Today we’d like to introduce you to Yuliia Semeruk.
Hi Yuliia, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started doing interior design not so long ago, but I was immediately successful. We lived in the beautiful tourist city of Yuzhne by the Black Sea. It was just beginning there. Houses were built and everyone bought apartments with a sea view. Customers lined up for me to make these apartments comfortable, practical, and beautiful inside. I developed and grew very quickly. Our life was what everyone dreams of. We had a lot of work you love, but there was no less rest.
Now my life and the lives of all Ukrainians are divided into Before and After the War. I dream of a speedy meeting with my husband, returning home, and my former perfect life. We believe in victory. We don’t give up. We are strong and brave. No one will take it from us!
I will never forget the night when I asked my husband to collect alarming backpacks with documents, savings, and the most necessary things. On the morning of February 24, 2022, a full-scale war began in Ukraine, which Russia began. We took backpacks, left our house, and went to my father out of town. The first two nights we slept in the basement, it was very scary… then my husband took me with my 3-year-old daughter to the border with Moldova and said goodbye to us.
I got in the car and drove on without him. We spent a few nights in Moldova and then moved on. In three days, we reached Poland across 3 borders: Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. The total route was 1,780 km behind the wheel. In Romania, we arrived at midnight at the booked hotel, and it was closed. My daughter slept in the car and I didn’t know what to do… there was not a soul outside, only barking dogs and complete darkness. A girl miraculously passed by and asked if I needed help. She saved us that night.
When we got to the final point in Poland, all the difficulties were instantly forgotten, now we are safe!
A little later, when I was left alone with my thoughts, I fell into depression. You live, work, travel, plan, dream, buy, you have everything, you are happy, you mean something. But now you’re nobody in another country. We need to start all over again.
And I started. But not in Poland. I got a tourist visa to the United States and flew to Minneapolis, my sister lives here. We have registered my daughter in kindergarten, I study English, I am looking for ways to get a work permit and continue to do what I love – interior design for my customers from Ukraine.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
There were a lot of difficulties. My experience in driving a car was negligible. I was afraid to go so far from home alone with a small child. My daughter can’t sit in a car seat for a long time, very active and demanding. It seemed unreal. We stood on the border with Romania for 6 hours, on the border with Hungary for 8 hours! We got in the car at 8 a.m., drove as far as possible until 12 a.m., spent the night at the hotel, and drove on again. No stops and rest.
I tried to find a job in Poland, but my daughter was always sick and I couldn’t do it. She had sore throat, rotavirus and poisoning. We visited the ambulance three times.
Upon arrival at Minneapolis airport, the officer didn’t want to let us in. We proved to him for an hour that we would return to Ukraine and were not going to stay in the United States. I lost hope. We were lucky that there was a translator originally from Ukraine and did everything possible to let us in.
I faced another problem in America. You can’t get a work permit here under any circumstances. Yes, my daughter and I came as tourists, but I still expected that a way to get a temporary work permit would be invented for Ukrainians. Those who arrived before April 11 can get it, but those who after this date can’t. That’s not fair. We arrived on April 13.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an interior designer. My experience in Ukraine in the field of design, in general, is almost 4 years. In August 2018, I received a certificate in the Interior Design course with honors as “the best student” and the job immediately found me. I started designing in full measure in January 2021. I create convenient and practical planning solutions for apartments, houses and other non-residential premises (medical center, gym, cafeteria). I am compiling a complete design project with all construction drawings and photorealistic 3D visualizations in Autodesk 3ds MAX. You can see my work in my Instagram: @semeruk.design. I am a purposeful, hardworking and constantly evolving interior designer. I am also a qualified economist with higher education with more than 9 years of experience.
What distinguishes me from others is my dedication to the customer and the desire to do everything possible and impossible for them. I’m obsessed with doing better, jumping over my head.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success for me is when you start your business from scratch and quickly achieve popularity, good reviews, and recommendations when your customers are ready to wait in line for you for a year or more.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @semeruk.design
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/semeruk.design/
- Phone Number: +16518028338
Suggest a Story: VoyageMinnesota is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
