I think I manage to do that.

HWYD: You own a chain of coffee shops. Tell us how, when, and under what circumstances the idea came about.

MARINA: In fact, this idea has always lived in me. But for a long time I thought: "I'm not smart enough to start a business... let alone keep it going." It was only in 2016, when I had the first free money, that I faced the question: an apartment or a business? And here I am very grateful to my boyfriend, who is now my husband - it was he who convinced me to try. He said: "We will succeed". And so our family business began.

HWYD: Where did you start?

MARINA: We decided to start with a coffee shop. And it was something! We had no experience. We didn't even know the difference between espresso and cappuccino. In just a week, we decided to buy a ready-made coffee shop together with the team that worked there. I remember the first night after the purchase: we had to open in the morning, and you didn't understand anything. It was a crazy six months, when we were getting our feet wet, learning on the go-not so much about coffee as about business, people, and service. And although it was scary, it was also very exciting. The first outlet turned out to be profitable, and we eventually sold it.

HWYD: How did your coffee story develop further?

MARINA: Nine months after we started, we signed a franchise agreement in Dnipro with our favorite chain, Fedets Family Bakery. Our first coffee shop was France.ua at VDNH. This coffee shop has existed for 8 years. It is like our first child: we raised it, put our hearts and souls into it. Even the administrator who worked there from the very first days is still with us.

HWYD: How did you balance all of this with your day job?

MARINA: It was not easy, but somehow I managed. I remember working as an affiliate manager during the day and making coffee at night. It was a time when I had a lot of energy, ambition, and faith in myself.
Now I am a passive investor. I manage my business only in critical moments. One of them was on February 24, 2022, the first day of the full-scale war. I spent it in coffee shops, closing them, going through everything with my team. Coffee shops became a point of support for me then.

HWYD: What has this entrepreneurship given you?

MARINA:The most important thing is self-confidence. It was in coffee shops that I learned to feel people, see their potential, and invest in them. This experience helps me a lot now, both when hiring and managing teams. For almost 10 years, I have opened and closed about 20 coffee shops and bakeries. There was everything - profits and losses, nerves, tears, and crazy joy. Now I have three facilities left - but they are of high quality, stable, proven.

HWYD: Do you plan to scale your business?

MARINA: No, I'm not thinking of scaling the coffee business. Now I'm thinking more about diversification. Over the past three months, I have come up with several new ideas and projects that I am launching from scratch. I hope to have something to share soon, but for now, this is an NDA.

HWYD: What advice do you have for those who are just dreaming of starting their own business?

MARINA: Try it out. Make mistakes. Lose money - and don't regret it. Start again. And smile. As Yaroslava Gres said in the play "Blue Dress": "There is no need to give up. Only go forward - and then everything will work out for sure."