Olena Zelenska

Olena Volodymyrivna Zelenska (Ukrainian: Олена Володимирівна Зеленська; née Kiyashko, Кіяшко; born 6 February 1978) is the current First Lady of Ukraine as the wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Life and work

Olena Kiyashko (maiden name) was born in Kryvyi Rih on 6 February 1978. She and her future husband were schoolmates, but they were not acquainted. Zelensky once said that he knew many of her classmates, but not Olena. They got acquainted much later — when Olena was studying at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Kryvyi Rih National University.

The relationship between the couple developed gradually — they dated for eight years before getting married on 6 September 2003. On 15 July 2004, their daughter Oleksandra was born. On 21 January 2013, Zelenska gave birth to their son Kyrylo.

Zelenska did not do much work as an architect. Instead, she wrote texts for Kvartal 95. In her youth, she often accompanied Zelensky at performances and rehearsals, then gradually helped in the preparation of team acts. Later she became a full-fledged writer.

In December 2019, Zelenska was included in the list of the 100 most influential Ukrainians by Focus magazine, taking 30th place.

On 12 June 2020, Zelenska announced that she had tested positive for COVID-19. Four days later, she was admitted to hospital for observation with the COVID-19 infection being described as "moderate severity" that did not need mechanical ventilation. Zelenska was dismissed from hospital on 3 July 2020 with continued domestic treatment for bilateral pneumonia.

First Lady of Ukraine

On May 20, 2019, Zelenska became the first lady of Ukraine. On November 18, she appeared on the cover of the December issue of the Ukrainian edition of Vogue (magazine). In an interview with the magazine, she spoke about her first initiative - nutrition reform in Ukrainian schools.

At the initiative of Olena Zelenska, the reform of the school nutrition system started with a new school menu developed by chef Ievgen Klopotenko of CultFood. The reform is a complex program: from improving the quality, nutrition of food, and food safety to the provision of resources to schools. The updated school menu has 160 items: it includes both traditional Ukrainian dishes and popular dishes from different cuisines of the world. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved new food standards, which will take effect on September 1, 2021.

In December 2019, during a speech at the third Ukrainian Women's Congress, Zelenska initiated Ukraine's accession to the G7 international initiative on gender equality - the Biarritz Partnership. As a result, in September 2020, Ukraine received the official status of a member of the Biarritz Partnership, which combines the efforts of states to establish equal rights and opportunities for men and women.

On January 13, 2020, Volodymyr Zelensky included Olena on the board of the Art Arsenal, headed by Minister of Culture Volodymyr Borodiansky.

On May 6, 2020, Olena Zelenska initiated a long conversation with Ukrainians about being barrier-free. The project partners were the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine. The main goal of the initiative is to make the barriers that exist in Ukrainian society visible, and their removal - a priority at the state level.

On June 1, 2020, Zelenska and UNICEF in Ukraine signed a Memorandum of Understanding.

On June 12, 2020, it was announced that Zelenska had contracted COVID-19. On June 16, she was hospitalized due to complications. On July 3, 2020, she was discharged from the hospital.

In June 2020, Olena Zelenska started an initiative to spread the Ukrainian language in the world and the introduction of Ukrainian-language audio guides in the most iconic places, in particular - in the largest museums in the world.As part of the initiative, 11 audio guides in Ukrainian were launched in 2020 in museums in Azerbaijan, Austria, Italy, Latvia, Turkey, and Montenegro, as well as in two bus routes of Lithuania. In 2021, First Lady Olena Zelenska presented her Ukrainian-language audio guide initiative to the museum of Mount Vernon (the home of the first U.S. President), and to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco in California.

On November 26, 2020, she spoke at the Fourth Ukrainian Women's Congress, a platform that brings together Ukrainian and international public figures, politicians, government officials, experts, and opinion leaders for equal rights for women and men.

On November 27, 2020, Zelenska initiated the signing of a declaration between large Ukrainian and international companies to remove barriers to business.

On December 2, 2020, it was announced that within the framework of Zelenska's initiative "Without Barriers," the Ministry of Digital Transformation and UNDP in Ukraine will create a convenient catalog of services for vulnerable groups. The catalog will be posted on the state portal "Action" in the category "Action. Without barriers."

In April 2021, Olena Zelenska initiated the creation of the Barrier-Free Council.

On August 23, 2021, at the initiative of Olena Zelenska, the Kyiv Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen was held. The theme of the first summit is "Soft power in new reality". The aim of the event is to create an international dialogue platform that will help solve humanitarian problems around the world.

In September 2021, Zelenska takes part in the Fifth Ukrainian Women's Congress.

As part of Zelenska's initiative, in 2021, Ukrainian-speaking guides were launched at Versailles, Sagrada Família, Mount Vernon,Frederiksborg Castle, Hundertwasserhaus, Galata Tower in Istanbul, Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, the Archaeological Museum of Nessebar, etc.