Marina Mogilko and Dmitry Pistolyako (both 25 years old) created the online service LinguaTrip, which searches for foreign language courses and accommodation in another country. The St. Petersburg startup was noticed by investors from Silicon Valley and invested more than $100 thousand in it.
Marina Mogilko and Dmitry Pistolyako, graduates of the Faculty of Economics, launched their LinguaTrip service in 2015, and already in 2016, according to their calculations, the business turnover should be $5 million.
Young right now people are in the USA and are negotiating with a potential investor. If everything works out, this will not be the first American money in the company of St. Petersburgers.
Sent a friend to London
LinguaTrip is an online service to search for courses in international language schools, through which you can also book accommodation near your place of study. It's like Booking.com, but only for language schools, or Airbnb, but for student residences and local host families.
Founders of LinguaTrip this year came into the focus of American media writing about young entrepreneurs. Marina was named one of the 16 most notable entrepreneurs and innovators in the technology sector (16 Women Founders Making Moves in Tech) according to tech.co.
To the meteoric rise of this online business was preceded by years of offline work.
While still studying, Dmitry invited Marina to open an agency for the selection of educational courses abroad. Marina already had experience in this: she studied languages in England and Germany.
In May 2011 it was official MP Education agency was registered, on the same day Marina and Dmitry found their first client - a classmate who was looking for courses in English in London. After 3 weeks, Olga was already in London, and the agency was working on a new client. To date, there are more than 2 thousand of them. The company's turnover in 2014 amounted to $1.3 million. The company earns from educational institutions, who give her an average of 25% of the cost of training from each client (the trip costs him an average of $3 thousand). Meanwhile, the company’s starting capital in 2011 barely exceeded $300.
It's OK
“In 2013 we realized that our clients are already ready to book and pay for language courses abroad via the Internet,” says Marina. With this idea, in 2014, young businessmen entered the St. Petersburg startup accelerator SumIT. After graduating from SumIT, the accelerator invited Marina and Dmitry to a big startup meeting with John Remay, who is on the Forbes list of young entrepreneurs. Marina used the time to maximum advantage: in 20 minutes she convinced the businessman that LinguaTrip had great prospects.
Returning to Silicone d Olina, John told his colleagues about the Russian project and connected Marina with another American mentor, Purnima Vijayashanker. The discussion was about the opportunity to get into the famous international accelerator 500Startups, founded by former PayPal marketing director Dave McClure.
The next morning Marina and Dmitry received an invitation to the accelerator. “We packed up in 8 hours and left for the USA for 5 months,” says Dmitry. - The first thing we felt when we arrived was how quickly the project was developing. Almost everyone is ready to help you, and the number of contacts useful for business and the speed with which you acquire these contacts is simply breathtaking. What struck me most was the number of investors and startups per square kilometer.”
Having received $100 thousand from the fund 500Startups, Dmitry and Marina began to scale their business. Currently, clients have access to training in 10 languages in 300 schools in 140 cities around the world. The average bill for a course and accommodation is $1.5 thousand. Entrepreneurs get acquainted with foreign language schools at thematic international exhibitions. “Now the schools themselves are contacting us, and our job is to check them,” says Marina.
LinguaTrip offices are open in St. Petersburg and the USA. There are four people in the project team: in addition to Dmitry and Marina, there is also Dmitry Kravchuk (the third co-owner of the startup), who took over the technical part of the project, and Daria Starikova. They all know each other for a long time.
Having completed the program in accelerator, young people stayed for another 2 months in the USA because they found a potential investor. Negotiations are currently underway with him; experts estimate the possible transaction amount at $1.6 million.
70% of service clients- Russian-speaking users. Per year per purchase language courses More than $24 billion is spent abroad in the world. LinguaTrip's main competitors are large offline agencies that exist in almost every country. As well as international search engines for language courses and universities: Coursefinders, Masterstudies, PhDstudies, LanguageLearningPortal and others. There are also search engines made in Russia, for example StudyQA. LinguaTrip differs from them in that you can pay for tuition and accommodation directly online.
Number of clients, those looking for language courses abroad have fallen by 13% since the crisis, say the founders of LinguaTrip, but competitors and experts believe that the market has fallen even more.
"The number of parents sending their children to study abroad will increase. However, this only applies to long-term educational programs– Bachelor's and Master's degrees. The number of parents sending their children to study through vacation programs has now dropped sharply. When it comes to choosing an educational institution for children, they are gaining popularity online services, which give parents the opportunity to resolve all issues remotely,” says Olga Gozman, CEO of Begin Group.
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Marina, tell us in a nutshell what your company does, what is your role in it?
LinguaTrip.com is a platform for booking language courses abroad. We wanted to give students the opportunity to book English classes at language schools in London or, for example, New York in one click. And we did it!
Officially, my position is called COO (Chief Operating Officer), but this is rather just a formality. I am the co-founder of LinguaTrip.com and have long forgotten when I work and when I relax, business has become a huge part of my life.
LInguaTrip helps you enroll in foreign educational establishments. What experience of admission and study abroad do you have? Are you currently studying somewhere?
In addition to language courses, you can order support for those entering universities in the USA and Canada. We help students in all aspects of admission: from selecting a university and program to writing motivation letters and resolving visa issues. The team was formed in such a way that everyone was already personally familiar with the admission process, and I, of course, was no exception.
Coincidentally, in 2015 I was accepted into several American universities with full funding (Johns Hopkins and the University of Florida), and LinguaTrip.com was invited to the 500 Startups accelerator. I had to choose, and I began to think: I can go to university again, my place will be reserved, even if I don’t come to study this year. It was unclear when and whether the chance to get into the accelerator would come for the second time. That's what I decided! I moved to the USA with a company in 2015, LinguaTrip.com began to develop even more rapidly, and in addition to work, I shot videos for my Youtube channel, which started back in Russia.
As a result, in 2017, I returned to the idea of studying in the USA, but in a completely different specialty. I'm currently studying to become a director at the Los Angeles Film Academy.
How would you rate your level of English? Do you know other languages?
My English is at an Advanced level (I passed the TOEFL exam with 117 out of 120 points), but I do not stop learning every day while communicating. This is the biggest advantage of living in an English-speaking country: you constantly improve your knowledge. I speak German, which I studied in Germany, and Italian. I just recently returned from a trip to a language school in Italy with LinguaTrip.com.
What is the minimum level of English required to study abroad?
If you are going to go to language courses - absolutely any. Even zero. Here we are talking more about your personal comfort: you need to be prepared for the fact that for the first week you will not understand anyone and no one will understand you either. Even if you think you are the best Russian school, this definitely doesn’t say anything – my story. After 7-10 days, you will notice that you are already communicating in English, even if with errors, but you are able to convey your idea. When you return home, you will realize that dramatic changes have occurred not only in the language itself, but also in your attitude towards it.
If you are going to study at a university, then the required level of English will help determine the international exam. Everything is simple here: the higher the score, the greater the likelihood of admission. Imagine, all lectures and homework will be in English, you need to be well prepared to get involved in your studies.
What are the advantages of language courses abroad compared to studying a language in your own country?
The opportunity to practice the language every second and communicate with native speakers. School lessons will never replace such classes, because a Russian teacher, even the best one, cannot know all the subtleties that a native Englishman or American knows. Abroad, the learning format is more free: dialogues, excursions, creative assignments. Of course, there are also textbooks with workbooks - you still have to learn grammar, but you don’t feel obligated to memorize something, the process itself is much more fun.
I understand that not everyone has the opportunity to just buy a course. I suggest other options to the guys: watch films in the original language, Youtube bloggers, read magazines, books, translate your phone into English. You need maximum immersion in the environment. For example, when I’m driving, I listen to podcasts on iTunes, and new words are remembered by themselves.
Is it possible to simply go abroad as a tourist and learn a language without taking courses? The fact is that there is a popular opinion that if you live in the USA for a month or two, you will speak English without any lessons. This is true?
The problem with this idea is that very often we travel with a Russian-speaking group. In this case, you can’t even expect to improve your language level: the guide himself talks to local residents and solves all problems. Even guys who emigrated to the USA often end up in Russian communities.Of course, when you come to an unfamiliar country, it is more comfortable to communicate with a Russian person who has been here for a long time and has discovered everything, but in the end it turns out that your entire social circle consists of Russians.
I usually advise studying English at a language school for a few weeks, and then going to short-term courses in a specialty that is interesting. Another option is that you can only book homestays on LinguaTrip, which is a great opportunity to mingle with locals. Upon arrival, I advise you to go to the website meetup.com, there are announcements of various events in the USA, be sure to visit several to make acquaintances and practice communication. The most important thing about traveling is meeting new people.
You live and work in the USA. In your experience, is English in the US different from what we learn?
Yes, definitely! It differs in many ways: we learn “Russian” English at school. For example, not every schoolchild or student will immediately understand that Russian word“option” is better translated into English as “option” rather than “variant”. For example, in the sentence “Which option suits you best?” Here is "option".
At school we often learn British English; they are very different from the American version - from the difference in words to the rules of business correspondence. American is more relaxed, but emotional, in England there is a more strict, restrained language. Many words are different: movie – film, underground – tube, apartment – flat.
Do you think it is possible to fully learn English without traveling abroad? Is it possible to somehow compensate for the lack of a language environment?
I have already talked about some methods, but I will add that you can study English with a native speaker via Skype. This is a suitable option for those who do not have the opportunity to just go abroad. We ourselves are also recruiting a base of teachers, and I like to take the first lesson from them myself. It is important that a person knows how to present information via video conference; not everyone can do this well.
As someone with a busy schedule, what advice would you give to those who don't have enough time to learn a language?
Listen. While you are cleaning the house, playing sports, walking or driving somewhere, standing in line, put on headphones and turn on any movie or radio. There are so many options for practicing a language now that it has become difficult to come up with excuses.
If you sum up your entire experience of learning foreign languages, what key tips would you give to our readers?
I'll start with the most important advice: it's better to exercise 15-20 minutes daily than one hour once a week. Language loves regularity. Also try to find every opportunity to speak with a native speaker, this will make progress much faster. Choose only the learning methods that you enjoy. If you don’t want books, don’t, turn on online lessons. Tired of lessons? Go to cards with words. Always like this.
Marina, thank you for sharing your experience! In conclusion, one more question. They say that Russians abroad are always easy to recognize, even if they are silent. What do you think makes our compatriots stand out so much?
We are all different, from our clothing style and facial expressions to our mentality. Russian people are not very open upon first contact. I often see how our guys avoid eye contact with the interlocutor, and in the USA - eye contact is almost more important than the meaning of the conversation. We love to communicate, but we also love to turn around and see how others are doing. In Russia there is a rule: “you meet people by their clothes, but...”- there are native (and non-native) language teachers 👅 for all occasions and for any pocket 😄 I recommend this site because I myself have completed more than 80 lessons with the teachers I found there - and I advise you to try it!
Marina Mogilko
Entrepreneur, startuper. Graduated from the Faculty of Economics of St. Petersburg state university. Passed TOEFL and GMAT, received a US government grant Opportunity Award. In 2015, together with her fellow student Dmitry Pistolyako, she launched the LinguaTrip service. The company was included in the largest accelerator in Silicon Valley, 500 Startups, and received funding from American investors.
What do you do in your work?
Officially, my position is called “Commercial Director of LinguaTrip”. This is a platform for searching and booking educational courses abroad. But this is just a formality. My real activity is determined by the fact that I am the co-founder of LinguaTrip and have long forgotten when I work and when I rest. I don't even know when I last had a vacation. All trips are somehow related to business.
Recently they started calling me a blogger. It’s still strange for me, but it’s nice to realize this. After all, when I shot my first video on YouTube about how the TOEFL (test of English proficiency for admission to university) went foreign universities), I couldn’t even think that I would get a million views.
What is your occupation?
I studied to become an economist and mathematician and am very grateful to my parents for making the choice for me. All my life I dreamed of working abroad and thought that the surest way to this was to get an education as a translator. Only later did it dawn on me that language is not an advantage, but a necessity for survival. As a result, I studied the language in parallel with mathematics and economics.
In the 11th grade, for some reason I decided that I wanted to go to the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics of St. Petersburg State University, but my parents intervened in time. As a result, I ended up in the Faculty of Mathematics for only six months, when I went on exchange to study at Technical University Dresden. And once again I was glad that my parents made a choice in favor of economics for me. Pure mathematics also German I wasn't particularly inspired.
The main value of education for me is not knowledge, but connections and the ability to understand something new. Therefore, the main thing that my education gave me was a meeting with the co-founder of LinguaTrip, Dmitry Pistolyako. It was this man who registered our first company and said that I don’t need to look for a job, we’ll work for ourselves. He is the one who makes clear plans for several years ahead and inspires the entire team to believe that the impossible is possible.
I dream that I will never have to work for anyone but myself, and of a house on the ocean in California.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
One of my strengths: I am very passionate about my work. I can work on what inspires me 12 hours a day. Because of this, she is demanding of her employees.
Over the past two years, I have learned to value time and stopped wasting it. I try less to explain to people that they are wrong. This is partly what my channel taught me. Some hater is sitting there, writing a malicious comment that everything is “through connections”, I myself have achieved nothing, and everything I do is of no use to anyone. Well, let him continue to think so. Instead of trying to prove something to someone, I’d rather do something interesting and achieve new successes.
Since January, I have eliminated all types of alcohol from my diet. This is the influence of California, where everyone is in heightened health-conscious mode.
My weakness: I don’t always believe in myself. For example, when I entered US universities, I deliberately did not apply to Stanford and Harvard. I thought they were intended for Americans who were much more successful than me. Why do they need a girl from Russia with her small company? (LinguaTrip did not exist then.)
Only later did I realize that my case as an applicant was very strong and there was a chance to enter top universities. Now I tell this story to my students and ask them to learn from my mistakes, believe in themselves and aim higher.
What does your workplace look like?
Like that.
I love my thin Samsung laptop. I think I'm the last person in Silicon Valley who still works on Windows. For me, the weight of the device and the size of the screen are important, since I always carry a laptop with me and try to protect my eyes (12 hours on a large monitor is better than on a small one).
I also always have my phone with me. I currently have an iPhone 6S Plus. I'm pleased with its huge screen, although at first I thought it would be inconvenient.
And the third gadget, which is also with me in most cases, is the Canon G7X camera. It has a light-sensitive lens, due to which the background is beautifully blurred.
All my work is mainly in the mail: correspondence with clients, partners, investors, Lately There were also letters of gratitude from subscribers (my favorite part).
What is your daily routine?
Now I'm 100% a night owl. I get up at 9–10 am, go to bed at 1 am, because during the day I work with Russia and Europe, and in the evenings my colleagues and partners from the USA wake up. You need to manage to be in two time zones.
In the USA, on the contrary, I will switch to a lark mode. Western world tailored for those who get up early. It is quite normal if you have an appointment at eight in the morning, and the night party ends at midnight.
I try to separate activities by time of day. In the morning I check the news and email (but I don’t answer anyone because I do it in bed from my phone). Then I go to the office and there I answer letters and call clients.
I usually go to lunch with Dmitry Pistolyako, and if I have lunch alone, I correspond with employees from other cities.
I devote two hours a day to blogging: I shoot videos, respond to comments, communicate with subscribers.
In the evening - ballet or a walk, cooking dinner, watching a TV series and calling the USA.
How do you pass the time in traffic jams?
My office is about 15 minutes walk from home. I try to plan all meetings within the “office - home” radius, so as not to waste time and nerves on traffic jams. I drive quite carefully, and reckless drivers are very unhappy when I drive 60 km/h and not 90. Therefore, I try to avoid meeting them once again.
If you still have to wait for something or someone, then I read books. For the last three years I have read almost nothing, as I was completely immersed in business. But after I met Anton Gladkov (ex-business developer of Aviasales), I was inspired by how books influenced his life and began to read more.
What is your hobby?
My main hobby is my work and my video blog. I have two YouTube channels: one in Russian (35,000 subscribers), another in English. I started running it quite recently, but it is growing faster than the Russian one.
There are many bonuses from running a channel. Firstly, this is interaction with target audience LinguaTrip. Subscribers often write in comments and personal messages about how to improve the service, find bugs, and share their impressions of working with us. Secondly, I have a very smart audience, the guys constantly receive grants to study abroad, open their own businesses and win various competitions. It's nice to feel like a small part of big successes. Thirdly, maintaining a channel gives you new acquaintances. I communicate with many bloggers who make videos on similar topics. Sometimes we “partner” with cool companies due to the fact that my subscribers work there.
I am happy when I see the results of my labors.
What place does sport occupy in your life?
I'm working out classical ballet, this is my second hobby and my favorite sport. When I was eight years old, my parents sent me to dance at the Music Hall Theater in St. Petersburg. We had a lot of classes there: acrobatics, character dance, acting, but I was always inspired by the classics.
At the age of 12, a teacher from the Vaganova School contacted me and offered to continue my studies there. But I decided that after school I wanted to go to university, so I continued to study ballet as an amateur.
I try to go to classes at least once a week. Ballet helps you disconnect from problems and affairs.
Life hacking from Marina Mogilko
Books
I recently read Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I highly recommend it to absolutely everyone (as far as I know, it has already been published in Russian - “The life-changing magic of cleaning: the Japanese art of getting rid of unnecessary things and organizing space”).
This book talks about how to get rid of unnecessary things and how it changes your life. Within a week after reading it, I threw out six huge bags of old brochures, magazines, wires for unknown reasons, old clothes, non-working equipment, receipts, dusty souvenirs and figurines. I gave away some of my things to friends, and sold some of them.
For those who are interested in the life of startups in Silicon Valley, I recommend “Silicon Valley”. Everything is the same: competitors constantly trying to copy your tricks, constant consultations with lawyers so as not to miss any detail in the documents, constant work and quick adoption of key decisions.
I watch everything in the original. This is the best way to learn new words, listen to correct speech and remember especially cool phrases in English.
What is your life credo?
It is expressed in three components:
- Constantly work and develop.
- Constantly communicate with people who have achieved more than you.
- Don't waste time on people without a purpose in life.
Marina Mogilko is a Russian video blogger. But this is far from the only achievement of the “star”.
Among her honorary titles, we can highlight at least 3 interesting professions - entrepreneur, founder and commercial director of a platform called Lingua Trip.
The girl owns three personal channels in accordance with the specifics of her work, they are conducted regularly, and videos are posted on completely different topics. She is one of the 16 most notable businesswomen and innovators in the field of high technology.
Brief biographical information
- Full name: Marina Dmitrievna Mogilko.
- Place of birth - Leningrad (during the Soviet Union).
- Current place of residence is San Francisco.
- The specifics of professional activity are video blogger.
- The address of the personal website is linguatrip.com.
- The start of activity on YouTube video hosting was 2014.
- The number of subscribers on the main channel is currently 488,000 people.
The girl has several pseudonyms, but mostly uses her real name. She leads an active and eventful life, connected mainly with professional activity in the educational field.
Detailed biography
Marina was born on March 13, 1990 in Leningrad, currently called St. Petersburg. Since childhood, her cherished dream was to work abroad. She wanted to train as a translator and leave Russia.
But the parents insisted on their way, and the girl went to get an education as an economist and mathematician. At the same time, realizing that she could “pull” two degrees, she learned English.
Professional activity
In May 2011, while studying in Russia, I received a proposal from a classmate, Dmitry Pistolyako, to found an agency that would select educational programs abroad. At the same time, the first company appeared, which received the name MP Education.
Having barely founded the project, the partners acquired their first client. It was their common classmate. After 3 weeks, she went to London, and her colleagues continued to “process” the new client, developing and expanding at a crazy speed. 
In 2014, employees had the opportunity to get into a well-known business accelerator called SumIT. And after graduation, the entrepreneur couple was invited to a startup night hosted by Forbes' John Remay.
In a short period of time, Marina managed to convince John that their idea was promising. After that, he took the girl to his team as a coach.
This contributed to the project receiving a round sum for subsequent development and expansion. Since then, he began his dynamic development in this niche.
The girl currently lives in Silicon Valley. Today, she can be proud of a decent education and many creative business ideas. In an interview, she said that her position is officially called “commercial director.”
It is developing a platform for searching for education courses abroad. She also admitted that she no longer remembers the last time she went on vacation trips, since they are all mainly related to business.
The girl believes that education is certainly valuable. But the value lies not so much in knowledge as in the ability to think and understand a particular topic, even a new one. Answering questions, Marina admitted that her strengths are her passion for her own business.
She finds the process very inspiring and not boring at all. She said that she could work on her favorite project over 12 hours a day without feeling tired. In this regard, he presents a large number of requirements for partners.
The girl also described her working day. She said that the essence of her work is to communicate with clients and partners by mail. She corresponds with them and with investors, conducts consultations, providing answers to questions.
She believes that it is competent planning of the working day (time management) that allows her to be on time everywhere and feel confident.
Activities on YouTube
As you can see, blogging is far from Marina’s only hobby. In her interviews, she admitted more than once that she could not even think about such success in this field.
After all, when she created her first test video about the benefits of foreign languages, she had no idea that it would gain 1,000,000 views and become so popular. 
Among the girl’s latest works, the following areas can be distinguished.
- How Americans live. The girl tells stories from life and reviews the average Hollywood house.
- How do the British live? The principle of the video is approximately the same.
- How to speak English correctly to look like a native speaker.
- Houses in Russia and the USA. The video compares the types of housing in the largest country in the world and America. The pros and cons of living in both states are also covered.
In addition, the girl makes not only educational videos, but also various blogs, life hacks, and recommendations. She is inspired to do this by her numerous subscribers, who put a lot of likes and comments on the video.
How much does Marina Mogilko earn?
An important role is played by the issue related to the earnings of this businesswoman and blogger. Of course, she earns income not only through her activities on YouTube. The main source of her income is her own business, which was discussed earlier.
The income from this business can be omitted, since there is no information about them anywhere. As for the channel, we can assume (based on the number of subscribers, views, regularity of uploading) that Marina receives from 500 to 1000 dollars per month.
Due to the relevant and profitable theme of the channel, this income may not be the limit in her career.
Blogger and businesswoman Marina Mogilko told us about her latest travels and favorite cosmetics, and also revealed the secret of a successful business.
Marina, tell us a little about yourself and your business.
I am an entrepreneur and blogger, born in St. Petersburg, and now live in San Francisco. Together with the team, we came up with two cool projects - an online platform for booking language courses abroad LinguaTrip.com and a correction service English text fluent.express native speakers. I have three channels on YouTube - Marina Mogilko, LinguaMarina and Silicon Valley Girl.
What did you dream of becoming as a child?
I imagined myself as a singer performing a duet with Valery Meladze, or an entrepreneur who works in a skyscraper.
You recently held a big event - LinguaFest in Moscow. Tell me, how did you choose what to wear?
I was lucky because my good friend, clothing designer Maya Zaboshta, worked on the outfit. She lives and works in St. Petersburg. I just asked her to design a dress for me for the festival, and she agreed.
Tell us about the festival. How did everything go?
The event turned out to be fiery! I was glad to meet subscribers, blogger speakers and the LinguaTrip team. We have gathered in one place people from different fields who are interested in traveling, learning languages and simply constantly developing. It's inspiring. We will definitely organize LinguaFest in other cities and countries.
You often attend business meetings. What kind of makeup do you do for such events?
For meetings I wear minimal makeup - in America it is not customary to wear bright makeup. Usually it's Clé de Peau Beauté concealer, Trish McEvoy mascara, Benefit brow product and some blush.You moved to Silicon Valley and it seems like everything is there. Maybe there are things or people that you miss?
Certainly! I really miss my parents who live in St. Petersburg. And what is missing from food is village cottage cheese, cream and sour cream. When I get home, I definitely check out the market.As far as I know, you sing and do ballet. Recently I even sang a duet with Valery Meladze. Is it possible to combine business and hobby?
It doesn't work out very well. It's good if I go to the gym a couple of times a week. I have a lot of flights for work, so that's it free time I want to devote it to sleep and personal projects. In winter I will return to sports and singing again.Share your coolest travel experiences?
Any Four Seasons room is an absolute delight, and my most enjoyable flight was to Harvard in business class. We were given a tour of the plane, given a travel kit and delicious food. The Internet on board was faster than at home. I record many moments from my life on video for the blog, I also recorded that flight, watch it link.What do you take on board?
A moisturizing face mask, toothbrush, toothpaste, lip balm and hand cream, a laptop and a portable phone charger.What express remedies help you recover after a flight?
Hypnotic. You sleep and come to your senses. Just what you need after the flight! A good substitute for sleeping pills is magnesium.Let's go back to your last trip to South Korea. Did you buy any cosmetics?
Locals told me in confidence that Korean luxury brands are not much different from budget ones. I stocked up on AHC and AmorePacific. The Chinese export millions of dollars worth of this cosmetics from Korea every year because they really like it. I'll try it soon too.What surprised you most about Korea?
I fell in love with this country. Very kind people, literally everyone helped us, they tried to explain the way in English. I liked the food, it's a little spicy, but that's what I like. Everything is clean and technologically advanced. Korea turned out to be “my” country.You live in San Francisco. Tell me where it is best views?
You definitely need to climb the Coit Tower, a tower with a very beautiful view of the entire city and the ocean, stroll along the Embarcadero, eat my favorite oysters from Washington State and clam chowder, crab and scallop soup. You can also walk along Russian Hill (the best photos are taken there), take the Coltrane (local train), and get to Stanford in 40 minutes. Walk around Palo Alto, ride to Mountain View, take a free bike and ride around the Google office.What advice do you give to girls who dream of... own business?
I always say that if you want to start your own business, you must be willing to work for free for two years. If not, then it's not yours. When you do your business, people and opportunities always come because you have the strength to continue, no matter what. I think this will be my advice - to open a business not for the sake of business, but for the sake of immersion in what you love.