Meet the Nova SBE Fellows – Iryna Demchyk
Promoted by Nova | 13 July 2018 Meet the Nova SBE Fellows – Iryna Demchyk

Nova SBE has come across several talented minds who have done great things and conquered incredible achievements, whether founding startups, volunteering in social institutions, committing to helping others in need, or leaving their home countries to start anew. But big accomplishments lie even in the small things that surround us, all that is necessary is the quality of one's convictions and the will to do good and be good. Meet Iryna Demchyk – a Master’s in Management student at Nova SBE and one of the Nova SBE Fellows whose story shows us just that. 

Iryna was born in a small and peaceful Ukrainian town. Though she remembers vividly her childhood spent in the Ukrainian nature, her parents were soon forced to leave their home country to find better living conditions, having moved to Portugal when Iryna was just six years old. While growing up, she did most her education here and was always passionate about too many things to focus on just one – she was always keen on drawing, reading, painting, singing, playing the guitar and the piano, science, and math. Odd match of interests, some would say, but Iryna has always been devoted to what inspires her the most and, as a student, she was rewarded several times for spending most of her free time on her favorite hobbies and projects. Not only did she receive the Best High School Student award but she also won the first place in her high school's Math Olympics.

Though you brush past her in the Nova SBE halls, Iryna has a Bachelor’s in Communication Sciences at NOVA FCSH given that she was always passionate about Journalism and Communication. She felt that a Bachelor’s in Communication Sciences would give her a strong foundation to do whatever she wanted to do next so when the time came not only did she enroll but she went abroad on Erasmus, in Finland, where at 20 years old she learned her sixth language – Iryna speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish, Ukrainian, Russian, and a little bit of Finnish. (She is currently doing an internship in Paris, so she is working hard to add French to the list.)

 




After this academic experience, she could pretty much venture the world if she wanted. Instead, she decided to do her Master’s at Nova SBE because she believed it would give her the tools she felt necessary to have a positive impact on society and find a career path that would be compatible with the things she nourished most – her passions, values, and ideals. As she puts it:

 

 

«The world nowadays is so available for everyone that it becomes inspiring because you can do anything from any location or you can go anywhere to do it. The world is too big and too available to have "a place" of our own, and I have come to realize that the best things are priceless and everyone can have an impact from wherever they are. My biggest achievement? Ceasing to be concerned about where I belong. »

 

To change the world one does not need to reach for the stars, only to strongly believe in one’s convictions and passions and be inspired by the impact we have in the small things that surround us. Iryna Demchyk – escaping the obvious every day and inspiring the world to change by believing her dreams can make a difference.
 

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