Our 2016 People of the Year: ForumDaily Heroes - ForumDaily
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Our people 2016 of the year: ForumDaily heroes

Photo: forumdaily

Photo: forumdaily

ForumDaily recalls the main characters of 2016 of the year, who by their example proved once again that life in immigration is a chance that everyone uses to the best of his ability and abilities.

Android Logo Creator

Irina Blok. Photos from the personal archive

Irina Blok. Photos from the personal archive

Irina Blok is a native of St. Petersburg and the creator of the Android logo. The funny green robot of its authorship is now firmly associated with the Google operating system, which is used in many smartphones. Irina arrived in Silicon Valley, not knowing English, and became the author of the brands that Americans face every day.

When Irina studied at the Leningrad Higher School of Industrial Art, the long-running process of moving the family to the USA was decided. Relatives of her grandmothers and parents' acquaintances lived in the city of San Jose, which is considered one of the centers of Silicon Valley. Irina's parents and engineers went there.

Irina managed to enter the University of San Jose. She took on any job as a student: nanny, storekeeper, salesman.

When she was already in her last year, one of the professors said that local famous designer Sam Schmidt needed a designer. Irina tried - and they took her.

After finishing her studies, Irina got a job as a brand designer in Landor associates, a renowned brand consulting company. It was Landor Associates that created the original design of FedEx and HP.

The next in her career was another giant of the IT-Google market. After Google’s purchase of the Android company in 2005, another task appeared - to tell the world about this operating system and create a logo for it.

Irina went to work. It took her less than one day to come up with a logo. The current Android logo, she drew the first attempt. The logo was approved within a couple of weeks.

Irina left Google in 2009, after 3 years of work. Next came work at Adobe, teaching at an art academy in San Francisco, during which Irina taught her students to think outside the box, and then a position as a leading designer at Apple.

Creating the Android logo did not bring glory to Irina, and she herself does not consider this notion to be any special in her career.

Read more: She painted Android. The history of Russian women who created one of the most recognizable logos in the world

From the waitress to Forbes rating

30-year-old founder of the New York company Shoptiques Olga Vidischeva knows what the American dream is. Having moved to America from Kyrgyzstan a little more than 10 years ago, she studied English, working as a waitress in New Mexico, combined college studies with a model career.

After graduating, she became an analyst at Goldman Sachs, received an MBA degree from Harvard, and then gave up a career for a startup and, a few years later, entered the Forbes list of the most successful entrepreneurs up to 30 years.

In 2011, when Vidishcheva received her diploma, she had only $ 10 thousand savings and more than $ 100 thousand tuition debt. Everything promised to pay back the “ideal job” that the alumna was offered in London. A good position in an investment company with clients from the luxury industry, a big salary and life in the same city with her young man. Olga decided to give up all this and spent $ 8 thousand (almost everything she had) on the development of the first version of the site for Boston boutiques.

Now her fashion boutique aggregator works with 5 with thousands of partners around the world and earns tens of millions of dollars.

Read more: Success story: as a waitress from Kyrgyzstan hit the Forbes rating

The policeman of the most famous department in the world

Mikhail Belogorodsky always wanted to be a policeman. Photos from the personal archive

Mikhail Belogorodsky always wanted to be a policeman. Photos from the personal archive

Mikhail Belogorodsky is a police officer and president of the Russian-speaking Association of Police Officers until 2016, which now has about 400 members in 10 states. The organization primarily provides social assistance. Policemen help each other to move up the career ladder.

Michael moved to the US with his parents in 1995. He diligently studied and earned money wherever he could to help the family. After graduating from school, Michael, who according to the documents was Michael, became a student of the Police Academy, which he had always dreamed of. After which, the distribution was in the famous Russian region of New York - Brighton Beach.

“The work on Brighton was remembered for a lifetime. After all, it is not easy to communicate with “ours”. They dislike the police. I always tried to talk to a person, convince him of the wrong thing, and many people listened, ”the policeman said.

He worked for 11 for years as a police officer in New York. Now Belogorodsky works as a sergeant in the department for investigating complaints of corruption and administrative violations of police officers. Despite the tight schedule, Michael has time to engage in more and social work.

And in honor of a native of the Belarusian city of Bobruisk, Ruslan Timoshenko, a street in Staten Island was named - Russel Timoshenko Way (55 Durant Av. Staten Island). In the same area of ​​New York, a football field was named in memory of the policeman. Tymoshenko died on July 9, 2007 - he and his partner were shot at point-blank range while checking a suspicious car in the Crown Heights area of ​​Brooklyn.

russel_ruslan_timoshenko

In honor of the native of the Belarusian city of Bobruisk, Ruslan Timoshenko, was named a street in Staten Island. Photo: from the family archive of Tymoshenko / minskherald.com

Read more: Russian cops of New York: how to become a policeman of the most famous department in the world

The first Russian-language "Miss America"

 

Of course, girls with Slavic roots could not go unnoticed in the field of fashion and beauty. In 2015, Kira Kazantsev received the title “Miss America” - becoming the first girl from a Russian-speaking family to receive this crown.

Kira's parents moved to the United States from Russia in 1990. Dad is a surgeon, mom is a real estate agent. Kira was born in San Francisco. She was educated at Hofstra University, continuing her studies at law school.

Kira loves to spend time in the Russian-speaking quarters of New York, where she has many friends. For her, it is "as if to be at home in California, where her parents live." She is fluent in 3 languages: Russian, English and Spanish.

Read more: Kira Kazantsev: the first Russian-speaking Miss America

Developer and co-founder of the Google search engine

Sergey Brin is an American entrepreneur and scientist in the field of computing, information technology and economics.

Brin was born on August 21 1973 in Moscow (Russia, then the Soviet Union) in a Jewish family. His father, Michael Brin, is a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland. His mother, Eugenia Brin, is a researcher at the NASA Space Flight Center.

Sergey's father realized that for him, as a Jew, in the Soviet Union, career growth was practically impossible, and the same thing could happen to his son. As a result, in 1979, the family moved to the United States, where Sergey received a bachelor's degree in science and mathematics from the University of Maryland.

After receiving a scholarship from the National Science Foundation, he went to study at Stanford University to get a doctorate in computer science. Later, he took a sabbatical to start working with Larry Page on a project that became known worldwide as Google.

Numerous awards reflect the significance of the achievements of Bryn and Paige: they literally changed the world. In 2004, Brin received the Gold Plate Award of the Academy of Achievements, and in the same year, the Marconi Foundation Award, which is the highest award in the field of engineering. In 2009, he was included in the National Academy of Achievements.

Read more: Russians who changed America: Sergey Brin

Best inventor

Abylai Ospan is a graduate of the chemical faculty of Moscow State University and the founder of NetUP. Photo: from the personal archive of A. Ospan

Abylai Ospan is a graduate of the chemical faculty of Moscow State University and the founder of NetUP. Photo: from the personal archive of A. Ospan

Russian Abylai Ospan conquered America with his startup Joker TV is a device for receiving digital television in the world, which supports all common standards of digital TV. Xnumx-year-old Ospan won a gold medal at the international exhibition of inventions and innovations INPEX, which is held annually in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is considered the largest in the United States.

Read more: The Russian has won at the largest exhibition of inventors in the USA.

Outstanding journalist

One of the business cards of the Russian-language channel RTVi, the largest in America, for the past 5 years has been the author's program of American Topaller “American educational program”. Over the long history of the project, it dealt with a lot: from politics, space, cinema - to the stories of wives and mistresses of the presidents of the United States or stories about the life and work of favorite American writers.

However, the cycle "Russian Americans" occupies a special place in this list. It includes 23 programs about immigrants from the Soviet Union and Russia, who changed the face of America and influenced the course of history.

The presenter - Victor Topaller - by the way, and he himself could easily become the hero of one of the programs. He received a residence permit in the United States as an outstanding person - so appreciated his achievements in the field of journalism.

He conducted 700 interviews, among which were in the studio those to which he, to put it mildly, did not have much sympathy: Zhirinovsky, Govorukhin or the late Balabanov. But they are definitely personal, interesting to the audience.

“But figures like Prokhanov, Shevchenko or Kiselyov could never be in my studio. Firstly, because I’m squeamish, and secondly, because these are worthless scoundrels with whom there’s nothing to talk about,” says the program presenter.

Having lived for so many years in immigration, Topaller continues to feel himself a citizen of Israel and the United States.

“When life forces me to put on a jacket, on its lapel you can see a badge - an Israeli and an American flag together. And in my office I have these flags. I love these two countries, I am proud of their citizenship and I see the key to the prosperity of America and Israel in the closest, friendly relations that the current American administration has so spoiled,” he says.

Read more: Russians who changed America

Conquered heart

ForumDaily has collected a selection of stories of Russian-speaking girls who won the hearts of famous Americans. And one of the names that was heard more often than others in 2016 is Sasha Nikolaenko. Donald Trump introduced her to her billionaire husband.

Miss Ukraine-2001 Sasha Nikolayenko is married to an American billionaire who owns a billion dollar 2 fortune by Phil Ruffin. After one of the contests, Sasha met Donald Trump, the president of the Miss Universe contest. And he was friends with 72-year-old billionaire Phil Ruffin. When Philip first made a proposal to the girl, she refused. After 3, after dating, the lovers got married.

Alexandra shared information with the press that the US presidential candidate had consulted with her before marrying his current wife, Melania.

Read more: Russian-speaking girls who have conquered the hearts of rich and famous Americans

Creator of "aviataxi"

CEO and founder of JetSmarter Sergey Petrossov. Photo: JetSmarter

CEO and founder of JetSmarter Sergey Petrossov. Photo: JetSmarter

For some passengers, the first class in the cabin is not a high enough level of flight, so they prefer to buy seats in private jets or helicopters.

For this it is very convenient to use the service JetSmarter, which is an analogue of Uber for private jets.

JetSmarter was founded by Russian Sergey Petrossov, currently living in Florida. In July, 2015, this service attracted $ 20 million in investment. The deal was attended by the royal family of Saudi Arabia, rapper Jay Z, as well as top managers of Goldman Sachs and Twitter.

The monthly use of the JetSmarter service is $ 800, or $ 9 thousand annually, with no limit on the number of flights across the US, plus $ 3 thousand as an entrance fee.

Read more: The Russian founded the service "aviataxi" in the US

Singer for two US presidents

The singer with Ukrainian roots conquered the whole of America with her voice. Photo: VKontakte

16-year-old American singer Jackie Ivanko agreed to the proposal of the elected US President Donald Trump to play the country's national anthem at his inauguration ceremony, which will be held on January 20 on 2017.

This will not be the first performance for the American president - in 2010, while Barack Obama lit up the lights of the United States National Tree, then 10-year-old Jackie performed Adolf Adam's famous song “Holy Night” (O Holy Night).

Jackie Ivanko (Jacqueline Marie Ivanko) became famous after vivid performances with the operatic repertoire on the television show America's Got Talent, she is known by all of America, the singer is called “a 21st century phenomenon”, but few people know that she has Ukrainian roots.

Jackie was born 9 April 2000, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her parents are Michael and Lisa Ivanko, the girl has older brother Jacob, younger brother Zachary and younger sister Rachel.

Her paternal great-grandfather was a Ukrainian. His family moved to the USA, and great-grandfather Jackie Joseph Ivanko was born in Pennsylvania, and was a successful metallurgical engineer.

Today, the young singer has attracted the attention of many influential people from the music industry, including the legendary Canadian singer David Foster and American conductor and composer Tim Janis.

Read more: As a singer with Ukrainian roots for 16, conquered two US presidents

See also:

How to make a million: success stories of Ukrainians in the USA

Our musicians conquer the USA: 5 success stories

A success story: how an Odessa woman became a soloist of the American Ballet Theater

How a Russian artist designed and tested icebreakers in the USA

Success story: how did a Belarusian get to work at NASA

 

Our people heroes Editor's Choice
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