WHEN NOTHING IS ACCIDENTAL
1. When did you first begin listening to yourself instead of following other people’s expectations?
I grew up in a traditional family where life followed a fixed plan: where to study, what career to choose, when to marry, and how a “proper” woman should behave.
I dreamed of becoming an actress. I founded a school theatre, adapted plays, directed productions, designed costumes, and performed. We won competitions, and I was offered a place at theatre school without entrance exams.
My family persuaded me that acting was not a serious profession, so I studied foreign languages. My first rebellion was running away to get married near the end of university. The marriage did not last, but it taught me that I wanted to live my own life and make my own mistakes.
I never became a German teacher or translator. I moved to Minsk, worked in advertising, and later opened my own agency without substantial capital. Most people thought I was mad. I ran that business for seventeen years.
My deepest personal shift came during the year of my international beauty pageant victory. Among the travel, new faces, and intense experiences, I saw how easy it is to lose yourself. Since then, I have chosen myself far more consciously.
My mother once called me “a woman who is a celebration,” intending it as criticism. At first, I felt guilty. Then I realised she was right: I love life, and I celebrate it.
2. Has intuition ever moved you onto a completely different path?
Nearly my whole life has been shaped by such decisions.
When I face several options, I imagine living each one and notice how it feels. The right choice brings peace—not excitement or urgency, but a quiet certainty.
Looking back, I see one connected story. Each event prepared me for the next. Some choices seemed painful or strange at first; their meaning became clear years later.
Some people call that coincidence. I see a higher design.
3. What does true harmony with yourself mean to you?
I call it my personal Zen.
In that state, I do not need to force every door open. The right people appear, circumstances align, and opportunities come more freely.
My Zen is peace, gratitude, and love—for life, people, animals, and myself. Love for myself comes first. Women are often taught to care for everyone else and accept whatever energy remains. I reject that idea.
I recognise harmony in ordinary moments: a beautiful view, good coffee, time with my animals, or rest after work.
I have become less willing to carry anger. If a relationship becomes unhealthy, I let the person go. Resentment takes up too much space. A decision may look clever and profitable, yet if it costs me my inner peace, it is probably wrong.
4. Do people and opportunities enter our lives when we are ready for them?
Yes. I believe life reflects the way we see it.
An angry person notices anger everywhere. An unhappy person collects evidence that life is unfair. Someone ruled by fear sees danger in every direction.
When a person approaches life with love and trust, the response changes. Life is not perfect, but it begins to feel kinder.
The most meaningful people and opportunities in my life appeared when I was ready for a new stage. Sometimes I recognised it immediately. Sometimes it took years.
5. What role do intuition and synchronicity play in your life?
Synchronicity is a form of communication with life. I see signs as confirmation that I have not lost my direction.
At a talk by Margulan Seissembai in Warsaw, I heard a phrase that stayed with me: “Life is full of miracles.” When you expect miracles, you notice more of them. Perhaps they were present all along, and we simply walked past them.
Miracles happen in my life almost every day. I know how that sounds, but it is true.
6. How was your project born?
My inner transformation first became visible through my beauty salon and spa. It showed me how deeply women need to feel beautiful, rested, and cared for—not for anyone else, but for themselves.
After the pageant, I created Feminine Magnetiс, my in-person project and book. My hosiery brand, Sooolana Feminine Magnetic, grew from the same philosophy.
Clothing changes how a woman feels in her body. When she loves herself and stops apologising for her femininity, genuine magnetism appears. Makeup cannot create it, and an expensive dress cannot buy it.
Every project I have created comes from something I have lived.
7. What changes do you hope to awaken in women?
Our mothers often lived under strict social rules and Soviet ideas about female duty. Now their daughters and granddaughters must decide which beliefs truly belong to us.
I want women to remember that we are not here to spend our lives enduring, seeking approval, and rescuing everyone. We are here for love, joy, and pleasure.
Some may call that selfish. I disagree. A woman who does not love herself cannot offer healthy love for long. Her care eventually becomes exhaustion and resentment.
Choose yourself first. You do not need to chase or prove your worth. The rest will gradually find its place.
8. What did you have to leave behind?
I had to release the belief that everyone who once mattered must remain in my life forever.
People change, values separate, and some connections reach their natural end. My social circle shifted after my inner transformation. Many people simply stopped interesting me. That may sound harsh, but it is honest. I do not think they are bad, nor do I place myself above them. We are no longer moving in the same direction.
You can leave someone in the past without drama, hatred, or guilt. Sometimes a relationship has already fulfilled its purpose.
9. Your dog came into your life through a remarkable chain of events. Tell us that story. Why does the meeting feel like more than chance?
Ellie came into my life through a charity project for Devoted Heart, an organisation in our city that helps homeless animals.
We needed to draw attention to the campaign, so we created several short videos. One of them required a sweet, clever dog.
In the story, I run into a gym from the street wearing a beautiful red dress. The room is full of strong, handsome, intensely masculine men. I approach them and say that I am looking for a friend. Naturally, each one signals that he would be happy to volunteer. Then I notice a puppy under a piece of gym equipment, pick her up, and say, “There he is—my friend.”
The message was simple: do not buy an animal. Find a friend at a shelter.
A tiny, shaggy black puppy with enormous eyes arrived for the shoot. The connection between us was immediate. Ellie charmed the entire set—every strong man in that gym. One of the participants came close to taking her home, then changed his mind for reasons I never learned.
I already had several animals at home, including a huge husky, so common sense told me, “Lana, you do not need another dog.” Yet after the shoot, I could not stop thinking about her.
On the second or third day, I posted a photograph of us in my stories. Messages flooded in. People said we looked remarkably alike: the same eyes, the same expression, almost like twins.
I went to my mother and showed her the picture. I asked if I should take the puppy. My mother does not usually encourage my sudden decisions, but she said, “You have an enormous husky who does not even bark. I think this little stray will be excellent at guarding the house.”
If my mother was telling me to take the dog, arguing with fate seemed pointless.
I consulted my son, Vanya. He is the main caretaker of our cats, and a new dog could disturb the household order. He was not thrilled at first, but he agreed to visit the shelter.
The moment we entered, Ellie recognised me. She began racing around the enclosure, squealing, wagging her tail, and bursting with joy. No one could mistake that reaction for an ordinary greeting.
Vanya picked her up and almost instantly said, “That’s it, Mum. We’re leaving.” By then, he seemed afraid I might change my mind.
I said nothing to my husband, who was away on a business trip. He had once joked that if I brought home another dog, I might have to move into the bathhouse. Every joke carries at least a small piece of truth.
For several days, I stayed silent and posted nothing online. Then a journalist I knew wrote to me: “Lana, I heard you adopted Ellie. Why haven’t you said anything?” I admitted that I was afraid to tell my husband. She suggested writing an article so he could learn the news from the press.
I can picture the headline: “Wife Gets New Dog During Husband’s Business Trip.” We did not do it, of course.
When my husband returned, Ellie soon charmed him too. They are now inseparable. He still says that she loves me most. I think he is right.
Ellie arrived at the beginning of an extremely difficult period. The year 2024 and part of 2025 were among the hardest times of my life, both in my family and in business. Looking back, I feel that God sent me a personal guardian angel—just in a very funny body.
Ellie supported me at times when words could do nothing. She made me smile when laughter felt impossible. She would come into my office, climb onto the chair behind me, and sit there. She warmed me, literally and emotionally. She senses my state without any explanation. Sometimes one look from her, or the way she licks my hands, is enough.
When I adopted her, many people warned me that she would grow into an enormous black shepherd. At some point, she stopped growing upwards and began growing lengthways. Her face, gaze, jaw, and some of her habits resemble a shepherd’s, yet her body is long and her legs are short, almost like a dachshund’s.
The result is a wonderfully absurd, impossibly sweet creature—my personal guardian angel, assembled from parts of several different dogs.
I cannot call our meeting an accident. She arrived at the exact moment when I needed someone who could simply love me, with no conditions, questions, or advice.
10. What connection do you see between our inner state and the people, events, and opportunities that enter our lives?
I see a direct connection.
When fear lives inside you, life looks dangerous. When you do not love yourself, you search for proof of your worth in other people’s approval.
I spent years living under family and social expectations. I believed a good life was one that other people approved of. I see it differently now.
When your inner state changes, your outer life starts to rearrange itself. Some people leave. Old roads close. New ones appear, and you begin to see why the previous chapter had to end.
I do not believe pleasant thoughts alone make dreams fall from the sky. I have always worked hard. Yet effort driven by fear produces a very different life from effort born from self-love.
I once thought I had to chase the life I wanted. Now I believe I must become the woman for whom that life feels natural.
Everything begins with self-love, inner peace, and gratitude. Then, one day, you discover that life has started loving you back.
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