The Way from Street Kid to Millionaire traces your journey from poverty, homelessness, and addiction in Kyiv to entrepreneurial success, revealing how faith and responsibility transformed your understanding of a meaningful life. Why was this an important book for you to write?

I didn’t write this book to showcase success or brag about making millions. I wrote it as a lifeline for anyone currently standing where I once stood — lost, broken, and believing there is no way out. When you grow up on the streets, the world tells you that your story is already written and that your past defines your future. I wanted to show that no matter how deep the darkness is, faith, radical personal responsibility, and God’s grace can rewrite any ending. It’s not just a business story; it’s proof that redemption and change are possible for anyone willing to take responsibility for their life.

Throughout the book, you treat adversity as a teacher. Was there one experience that most dramatically changed the way you think about responsibility and personal agency?

The ultimate turning point was realizing that blaming my circumstances, the streets, my family, or the world was slowly killing me. For years, I operated in a victim mindset because everything around me justified it. But the moment of true transformation happened when I understood that while I couldn’t control the hand I was dealt as a child, I had complete control over the choices I made today. Accepting that my life was 100% my responsibility — and placing my trust in God rather than waiting to be rescued — completely shifted my mindset from surviving to building.

Your entrepreneurial instincts seem connected to the survival skills you developed as a child. Which qualities that helped you survive on the streets later became your greatest strengths in building Enjoy The Wood?

On the streets, you develop three vital instincts: hyper-resourcefulness, high resilience, and the ability to see opportunity where others see only dirt. When you have nothing, you learn to create something out of whatever is available. In business, that translates to launching without massive budgets, pivoting when things go wrong, and staying calm under pressure. When our factory was destroyed during the russian invasion, that street-forged resilience kicked in immediately. We didn’t freeze or despair; we simply got back up, adapted, and rebuilt from scratch.

What do you hope your children ultimately learn from your story, not about becoming successful, but about how to live?

I want my daughters to understand that true richness is not measured by the size of a bank account, but by the integrity of your character, your faith, and how you treat others. Success and material wealth can disappear in a single day, but who you are inside remains. I hope they learn to trust God in the hardest seasons, to never define people by their current circumstances, and to live with open, generous hearts. Above all, I want them to know that love, family, and purpose are the only foundations that truly endure.

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