HOW WAS YOUR DAY & PIARCIA. They dreamed of space and the stage, and conquered arbitration. Vika and Diana, Piarcia Agency

I personally met Vika and Diana while shooting a New Year's Eve show for GreyHunter last year. They are cheerful, friendly girls, and most importantly, professionals in their field. At that time, they were preparing the show and acted as a producer and editor on the set. Since then, we have been working together on various projects and collaborations. I knew that both of them had left their jobs afterwards, but I had no idea where they went. Suddenly, this summer, I meet them in Kyiv in the morning at the YoSa Affiliate Morning Club, which was held with the support of 2B Digital, and we talk, but not for too long - I warn them that I have to run to the shooting of the mysterious Piarcia. At the time, I didn't pay attention to the way the girls looked at each other and smiled. But when I arrived at the location the same day, I saw familiar smiling faces. As it turned out, they were Piarcia. Surprise - surprise! The masks were taken off, Vika and Diana told me how they had created a new agency, and I realized that this would be a new attraction for HWYD. So, WELCOME...

Kostya Golubev, editor-in-chief of HWYD

HWYD: Tell us about your childhood. What kind of family did you grow up in? When and where were you born?

Vika: I am from the city of nuclear workers - Kuznetsovsk (now Varash). It is a very young city where every second person works at a nuclear power plant. That's why I have a third hand, which helps me a lot in my work. Hahaha, yeah, that's my humor)

Every summer, I spent time with my grandmother in the countryside: herding turkeys, picking berries, feeding rabbits, taking the cow from the pasture, and enjoying my childhood. However, the latter lasted for a week at most, and I liked the city better. But I wanted to leave my hometown all my adult life. It was too "gray" and cramped for me-everyone is too close to each other, and everyone knows everyone. In a city of 40,000 people, it's hard to dream big or do something completely new. Since childhood, I wanted freedom in everything: in actions, in movement, in ideas, in development, and even in dreams. That's why I decided to move to Kyiv to study.

Diana: I lived most of my life in Odesa. I had an ordinary family: my mother was a saleswoman and my stepfather was an automotive electrician. I was an excellent student at school and always wanted to be the first in everything. I loved studying, just like I do now.) We lived modestly, though not badly, but I always wanted something but couldn't have it. Since I was smart, I quickly realized that if you want something, you have to get it yourself. That's why I started working early.

HWYD: Describe your most vivid childhood memory.

Vika: You wake up at 9 in the morning because a small rabbit has been placed on your bed. The house smells like pancakes with jam. You go outside barefoot, wash your face with cold water from the street tap, there is still dew around... and you are already planning in your head what cartoon you will watch today. It seems to be nothing complicated, but it is in such trifles that true happiness is found.

Diana: Every summer when I was a kid, I used to visit my cousin and my grandmother. We were both very stubborn, which often led to fights and tears. It was constant.) And then one summer we came, and I realized how much I loved my sister. And we didn't fight anymore. Here I felt what it was like to become an adult.

HWYD: What did you dream of becoming when you grew up? Why?

Vika: I had several dreams in different periods of my childhood:

• A fashion designer-I spent hours drawing sketches and sewing dresses and other outfits for my Barbies and Ken out of old clothes.
• An actress, she has always loved being the center of attention: she would memorize her favorite scenes from popular movies and cartoons and organize "concerts" for the whole family. She was also a regular participant in school productions.
• Journalist - I liked the fact that I could express my imagination through text. I wrote texts and spoke for the local radio, went to a journalism class, and there is still a video on YouTube of me opening a Christmas tree in the city center. That's some reporting for you!

And you know what? I actually work in all of these professions now:

1. Designer - because we create merchandise for partners, teams, and products.
2. I'm an actress because I shoot videos for my own agency.
3. I am a journalist because I write texts in PR, search for or invent news stories for clients.

It turns out that my childhood dreams did come true, but in my own adult format.

Diana: When I was a kid, we lived in a private house, and my favorite thing to do was to look at the stars. Sometimes at night, I would take a blanket and a pillow, climb on the roof and fall asleep there. I always thought we were not alone and dreamed of seeing a UFO at least once.

That's why I always dreamed of becoming an astronaut, up until the 9th grade. I thought about entering our aerospace institute, but I realized that it was underdeveloped in Ukraine and I would not be able to reach the stars there. Then I thought about going to study abroad, but I had poor physical fitness for an astronaut, so I gave up on this idea.

HWYD: How did you study at school? What subjects did you like the most? Which ones the least? Why?

Vika: At school, I was a gold medalist, so I found learning easy. The only exception was physical education. Oh, those standards... I never passed them properly. Even the school principal asked the physical education teacher to "give me a passing grade so as not to fail the medalist."

The irony is that in my first year of university, I passed all the physical training tests with flying colors. I still don't understand how it happened. My favorite subjects were math, Ukrainian and English. These were the subjects I took for the External Independent Testing: my results were also good - 187, 194.5 and 180 points, respectively. I also liked chemistry because I could experiment.

Diana: She was an excellent student, hung on the honor board, participated in all the Olympiads and pissed everyone off 😂 I liked math and physics the most. My mom still has a bunch of letters of commendation, certificates, and results of the Olympiads. Do you remember this moment when guests came and your mom showed you how good you were? "Come on, tell me a poem." And I did.

I was a multiple winner of physics and math competitions. I used to annoy my classmates because I was always held up as an example. I was invited to parent-teacher conferences. I was there as a showcase child)) I also leaked information about who really started the fight in the classroom, because I never lied, and they believed me. And I realized that I pissed off all my classmates only after graduation) Although I had great friends)

HWYD: What clubs/sports did you attend?

Vika: I adored going to clubs, especially since they were all free. It really strengthened me: I could try myself in everything. My biggest dream was to sing. I came to a trial vocal lesson, but I was not accepted. I remember the teacher saying something unpleasant, and since then I have never sung in public. It was like a blow to my self-esteem.

But other clubs were more fun:

• I did needlework for a long time, and my mother still has my childhood crafts.
• Dancing - I performed on stage and enjoyed the attention.
• Journalism was my love! I was constantly writing, making up stories, appearing on local radio and even on the news.
• English was an additional class that helped a lot later.
• Swimming pool - I love water, so swimming was a pleasure for me.

Diana: I didn't go anywhere until the 9th grade, because I didn't have much money. Then I went to a college gym, and later I played volleyball. I really wanted to train in the gym, but I had no money, so I was allowed to go to a student gym at the age of 15. You can imagine the conditions there 🙂.

The coach there was training powerlifters. One day he offered me to train with them and promised that in six months he would prepare me for the competition. I was very inspired that my efforts were so appreciated - and I was a fucking idiot. I was almost about to join them, but one day a girl powerlifter came into our gym - a huge belly, their training belt, flat chest. After that, I never went to that gym again.

HWYD: Describe your most vivid memory from school.

Vika: My best school year was in the 11th grade. It was then that a story happened that was both the most pleasant and the most painful for me.
I was a creative person at school. And when the organizers of the graduation ceremony asked each class to prepare a video about themselves to show it in the city's assembly hall, we came up with an idea: to make a video in the style of "Expectations - Reality" about typical school moments - lessons, homework, tests, the way home, etc.

We were divided into teams: actors, scriptwriters, cameramen. I was everywhere - a scriptwriter, actor, cameraman, and editor. I edited the video myself (I had never edited anything before). It turned out so cool that even now, 10 years later, I watch it and think: "Wow, it was really cool for that time."

Moment X is graduation. In the House of Culture, we, parents, teachers, friends, relatives - a full hall of people (no joke - full) who shared this moment with us. I am in full parade, they turn on MY video and.... there are only 3 scenes out of 8. Imagine me in an evening dress, in tears, getting up and walking right down the center aisle to the head teacher with a question: "Why did you cut the whole movie?". In response, I hear: "This video could have ruined the school's reputation." I was very angry and disappointed. I had a lot of support from my friends who came to my graduation. I breathed a sigh of relief and said in my head, "It's good that you won't come to this school anymore." The next day, I posted the video on VK, and it was massively shared by my classmates. And do you know what, Galina Vasilyevna? There was not a single bad comment. On the contrary, there were a lot of views and great feedback.

This is a memory for me:

• The worst, because at the most important moment of my life at that time I was simply cut off and humiliated.
• The best one, because it was during the creation of the video that my classmates and I became incredibly close. Everyone participated, everyone had a role, we got together outside of school, spent a lot of time working on this idea, and we made something really cool.
• The result was top notch, and this moment will always remain in my memory.

Diana: Here I want to talk not about a memory, but about a person who inspired me. Because he really deserves to be remembered.

Mikhail Vladimirovich was my high school physics teacher. A man who was brilliant in everything: a musician, a scientist, a dancer. I don't even know what he didn't know or couldn't do.

After 9th grade, we took a physics exam to get into a physics and math class. And everyone got 11-12 points - even the failures. We were sent an inspection from the Rayon, and we took this exam three times. The result was the same-everyone passed with flying colors. Because our teacher was really the best.

HWYD: What university did you graduate from? Why did you go there?

Vika: I immediately realized that I might not be able to work in my specialty, so it was important for me to choose a university where I could learn English perfectly, improve my German, and possibly learn another additional language. I rejected the "In Yaz" program because I wanted something more than just language education - I was interested in specialties with the prefix "international".

I also had a dream of getting into Kyiv Polytechnic. For me, it has always been No. 1 among the country's universities. And I did get in: I was enrolled in the International Economics program at the Faculty of Management and Marketing at the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute." To be honest, I realized that I was not interested in economics during my studies. The only subject in my major that I really loved was international relations. And it was there that I fell in love with marketing. Although my only extracurricular activity during my 6 years of study was in marketing. My life is full of contradictions, as you can see) And in the year of my admission, the department canceled additional languages, pupupu.

I still have no regrets: I have a master's degree in international economics, but I still have to learn English, and I can only count or introduce myself in German or other languages))

Diana: Before entering the institute, I hesitated between three directions: to become a programmer, an aviation safety engineer, or a scientist. Kharkiv Aviation University really invited me to apply) And I chose to become a scientist because I was a physics Olympiad winner and was seriously thinking about doing it.

In general, the choice was between making good money or doing good for people. I chose the latter, you know what I mean)) That's why I'm a software engineer by education. And all the technical stuff in arbitrage, numbers - everything is my forte. I am a mathematician, physicist, and programmer.

HWYD: What was your first job?

Vika: I earned my first money as a child singing carols. The next ones came from selling blueberries, which my sisters and aunt and I used to pick in Belarus (sometimes we got caught because my grandmother's village was right on the border with Belarus). In my first year, I got acquainted with part-time jobs: an extra in a political show, a promoter on weekends - I handed out leaflets and convinced people why it was better to buy four yogurts instead of sausage))

Then I took a printer from home and turned the dormitory into a mini-business - I printed everyone's diplomas for money. And my first "serious" job was as a seller of Apple equipment and accessories in a well-known chain. At the same time, I started doing SMM, back when this field was just emerging. And that's how it all started.

Diana: At some point, my mother started working part-time, gluing wallpaper, and she would take me with her. It was back in school. In general, she did it for quite a long time, even when she had another job, because it paid well. My mom still does it. So I still do repairs and glue joints together.) Later, I worked without my mom, and I kept a page on Instagram about it, and brought us clients through the targeting) My clients still call me sometimes.

HWYD: How did you spend your first salary? What was it like?

Vika: My first "salaries" from caroling or picking blueberries were spent on sweets or saved to buy some clothes.
But I spent my first serious salary on a new phone. And with the next one, I bought a phone for my mom. It was my little dream, and then I felt a real thrill from being able to make a gift to my closest person myself.

Diana: I definitely got 500 hryvnias a day on my first day of work. I don't remember what I bought. I think it was some clothes for sure. I've always wanted beautiful things. To go to the mall for a sale and buy a couple of things, I could walk to school for six months and not eat lunch. Because they gave me 5 hryvnias a day. 4 for the bus and soup cost 1 UAH. So I definitely spent my 500 hryvnias.

HWYD: What did you do and where did you work afterwards (before you got into arbitration)?

Vika: I started out managing social media for various businesses, from a dessert business to a bank. Then I worked as an influencer, where I learned how to build cooperation with bloggers and brand ambassadors. Later, she was promoted to Head of SMM, then Head of Digital, and then became CMO.

Diana: At first I had my own clothing brand, which I promoted on my own. Then my friends found out about it, and so I started taking on several projects for promotion in parallel. I launched a targeted campaign, consulted on content. The projects were different. In the winter before the war, I invested all my money in the store's spring collection: we did a photo shoot, and I was already calculating the profit I was going to make in my head. I was also about to get paid for one project. And then - bam, war. I had $150 in my pocket, no one paid for the project, no one wanted my evening dresses because people didn't know if there would be anything to eat.

I had to go to work like normal people - in an office (not the one you think). And when I was invited to work at Renault, I was just delighted. It's a global brand, and they hired me! At the same time, I was also promoting the Harley-Davidson brand in Ukraine. I was recommended by store owners. I did so well in the projects, although to be honest, I was paid a pittance. Then I moved to Warsaw (for 3 months), changed jobs, and here I am 🙂.

HWYD: How did you find out about the industry? What was your impression of it?

Vika: The first time I heard about arbitration was when a video of Slobozhenko was posted on YouTube, back in the days when he had a strange mohawk and was a little overweight. I started to get interested, read, and learn more because I was always looking for something new. At that time, I didn't want to get into the field - I was more likely to be inspired and accumulate knowledge.

This base was expanding every year. Before the war, I already had experience in related areas - crypto, Web3, innovative digital products. And during the war, I was invited for an interview, which turned out to be in the arbitrage niche. That's how I plunged into this industry.

Diana: I knew about this field back when it was not mainstream, around 2018-2019. I was the person who bought courses on pre-roll and tried to launch something. I started my career in marketing with targeting.

I followed Slobozhenko, Traffic Devils, learned about cloaca, mommy, and other things that not every arbitrageur can do nowadays, but who knows.

I really wanted to get here: I looked for vacancies, applied, tried to get in myself, tried from all sides. That's why I didn't hesitate when I was offered a job here and less money than I expected. I quit my old project because I felt I needed to come here.

HWYD: What was your first position in the industry? What kind of company was it?

Vika: I entered the industry right away as CMO at GreyHunter. Although, to be honest, in fact, it was something like a "turner, baker, and pharmacist" in one person. I was one of the first employees of the company, and for a long time I remained the head of the marketing department... without the department itself. But gradually we began to grow, results appeared, tasks became more and more numerous, and it was already clear: we needed a full-fledged team.

Diana: I didn't have a position, the name was invented later) In fact, they were looking for a CMO assistant at GreyHunter. But at that time, I had 5 years of experience in marketing and a good list of companies: Renault, Harley-Davidson, Nissan, and more. I had built my own clothing brand from scratch, participated in the development of the NFT collection, had experience in launching advertising campaigns on Facebook, Google, and had knowledge of SEO and various tools. I was a pure digital marketer. That's how the position was named)

HWYD: How did you continue to move up the career ladder? In which project did you feel your own realization and competence?

Vika: At my first job, I understood the inner workings of the market well: its side, processes, and the pains of its participants. But, of course, I didn't know everything. So, at the same time, I started taking on additional projects for consultations and partial services that did not require my strong involvement. This gave me the practice and knowledge to work not only with recruiting but also with teams, partners, and software.

Over time, I realized that I no longer wanted to make someone else popular - I wanted to develop myself and my own brand. That's how I came up with the idea to create my own agency. I nurtured this idea for a long time, studied even more, invested my own money in traveling to conferences to understand the industry more deeply and communicate with people directly.

And then came the moment of X: I firmly decided that the agency was going to happen. I began to take the first steps, invited Diana to become a head, and a few months later - a partner, because I saw in her both a strong desire to create and faith in this project.

Diana: And then Vika and I realized that we could achieve much more. And no company, management, or any internal processes should affect our results. We want to give these results to those companies that understand the value of our work - that are ready to become stronger, brighter, more visible and make a statement.

HWYD: You met at GreyHunter. Tell us about your acquaintance, friendship, and work at GreyHunter.

Diana: I love the story of how we met. Vika wrote to me one day, almost no information about the vacancy and immediately asked if I was ready to complete a test task. At that time, I had a lot of offers, so I immediately wrote that the vacancy was unclear and that I was considering a rate of more than that. I know that Vika wanted to send me. I wanted to send her too. Then I was sitting at night, bored, and wrote a test. The next day we called up, talked for 5-10 minutes, and she invited me to work, but offered me a lower salary than I wanted. She gave me time to think about it. But when I heard the word "arbitration," I immediately agreed)

Vika: We became friends very quickly. Although Diana was living in Odesa at the time, she came at her own expense to all the shoots where I needed help and attended absolutely all the conferences where we had breakthroughs. This initiative immediately showed that she was a really cool and dedicated employee.

Later, she moved away and became the only one of the team who lived near me. It was easier for us to meet at a hookah bar and work together than individually. So we started seeing each other more and more often, talked more, and unbeknownst to us, we became very close. It happened that on business trips to conferences, we even shared a bed if there were no separate beds)) We also complement each other very well: I am responsible for creative and PR, and Diana is strong in performance and technology. Together, it turned out to be a perfect match.

HWYD: How did PIARCIA come about? What about this other project?

Vika: "Piarsia is an affiliate marketing agency that combines numbers and creativity, which always leads to a monetary result.
We're talking about creative that really performs: campaigns that help a company achieve its goals, from recognition to profit. And in fact, we have a lot of ideas sitting around. I'm not kidding, we have a ready-made bank of ideas for various manifestations in this particular niche. And we want to realize it. This is how we assert ourselves))

I personally just turned my hobby into a business. And I get a kick out of it, that I can do what I love, while also helping people and getting paid for it. Kamon, isn't that happiness?

Diana: "PR is a project about freedom and creativity. We put all our experience, knowledge, and soul into it - if not more. We see how marketing and PR are developing in the industry, and we know for sure that we can have a hand in it. We love to see cool results in the projects we promote and hear from people that we are really cool. We want to set the standard, to become trendsetters - those who are looked up to, the best. No. 1. I am also annoyed that many arbitrage specialists have not learned how to set up targeting and contextual advertising for lead partners. They have learned how to cast a kazik, but not this. We are going to fix this situation. So come to us - I'm kicking our digital department's ass for every single figure. We have a good conversion rate.

HWYD: What successes have you already achieved and what are your goals for the future?

Vika: For me, success is when I meet a new person at a convention and they say, "Wow, I know you, I saw you on Instagram, you made such a cool merchandise." Then you don't even have to continue the conversation with me - my heart has already melted, and I'm ready for anything.

But seriously, we have grown a lot. Now Piarsia is a big team, not just the two of us, hahaha. We promote our clients in a way that can be seen in all indicators: recognition, KPIs, financial results. As an agency, we are invited to speak at conferences, people want to collaborate with us, we are respected by very important people in the niche and discussed on the sidelines. And this is the best indicator of our work. As for our goals, they are very ambitious. But I'm not one of those who talks in advance. So just subscribe and follow us.

Diana: A year ago, Vika wrote us goals for the year. I told her that she was a crazy person and that it was unrealistic to do it in such a short time. But we wrote them down anyway to work towards it. What can I say?" We exceeded that plan.

Recently, at a conference, one girl, a CMO, was squeaking because she saw the merchandise we made for another company and was trying to find out who made it - and it was us 🙂 Another indicator for me is that we are recommended a lot, and really big companies come to us. Sometimes I stop and think: "Wow, we're already here". I don't even have time to realize who we are already working with and who is coming to us.