Hi, I'm Varia
If my career were a video game, it’d be a sprawling retrofuturist RPG packed with plot twists, epic level-ups, high-stakes challenges, and just enough comedic twists to keep things entertaining.
What I Do
I reimagine how the world plays, watches, and connects - from the stage, to the screen to the stadium.
Origin Story
I started as a ballet dancer 🩰 , touring 30+ countries and performing in over 350 shows. Here, I learnt discipline, the power of strong teamwork (24 swans!) and the art of captivating an audience.
Achievements Unlocked
- Built a 1.6M+ strong Soviet relic community on social media
- Published a book
- Launched a profitable e-commerce business
- Fought digital wildfires at Meta and Twitter
- Went viral in Kyrgyzstan
Each step enabled me to sharpen new skills: multimedia storytelling, social media hacks, sales tactics, strategic partnerships, AR/VR wizardry and managing massive global projects.
Player Profile
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👩💻 Career Moves
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2020 - present: Sr. Manager, Digital Partnerships & Innovation @ Olympics
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Formerly with Meta, Twitter and Moscow City Ballet
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Even more formerly: a baby.
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🎓 Academic Power-Ups
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Bachelor's Degree, Journalism & Linguistics @ Journalism and Media Studies Centre at The University of Hong Kong.
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Certificates in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Stanford University) and Experience Design (University of the Arts, London)
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🗺️ Map Exploration:
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Completed quests in Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, Russia and Switzerland
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✨ Special Abilities
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Emerging Tech Expertise
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Transmedia Storytelling
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Global Projects
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Cross-Cultural Communication
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Soviet Visuals
Soviet Visuals began in 2016 as an independent passion project, born from my desire to use emerging digital platforms to explore the forgotten corners of Soviet life. I was eager to unearth trivial elements of Soviet people’s day-to-day existence, the ones that did not make it into the history books: a long-forgotten home music video, an awkward wedding photo, a leaflet, a questionable fashion choice from a country that no longer exists.
The community has since evolved into the internet's largest social archive in its niche, scaling to over 1.6 million followers across 3 platforms.
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Key Milestones:
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2017: Launch of Stratonaut e-commerce platform featuring work by artists and curators from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Profitable within the first year; bi-monthly product launches.
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2020: Global book deal with Bloomsbury Publishing
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2022: Released anti-war clothing collection protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine
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Media Recognition: Featured in The New York Times, Vogue, Financial Times, The Guardian, Public Radio International, The Moscow Times, and more.
Let's Talk 🙃
