Careers approved for Ukrainians to pursue

Me in the lab at Rockefeller University circa 1975

When I was growing up, I was expected to become a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. Those were the only 'respectable' professions among the Ukrainian diaspora of the time. My brother became an electrical engineer working in the budding computer industry, my sister became a doctor and well-respected infectious disease consultant. Both earned their degrees on full scholarships, my brother on sports (soccer) and my sister on academics. None of us would have been able to afford university otherwise.

I didn't care for the idea of being a boring lawyer. I had no idea what engineering was. I saw how hard my sister worked to get her medical credentials -- no way was I going to do that. 

My father used to always tell me that because I was born in America, I could become President one day. I suppose that would have been a fourth option. But it seemed like a stretch for the daughter of immigrants to reach for the Presidency of the United States of America in a society where women were meant to stay at home and have babies. 

I loved science and I craved to be near, on, or in the ocean. I loved looking at the stars and sky. At first, I thought I'd become an astronaut. I suppose every kid thought that in the 1960s. But I actually went after it only to learn I was too short and wouldn't be able to reach the controls in the capsules. LOL. 

So next, I read Rachel Carson and I thought I could become a marine biologist and save the oceans. I was desperate to learn how to speak dolphin. I applied to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute but was turned down. Then I applied to the University of Miami and NYU, Miami because it had an excellent Marine Biology program and NYU because it had an oceanography exchange program with Woods Hole. I received full scholarships to both but I chose NYU. The semester I got to NYU, they cancelled the exchange program and I was stuck with no marine science. I majored in biology and chemistry, had several minors including anthropology, and completed my BA degree in three years instead of four. I wanted to get on with life.

I got a laboratory job at the very highly acclaimed Rockfeller University and hated it. Then I talked my way into a lab at Roche Labs. I hated that too. Had nightmares about killing rats, which I sacrificed by the hundreds in the name of human advancement. 

I transitioned into marketing and to make a long story short, ended up as President of several communications companies. My mom always introduced me as 'my daughter the President' even though she never had a clue what I did. So I guess my father was right. In America, his daughter could become President one day. 

As President of Dugan/Farley Communications
which later became Bozell Global Healthcare 

As President of the HBA

A winner of the HBA STAR award 

A visit by cousins

Growing up in Philadelphia, the cousins were all quite close. I was much younger than most of the crowd, having been the result of a celebration by my parents after arriving in the New World, a mistake as my mother explained. Two cousins in Toronto, the only ones from my mother's side of the family, were my age, one older and one younger than me. My sister was closest in age otherwise and she was nine years older. My brother was almost 11 years older. So it was like growing up with two sets of parents. 

But then, cousins who had gone to Australia first decided to join the rest of the family in America. Bo was my brother's age but Mishka was only 6 years older and that made a difference when I was 6 years old. She was still a kid but the others were already grown up. Miska became my favourite cousin. 

Fast forward, and we are now in our 70s. Mishka married a South American doctor and went to live in Venezuela. Sadly I never visited her there. They escaped when the regime became autocratic and moved to Florida. I hadn't seen Mishka in more than 20 years when we got an invitation to her daughter Natalia's wedding. It was great fun to see them again, the girls Ara, Lesia, and Talia, and, of course, Mishka. It was like no time had passed. 

So when they planned a trip to the UK, they included a two-night fly-by to County Mayo to see us. That's not nearly enough time, and they literally 'did' the UK first, arriving exhausted. But it was great to show them our little corner of the world. Reconnected at last.