How a Ukrainian girl with big tennis dreams ended up in SoCal and never looked back:

Growing up in Ukraine, your options are limited—especially potential goals. Life is simply black or white. In order to provide us with the possibility of a better life and brighter future, my parents, especially my mother, did everything they could to give me and my brother a “life of many colors.”

Don’t get me wrong; I love my country and I am proud to be Ukrainian, but it hasn’t been a home for me in a long time. It is, however, where I started my tennis journey when I was 6 years old. I fell in love with the sport immediately, and it didn’t take long for tennis to become my whole life. After winning a few national titles and becoming one of the top players in Europe, my parents decided to send me to a tennis academy in France at the age of 12 in hopes of me becoming a professional tennis player. Shortly after graduating at the age of 17, I moved to the United States to play Division I college tennis. While training and competing in so many different countries, my love of traveling also grew. Being able to travel and explore different cultures, and the many foods that can’t with them, opened my eyes to the great world around me