Hi there!
My name is Vika (short for Victoria) and I am a UX designer based in Denver. I was born and raised in Moscow, Russia and lived there until recently, when I moved to the US in the crazy time of global pandemic.
Keep reading to learn how a basketball forward from Moscow ended up becoming a UX Designer in the US.
Did you say basketball?
I did. I played basketball for 10 years and for that whole time I was dreaming of an exciting sports career. But then, just like in all those movies, I suffered a knee injury that changed my life...for the better! I was only 17 which was the perfect time to think about what I wanted to do next. My basketball years gifted me with some of my best friends and made me a dedicated team player.
Sociology & PR
I got into Russian State University for the Humanities and graduated 4 years later with a bachelor's degree in sociology with a specialty in political and business PR. Even though I didn't end up becoming a sociologist, I never stopped being interested in social science and human behaviors. They both helped me in every single thing I did afterwards.
Nike, Marriott, Four Seasons
I started my career with an internship at Nike. I was a part of the brand & marketing team and got to learn a lot about brand standards and real world marketing campaigns in retail.
Right after my internship, I got into hotel industry. I spent one year at one of the Marriott hotels in Moscow on a sales position and then got a job in public relations at Four Seasons Hotel Moscow. There I did content plans for social media, wrote stories for the website and press releases for newspapers and magazines, and found content creators and social media influencers to collaborate with. For two and a half years I was telling stories, with words, pictures, videos and events.
US & UX
I was always interested in design but I didn't really know where to start. And then, I met this guy who I fell in love with to a point of marrying him and moving to the US, where he is from. While I was here waiting for my immigration paperwork to be ready, I decided to explore learning opportunities and I stumbled into UX design. I was reading more and more about it and then it all just clicked. Sociology + design + storytelling. Wait, there is a job for all of that? Sold!
13 weeks and 480 hours of classes in a bootcamp later I am extremely happy and excited to call myself a UX Designer who is never planning to stop learning.
Contact me
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.