Liliya Reshetylo: [00:00:00] and I just felt alive.
Life Leaps Podcast: Happy Wednesday, everyone. Today, we are trying to new things. Number one, we are tracking a leap in progress. Starting today and then more in the months to come. And number two.
I'm breaking up this interview into two parts. A shorter chunk today in a shorter time next week. so let me know what you guys think of this format.
Also, if you enjoy this, don't forget to give us five stars and Write a search review in your podcast app and follow us to learn about brand new episodes. On Instagram or Facebook at that's right. Life leaves, podcast. All right. Without further ado. [00:01:00] Today we are with Lillia Russia. Tillo who isn't afraid of work.
After moving from Ukraine to Canada at 15, without speaking English. She settled and succeeded in a way she thought she was supposed to. By earning her degree and joining the corporate world. But for her. The shoe never quite fit. Lillia finally leaped several times actually. And is now starting her own eco-friendly sustainable kids' clothing company.
Tiny advocates. That also educates kids about their clothing. Lily is launching her brand as we speak. Uh, we'll track her leave in the coming months and over this, and next week, we'll hear how she. first got the guts to leave her corporate job without a backup. Realized why it wasn't right for her in the first place.
Thought through the finances. Leapt into two careers. She enjoyed, but was grounded [00:02:00] literally as she had become a flight attendant at the time by COVID and had to rethink what was next all while pregnant, by the way. So today's episode ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. And the next week, we'll hear all about that next.
How Lillia got the idea to start her children's clothing brand. Worked with a mindset coach to grow her dreams with tips for us. Learn to put herself out there and business as an introvert. And broke into an industry. She had no background in and made a name for herself.
I grew up in Ukraine, in a small town, in western Ukraine. I was born and raised there, and I moved to Canada when I was 15.
Liliya Reshetylo: I had to start high school right away.
And yeah, I moved and a week later I was I'm among students who spoke English and I did not speak a word. So it was funny because they tried to assign me all these classes like dance class and cooking class that wouldn't require me to say a lot, [00:03:00] but slowly eased me in.
And I walked into my dance class and the teacher said, do you know what dancing is? And I could understand what she said, but I didn't know how to respond properly. So I just said,no, I don't. And that she grabbed a couple of students and they started dancing in front of me to and it was just so funny.
there were a lot of these funny moments and experiences but I managed to go through it and learn. English? Yes. Wow.
Life Leaps Podcast: And you have been living in Canada ever since, is that right?
Liliya Reshetylo: Yes. Yes. In Toronto,
Life Leaps Podcast: okay. In Toronto. I
so at some point, you end up working in the corporate world. Tell us.
Liliya Reshetylo: Yeah, so,I kind of follow the steps that my family expected me to follow, which is graduate,university and then get a Japanese corporate world.
and to my family, especially to my. aunt and uncle who live in Ukraine. I was successful, I made it, I learned the language. I went through university and I'm working, but [00:04:00] for myself, I did not see that as a success.
Life Leaps Podcast: well, at the beginning, perhaps it was, it felt a little bit like a success, like I am, I'm on the right track. But as as the time went by, I realized that this is not what I envisioned for myself, So what were you doing in, in this corporate world?
Liliya Reshetylo: Yeah,first it started, I work at, I worked for Sony. and my job was to do the training for different Sony product categories, from headphones to TVs to cameras. And so that was, in and out of the office and liked that.
Style of work. And then from there I transitioned into becoming like a business analyst and that was purely a nine to five. at the office, I had my cubicle, and then I moved to a different company and yeah.
And even though I moved companies, it didn't change for me how I felt about being in that space and doing the 95 work.
Life Leaps Podcast: it's interesting [00:05:00] because we had an interview last recently, a former lawyer who was like, I must have switched law firms like five times during my career,
She, spoiler alert, given she was a guest on the podcast, is no longer a lawyer, but, she asked your Bob Garner, but she talked about how. she almost kept switching to see if perhaps it was the firm that she was at, and then by the end of all those switches, she was like, oh, okay.
So it's law. Like it's not . cuz I'm still practicing law no matter what office I'm doing it in. Is that kind of what your experience was or
Like how did you know the shoe didn't fit
Liliya Reshetylo: Yes. So it, like you said, it's, I changed, one office job to another office job and at first it was like, okay, when you're start a new role, you're learning and you're busy learning or busy getting comfortable and used to the new environment.
And then a few months later when you adapt, you start realizing that, this is not my. my cup of tea,
You can change the desk. try to create this more creative experience and [00:06:00] more open space, but it's still, that did not change how I felt about being in the office space. . . So that was kinda, a realization that it doesn't matter, even if the building is prettier and the desk is prettier and you have the coffee shop inside, that does not change how I feel about being in this space and doing this job.
And I just remember when I used to commute or walk to work, all I would think about is like I would create these different scenarios in my head of things that I wanna do.
I wanna start a business and I want to travel more, and I would just walk to work and think of all these different things that I want to do in life. But then I enter the office space, I get into the elevator and it's the same, it's the same cubicle. It's, sitting in front of the computer and doing the work that, I guess for me it was just, I guess it was somewhat important work for the company, but for me, it didn't feel like I was contributing and I was satisfied with what I was doing.
I'm not interested in this. I [00:07:00] can't see myself doing this for the rest of my life.
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay. how long did you stay, like, how deep in to your first set of jobs at Sony Corporate, whatever, did you start to feel like, oh, this isn't for me?
Liliya Reshetylo: you know what, it was probably the first real, nine to five job that I had. so Sony was, it was still okay because it was in and out of the office, so that was fine. But when I transitioned into real nine to five, that's when I felt trapped. and soon after, like probably few months into a job, I was.
Not myself. And the more time I spent there, the more I felt like not myself. And then when I got an opportunity to get out to move to a different office job, I was like, okay, this is gonna be different. I'm gonna try a different role. This was just, my first take at it. And then I get into this new, company and like I, the first couple of months, oh, I'm getting, used to the new role.
I'm meeting new people. And then again, two months in, three months in, I'm like, I'm [00:08:00] feeling trapped again. being stuck in nine to five. I'm not afraid of working. it's not that I enjoy working and I can work on the weekends. I am, I can work in the evenings, I can work from home, I can work from coffee shops.
I love that. I love that change. But when you are in the office, you're in the same spot Monday to Friday and it's just the creativity is out of the window. it wasn't who I am. and then I don't wanna say it was right away, but at some point at, I started noticing this pattern of me walking to work and just like thinking of a different lifestyle for myself.
and then I would just become more and more creative as I would get into it. And so I would walk to work and think of, oh, I could be, working and creating my business, doing this and that, and perhaps that would involve me traveling. And it was just, it would just make me more alive and make me who I am.
and that kept me going until I made a decision to walk.
What happened? You're several years into your career at this point.
Life Leaps Podcast: a lot of things started changing [00:09:00] at, this, company that I was working at. So the management was changing. our team kept been, moved around and then the people who I enjoyed working with,
Liliya Reshetylo: They were leaving the company And so that kind of, , made me realize that I need to exit. And I didn't have a plan. I didn't have a secured job. I didn't like, I didn't know what I was gonna do, but I told my husband, I sat down with him and I told him, I'm stressed out.
I'm not myself. I don't wanna continue this and I need to leave. And he's like, what are you gonna do next? And I'm like, I have no idea. . And that's how it happened. .
Life Leaps Podcast: I love it.
Liliya Reshetylo: So this is, and this is 2018? That was 2018, yes.
Wow. Yeah. Okay. okay, so do you go in the next day and quit? Or do you come up with a game plan first? What's, what's the order of operations? ? I think
it was, it probably, I had this conversation and I wanna say less than two weeks later, I resigned.
Wow. [00:10:00] It's just, things just start happening so fast a colleague of mine who I loved working with, she also resigned and we cried about it. And then few days later, I just submitted my resignation and that's it.
And I had no plan. I had one idea that I was thinking of, which was event planning, because that is something that I just enjoy doing. whenever I had an opportunity, even at that, Company that I worked at, I would walk to the event team and I say, if you need somebody to help you with event planning, ask me because I wanna help out.
So that was like the only little thing that I could think of doing, once I left. But that was it, .
Life Leaps Podcast: Okay. So did you have savings or were you able to, like both of you live off of your spouse's salary or how did you make it work? How did you make the numbers work? I think a lot of people always ask that.
and obviously yeah, that's a reason.
Liliya Reshetylo: That's a reason, absolutely. And yeah, of course that was like the number one thing that I thought of as well. And my husband, because he is, he's what are we gonna do? he did [00:11:00] still have his, job and I had savings that I wanted to not necessarily rely on my savings so much, but I did have, I usually have six months of savings.
And, and then I just reflected on how I, make money or earn money before I had a corporate job. And I realized that I'm not afraid to work. I can do anything from, work in the restaurant, be a attendant, I don't know, work at the factory, clean houses.
These are the jobs that I used to do in the past when I went to, high school and college and university. So I thought, if I could make income and could support myself back then, I can certainly do this now if I need to while I'm exploring what it is that I want to do in life. so that kind of helped me calm myself a little bit to,and not be so afraid of walking away completely from not knowing how I'm gonna earn my next income.
you
Life Leaps Podcast: probably had to put your ego aside for that because the jobs that you named, like I could clean [00:12:00] houses, I could, be a bartender. Things that you had done in the past, right? Yes. When you were younger, before maybe you had your degree and had your corporate job, yeah, of course you could keep yourself afloat financially.
I don't say of course we don't know everybody's obligations, but it sounds like you could keep yourself afloat doing that. You could earn money. It was just like, was earning that money in the way that like you felt you should be doing, or your family felt you should be doing at that point
Liliya Reshetylo: in time?
Absolutely, yes. I think I would definitely, it would totally be okay with me. I wasn't, afraid of doing any other job. Sure. I wouldn't be wearing like high heels and, beautiful dress when I do certain jobs like that, but it didn't matter to me. I knew that if I needed to get out and spend some time doing, Other jobs I could.
And that kind of, yeah, that kind of helped me overcome some of those barriers. and yeah, my family potentially, I don't know, my, perhaps my, aunt who lives in Ukraine and she's a teacher and she really wanted me to be in a corporate world. she probably wouldn't think that I'm successful, but that would be okay [00:13:00] because I wanted to trust myself and figure this thing out and see what other opportunities are there for me.
Life Leaps Podcast: Yeah. that's powerful. And I think, I often ask, I'm like, what was everyone in your world saying? what was your family saying? What were your best friends? What was your, whoever it is in your circle or sometimes discouraging stuff you hear outside of it, .
Liliya Reshetylo: Yeah. And I had both, I had some of my friends were, They said, wow, like you can just walk away like this. that's amazing. And I also had people who said, what are you gonna do? this is not a safe path. Like, how do you know you're gonna be able to figure it out?
So I had both, but I think for the most part, my husband was with me and he was supportive of me trying to, try to take different path. Because at the end of the day, he is the one who lives with me in the same household, and he is the one who sees me day in and out and how I feel.
And if I am going to continue feeling unhappy and miserable, then that's not gonna be a good reflection on our [00:14:00] relationship as well. So that was yes, getting, having conversations with him and having his support was the most important thing that I needed at a time. Really.
Life Leaps Podcast: I appreciate you sharing that because I recently did an interview with a lawyer turned farmer,
she was like, look, like you don't have to, people have said you don't have to get everybody's buy-in.
But she said, make sure whoever your day-to-day partners are, the people who are gonna be going into that leap with you. Whether it's your children, your spouse, maybe you live with your mother, whatever it is,whoever that day-to-day person is, yeah, that's actually gonna be affected by your leap.
Make sure you have their buy-in and stay in really good communication with them. And I thought that was an important thing that really hadn't been mentioned. And so now you're kind of saying the same
Liliya Reshetylo: thing. Absolutely.
Life Leaps Podcast: okay, so Leap, you did, you left, you went two weeks later and what happens?
Liliya Reshetylo: Okay, Once I left, I took a couple of weeks off, and then I started getting into event planning.
I just started putting myself out there. I connected with [00:15:00] everyone I know and I told them I want to do event planning and if you know anyone who needs help volunteering, paid, let me know.
I even completed like a couple of day course for event planning and then I volunteered at some events. Some of them then turned into paid jobs. . And as I was doing that, a friend of mine who is a flight attendant reached out and said, Hey, you're trying this new thing of being more adventurous, and why don't you apply and become a flight attendant?
you can do events on this side and you can be a flight attendant. You can manage both. And I said, wow, that's a great idea. Sure, sign me up. What do I need to do? So the next thing I know, just like that, you were like, okay, I was, you know what? Because being a flight attendant, I think a lot of us had that dream at some point of our lives.
And I did certainly when I was in high school, but I was told that I'm not told enough. So I scratched that dream right away. But when she suggested and she said, you know what, high doesn't matter. I went through the interview process [00:16:00] online, and then I had an in-person interview.
Life Leaps Podcast: you are telling me now you were going into Flight Attendant school because your friend randomly called you and you were like, game on. This is my Yolo Yes.
To everything Phase .
Liliya Reshetylo: Totally. I was like, why not? And so I had no idea what I signed up myself for, but I was feeling very adventurous and why not? So I passed the interview, The next thing I know I'm trying my uniform on and then I have to go for this in-person five week training in Montreal.
So I get on the plane, go there, and little did I know how intense the training is. It was more difficult and more intense than studying, four years in university. It's Monday to Friday, you go in class, you study new material, you come back to your hotel, you study, you come back, next day you do an exam, and that is your life for the next five weeks, every single day.
And on top of it, I had to learn French, or at least the beginner French, because, I needed to speak French on the plane. . So I was taking [00:17:00] these, French lessons. I had a tutor.
So I would wake up early in the morning, get on a call with my tutor, do my French class, and then go to school or go to class and yeah. I passed it and I spent the rest of 2019 flying all over Europe, having this completely different lifestyle, to what I had just, few months ago.
And exploring new places, meeting new people, eating amazing food. it was different. It was very exciting. and I just felt alive.
Wow. Yeah. And come 2020, early 2020, I found out I was pregnant and I took a couple of months off just because it's not recommended to fly as often when you're in your first trimester.
Life Leaps Podcast: were you trying to get pregnant or was this like another life surprise, life leap type situation?
Liliya Reshetylo: Oh. So yeah, we said, in, late 2019, and by late, I mean November, I, we said, let's try, and then [00:18:00] beginning of January I was like, I'm pregnant. I'm like, that's too soon. that's impossible. And even the doc, anyway, I don't wanna, but the doctors were telling me I wasn't pregnant, even though I felt pregnant.
And then it took them a month and a half to actually confirm that I have been pregnant. So that was funny. . But, why funny is one
Life Leaps Podcast: word funny as a light. Nice word. . Yes. For what? You were probably feeling that it
Liliya Reshetylo: was . Yeah, because I even went on vacation to Spain and all the doctors assure me I wasn't pregnant while I was.
Anyway, so then I took a little bit of time off and come back, came back in March, 2020 to continue flying, but then pandemic happened. So I did one rescue flight and everything shut down. And so I couldn't do any events and I couldn't fly and I was pregnant. Oh my gosh.
Life Leaps Podcast: Great. . Oh
Liliya Reshetylo: my gosh. yeah. , that was a change.
Life Leaps Podcast: so you have all of this. Okay, so you finally make this massive life change. You [00:19:00] find this thing that's making you feel so alive and so all the things, and you take like a short, hot minute off because you're pregnant and you're trying to dial back. Yeah. But then the second you're ready to really lean back in.
Yes. You have one flight and Covid hits, or at least Covid had already hit, but Covid hits the part of the world you're living in. In a very
Liliya Reshetylo: real way. Yes. Okay. Yes. the airline just shut down.
So what are you thinking at first? Yeah. I was just like everyone else, I thought this. , one month, two month thing until you realized that he wasn't. so I spent the rest of 2020, not the rest, cuz Sky was born in September, 2020, but the next few months I just, I was pregnant.
And then I, my husband, he does, market research and he had few projects that needed, he needed help with writing reports. And that was what I did before I left the corporate world. So I said, if you need any help, if you need anything with writing reports, just use me because I'm here. I'm not doing anything, but I [00:20:00] wanna work
I spent a few months helping him
and are you increasingly starting to feel like this sense of dread, doom, fear or another sense of freedom of now I get to figure something else out. what are you thinking when you realize I'm not going back to work?
Yes. at first I felt, I felt a little bit of what did I do? Because. Technically, if I was working still in the office, I could still have my job and just do it from home. Everything just stopped because both of event planning and, flying, those were the two big things that didn't exist during the pandemic. But then that feeling didn't last long. It lasted for a few hot seconds and then I was like, no. But my change, the change that I've made for myself, the life change that I've created is what actually makes me happy.
And so I'll figure it out. And luckily, because I was pregnant,it kind of gave me that time to figure things out because I knew I will have Sky in a few months and I'll be [00:21:00] on mat leave regardless. So that kind of helped me. And then once she was born, everything, all the fear and everything went away because
I had to do what I had to do with just change diapers. And
Life Leaps Podcast: you were drowning in another kind of way Anyways, , there was no time to worry about anything else.
Liliya Reshetylo: Yeah. But honestly, she saved me. I feel like she saved me in a way from all the fears and unknown because. Yeah.
Life Leaps Podcast: Give you a sense of purpose and fulfillment and maybe distraction.
Yeah. All of it. . Wow, okay. Yeah. So you're raising your daughter at this point? This is 2021.
Liliya Reshetylo: It's still 2020. She was born in September, 2020.
for the next, I wanna say, five months or so, I was just focused on raising her and taking care of her.
And then about, I wanna say, six months mark, I started feeling a little bit more creative, And I said back to 2018 when I was walking to my corporate job and [00:22:00] I was dreaming about all these business ideas that I wanna create and stuff like that.
And so I started thinking about it again and getting more and more inspired and, Nothing really had a purpose until Tiny Advocates.
Next week. We'll hear all about how Lillia started her company. And you can learn more in the meantime, in the show notes for this episode.
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Till next time.