Valeriia Romashchenko, 29 years

My name is Valeriia Romashchenko, and I have over six years of professional experience in influencer marketing. I currently work as the CEO of an influencer marketing agency, where, for the ’ fifth month, I have been responsible for strategy, operational efficiency, and financial performance as an employed executive.

My professional approach is based on strong communication skills, the ability to clearly present a product’s value, and the ability to build sales. At the same time, my key foundation is confidence in the quality of what we offer the market: we always deliver exactly what we promise and build trust through results, not bold claims.

Before this, I co-founded two influencer marketing agencies in partnership with others, but those collaborations eventually came to an end. The experience I gained helped me clearly define my own focused business model. Today, it is based on an «end-to-end» approach: for brands, we manage advertising budgets allocated to influencers and work on a percentage-based model; for bloggers, we provide a complete two-way advertising sales cycle, handling both inbound and outbound inquiries. This approach allows us to protect the interests of brands and bloggers alike, scale collaboration, and achieve predictable business results.

How did the business idea come about?

I entered this field thanks to my natural ability to communicate and my love of working with public figures. I enjoy being close to «stars», influencing content, and earning money where it is already being made. I put it quite directly: no product works without marketing, and no modern product works without influencer marketing. That is why influencer marketing became the most logical and natural way for me to apply my efforts.

A reputational risk that most brands don’t monitor

What key skills helped you launch your business?

Communication was the foundation of my growth: the ability to meet people, present myself, and sell services. The second critical skill is taking responsibility for the promised result: not promising too much and delivering exactly what was agreed. Another area of expertise is understanding the influencer market and reputational risks. A blogger can be popular one day and have a bad reputation the next, so this needs to be monitored constantly to ensure the collaboration does not create problems for the brand.

What are the 3 most difficult challenges you overcame in the early years?

The most difficult challenge at the outset was hiring. For me, it is both the «best and worst»: the best when you find someone who fully meets your expectations; the worst when you invest a lot of time and energy in training and development, but ultimately get no results. As an entrepreneur, I value time greatly, so ineffective hiring became a painful issue for me. In addition, I tend to avoid firing people and usually leave those decisions to partners or management, because by nature I consider myself a «good person».

During the war, charitable initiatives as a business responsibility

What crises has your business faced, and how did you overcome them?

The crisis periods included the COVID-19 pandemic and the start of the full-scale war. In the first months of each, the market was turbulent, but it adapted fairly quickly and began to return to normal. During the war, we communicate a lot through charitable initiatives with our clients: we help the army and talk about it not as an opportunity for self-promotion, but as a responsibility of every Ukrainian business.

20 minutes on stage—and marketing directors become clients

What decisions proved most effective for the company’s growth?

The company’s greatest growth comes from systematically presenting our services on stage. During my talks, I show case studies and results, and clearly explain exactly what problem we solve for businesses. This matters because «working with bloggers» sounds abstract to many people, and they often don’t understand why they can’t just buy advertising directly. About 20 minutes of a structured talk is enough to explain it—and it works, because the audience usually includes marketing directors or business owners who can entrust us with their marketing processes.

You invest time—and the person turns out not to be a good fit

What mistake do you now consider your most valuable experience?

The most valuable and, at the same time, most uncomfortable experience for me was hiring. Situations where you invest time in training and developing someone, only for them to turn out not to be a good fit, have made me more demanding in team selection and given me a clear understanding of the value of time as a resource.

A package deal—and realizing that selling this way was more profitable

Ask me again in two years