Rare Girls

Anna Kostenko is a Ukrainian girl from Kyiv, Ukraine, and a student at both Institute of International Relations, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and at University of Zürich.

Anna loves doing make up and drawing, it really helps her to calm down and deal with stress.

She is also currently learning digital art. Not yet a professional artist, she is just self-taught. Anna enjoys drawing different cartoon characters.

Moreover, she is totally into theater, especially musicals. She thinks there is something really special about seeing the actors perform live on stage. She has previously worked as a volunteer at theaters and theatrical events.

As for achievements, Anna has always been one of the top students both at school and at university. At school, she participated in lots of academic competitions and received awards for that.

While in high school, she was selected for FLEX 2017-2018 and got a chance to study for a year at an American high school. She spent her time in Minnesota and absolutely loved it. The time there taught her a lot about herself and who she wants to be as a person.

Anna is currently finishing her bachelor in Ukraine at KNU. She studies regional studies and international relations with special focus on Asian countries.

She is also currently enrolled as a visiting student at the University of Zurich and planning to do her Master there in Modern Asian and Middle Eastern studies.

Instagram: @ania.kostenko

Alina Boiko is a language & Literature student at the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy", a mentor, a teacher, and a blogger from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Alina is currently on an exchange student at the best university in Canada, University of Toronto, she works as a teacher with 500+ students in 3 years, and she is the founder of blogs about education with an audience of more than 120K students.

Instagram: @baalbie

Chiara Cavenaghi is an Italian Model & Actress based in Milano.

She graduated as a Pharmacist, and her hobbies are to help people, travel the world, know other cultures and achieve her goals.

Instagram: @kiaracave

Alexa Shell is an elementary school teacher and a certified advanced pole fitness instructor from Cleveland, Ohio, the United States.

Alexa has a Bachelors Degree in Politics and Women & Gender Studies from Sewanee: The University of the South, a Masters of Science in Elementary Education from Johns Hopkins; and she work as a Primary teacher at a public Montessori School (ages 3-6). She is an Alumna of Teach for America 2018 corps.

As a child, Alexa danced for 13 years and rock climbed competitively in high school. After her first year teaching, she decided to get back into fitness that summer and found pole dancing. She found it to be a perfect combination of dance and rock climbing that kept her interest and challenged her both mentally and physically.

Alexa is a Certified Beginner through Advanced Pole Fitness Instructor through Ecole de Pole, an international company founded by Justine McLucas in Australia.

Alexa teaches two pole classes a week at Ecole de Pole Cleveland - The Static Basics and Pole Pre/Intermediate.

She recently placed 3rd in Level 4 at the Pole Championship Series 2023 at the Arnolds Sports Festival, it is the third competition she has participated in.

In October of 2022, Alexa got married and she is living her "happily forever after".

Instagram: @honeychild_ae

Remotse Kgwadi is a Motswana girl from Botswana working in Disneyland Paris.

She loves to dance, to write in order to clear her head, usually in the form of poetry/rap, but also just for herself.

Remo also practices yoga, it helps her stay centered and is a great way to destress and let out any unwanted energy. Plus, Remo is a big tea lover.

Instagram: @r_cherrybxmb

Anya Prokhorova is an illustrator and designer featured in Dubai fashion week, she is a model, she loves writing and reading poetry (also very interested in advocating for mental health awareness and self improvement).

Anya focuses on self expression through creative medias like drawing, painting and sculpting since her early childhood.

Originally from Russia, Anya lives in Dubai, she used to live in the UK, and she has completed her education in Art school, fashion school, and freelances as a fashion illustrator.

Instagram: @gotyourteeth

Zhypar Nazylbekova is the first girl from Kyrgyzstan in this podcast.

She lives in Dubai, UAE, and works as a freelance makeup artist and a digital psychologist who loves yoga, going to the gym and jogging every morning 10,000 steps to keep her health and energy.

Instagram: @zhypar_nazylbekova

Romina Semprini a painter and art student from Alba Iulia, Romania studying at Regina Maria Art School.

She loves painting, meditation, and learning other languages.

Romina had an art exposition at the National Museum of Union Alba Iulia at 14 years old.

She has permanent expositions in 5 restaurants in Alba Iulia.

And she has given 2 times to Prince Nicolae of Romania, a member of the Royal Family, paintings as gifts at the age of 13 and 17.

Instagram: @sempriniromina_artist

Anna Rohanova is a Ukrainian girl from Donetsk studying a Bachelor of Business Administration at KU Leuven, Belgium.

Anna is currently very focused on finishing her degree and also in the process of getting a nutritionist certification.

She also plans on getting coach certification because she is in love with sport and in particular lifting weights in the gym. She has been doing it for almost 2 years and she progressed to quite high weights (Her most impressive personal records are 285.5 kg on a leg press and 160 kg on hip thrust).

Anna wants to help people get stronger and happier in the future through sports.

Instagram: @_impassible_01

Josephine Kiaga is a Tanzanian-American freelance Film Producer and Co-Owner of Kiagraphy Media Ltd.

Living in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, she acquired a unique sense of storytelling and was able to explore non-western film making at an early age.

After she was awarded with the BTEC Student of the Year for her thought-provoking Creative Media in 2019 ceremony and attended that ceremony in London, it pushed her to go to University in the UK.

She completed her BFA in Film Production with a First Class and has now moved on to continue freelancing.

She specializes in Short Films, Music Videos, Documentaries and Producing photoshoots for her company. Most recently, she was a Producer for a film commissioned by the US Embassy Tanzania, exploring the taboo of HIV/Aids treatment through an effective, drama short film with some of Tanzania's best.

It was educational, daring and women-led, these are the projects that she enjoys being part of the most.

Josephine is currently a mentee in the Black Book Programme UK, learning from her UK Line Producer Mentor and she is internally developing a lot of projects. Notably, a documentary, a play and several poetic short films which will be doing their festival film circuits this year as well.

As a filmmaker, she intends to continue her work as an artist while upholding artistic integrity that aligns with her feminist, Pan-African, sexual and gender equality-based mindset throughout all her work and she is looking forward to what the future holds.

Instagram: @misskiaga