What does success mean to me today?
Hi, I’m Julia. I’d like to tell you my story about success and how its meaning has changed throughout the journey.
Early Years – Discovering the World
I was born in the Soviet Union, in the Caucasian mountains, and grew up in an industrial town in Eastern Ukraine. My childhood and teenage years unfolded through Chernobyl, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the chaos of the 1990s in newly independent Ukraine.
During those unsettling years, I dreamed of discovering the world beyond my hometown. I spent summers reading books, studied English with passion, and, on my second attempt, won a scholarship to spend my final year of high school in the United States.
At 16, success meant developing my abilities, gaining independence, and discovering new possibilities beyond the world I had grown up in.
I returned to Ukraine with new perspectives and ambitions. That summer, my father drove me to Kyiv in his truck, with an old sofa and some of my favorite books. I started studying Business Administration at an American-style university in Kyiv and, two years later, began working full-time to support myself while continuing my studies.
Success became learning, working, earning my own living, and proving to myself what I was capable of.
Becoming – Growing with P&G
My first encounter with P&G was at a student career fair, where I was introduced to its world of brands, people, and career opportunities. A few years later, I joined its factory near Kyiv in an HR role, developing people and leadership systems. One year into the role came an unexpected opportunity: to lead the startup of a new production technology.
There was one interesting challenge to embrace: I wasn’t an engineer. My strength was making things happen through people.
The technology itself was still being developed in Germany. Meanwhile, I recruited a team and took them to Germany on a mission to start up two new production lines in Ukraine.
Learning the machines. Developing the skills. Building the team. Countless coffees and shift changeovers. Singing together to the sound of a guitar on our hotel rooftop in Germany. And finally, producing our first products in Ukraine, in a barely finished new production hall.
It was my first real lesson in manufacturing leadership: technology matters, but it is people who are behind the wheel.
From there, I experienced almost every chapter in the life of a factory: quality assurance, innovation, downsizing, supply chain, operational excellence, and eventually leading a production team of over 300people. Along the way, I saw how one of my greatest strengths, developing teams and helping people grow, enabled us to achieve great things together.
Then came two suitcases and new countries. First, I moved to Budapest to lead production in a fast-growing factory, and later to Barcelona to accelerate operational excellence.
Success meant doing my best. Embracing change across functions, locations, and cultures. Developing people and teams. More growth.More challenge. More adaptability.
Fulfillment – Leading Factories
At 38, I fulfilled a dream: I became the leader of an entire factory.
First, as Plant Manager with Paul Hartmann in Spain, I took ownership of the site, its people, performance, and future, leading it through post-acquisition integration and change. Later, in Germany, I led the company’s largest plant through cultural and organizational transformation and its journey toward the factory of the future. Alongside this, I led a productivity improvement program across multiple sites.
Success meant transforming factories and organizations. Bigger responsibility. Impact.
Keeping a factory running through the COVID pandemic. Seeing more new production lines installed and new products making their way to customers. Celebrating victories with our teams, big and small, and remembering the stories behind them.
I truly enjoyed the ride. Working with great people. Driving change. Enabling growth.
These years helped me mature as a leader. Gave me depth, perspective, and calm in navigating the challenges and complexities of manufacturing. Gemba walks, boardroom reviews, and plenty of trial and error. New ideas to explore and limitations to overcome.
They gave me a new calibration of myself as a leader. And new questions about what I wanted from life.
What do I truly want now? Where and how do I actually want to live my life? What will make me happy for the next 40+ years?
Maybe it was the war in Ukraine and its impact on my family, my homeland, and my own sense of balance. Maybe it was my newfound love for Spain, which I had discovered before moving to Germany, and the peace and joy I felt every time I was home on the Costa Brava. Or perhaps the transition into perimenopause, making me more aware of my changing body and the passing of time.
But I believe the deepest longing was somewhere in my heart, where I had been carrying a growing collection of dreams while building my career, embracing new challenges, moving across countries, and creating a good life along the way. Dreams I had parked for later.
It was a gradual build-up of signs and feelings over time. And the growing weight of everything I had been carrying.
And then one winter morning in Germany, I woke up after avivid dream of being back in sunny Spain, walking by the seaside and, to my own surprise, speaking Catalan. It had felt so real. Like another version of myself. A wholeheartedly happy one.
Outside, it was dark and cold as I drove to work.
Somehow, on that German autobahn, the uncertainties of the world and my own inner turmoil had shaken all those long-forgotten wishes like a snow globe, bringing them vividly back to life.
Dreams overflowing. Dreams I didn't want to sacrifice any longer.
Into the Unknown – Lightness of Being
So at 46, I took the leap. I left the established corporate path and stepped into the unknown.
Was I afraid? Oh yes.
Did I have a clear plan? No, I did not.
Deep inside, I knew I had to do it for myself, taking the risk of flying free. I couldn't keep postponing my life. I needed to let it in. Like preventive maintenance of my soul before the breakdown of my operating systems.
So I took time. Time to travel. To discover new places. To meet new people. To try completely new things. And finally, to make the joy of living a priority.
I still remember that feeling of childlike wonder during those first weeks and months of freedom after letting go of my established life.
Wait, I can just… do that?! 😉
Suddenly, my life felt almost magical. Things I wanted to experience and places I wanted to visit somehow started popping up everywhere, one after another. Writing club. Hiking club. Volunteering. Expeditions. Newplaces. New friends. New missions.
I realized how much I had missed life in my life. As if I had been on a diet for years and suddenly allowed myself to savor all the flavors of the world. And with each new flavor, I discovered a little more of that lightness of being, choosing curiosity, awareness, and intention over fear and old expectations.
The space and time of that pause were enriching. Slowly, they helped me redefine what success means to me today, expanding my ambitions and horizons:
Freedom. Creativity. Connection. Purpose. Wholeness.
Now, living on the Costa Brava. Enjoying the beauty of its nature, the sea, and the mountains. Following my curiosity. Embracing new experiences. Becoming part of new communities.
Working with different companies, industries, and individuals, sharing the experience and skills I have built over more than two decades. Helping people and organizations transform and grow. Making my contribution in different ways.
Today, success for me is about creating a life where who I am, what I do, where I live, and what I contribute belong together.
This chapter is only beginning. And I am loving it. Yes, there are bumps, steep climbs, and weather changes along the way. But there are also amazing people, new circles, new challenges, new peaks, and yes…a little bit of magic. ✨
