Society

Coming up with a good idea for your own business is sometimes as easy as just looking at the experience you already have. After working in New York, model and businesswoman Anna Barsukova understood that any urban beauty who is always on the go desperately needs fresh-squeezed juices. This is how the Organic Religion detox bars came about. In the latest edition of Success Builder, Anna discusses why the university is more appealing than the runway and how the detox industry is growing and changing in Russia.

In 2012, HSE alumnus Evgeny Koudryavtsev opened the football school Championka for pre-schoolers. At the school, kids are able to develop social skills and a ‘sense of the ball’ using Western methodologies. In the latest edition of Success Builder, Evgeny discusses the advantages to such an approach, as well as how Harvard does athletics and why a businessman should be athletic.

Working with fine art is not only about well-known artists and beautiful paintings; it also requires precise calculation, analysis, management, and even psychology. Art can be a business, and an entirely interesting business at that. HSE alumna Ekaterina Plastinina, who founded and co-owns the art agency Alma Arts, sat down with Success Builder to discuss how to become a connoisseur of the auction business, how to successfully purchase a painting, and why Dubai is better than London.

The media industry is one of today's most dynamic. Illegal downloading has succumbed to the laziness of the honest user, who is now able to watch films online for just 30 rubles. The Managing Director of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Andrei Gromkovskiy, tells Success Builder about the danger and allure of investing in media products, as well as whether there are ways to manipulate people through TV and whether art or business is most important in the world of film.

During gym class in elementary school, Oksana Akhmedova, a graduate from the HSE Faculty of Law, was part of a special group for physically weak children. But this didn't stop her from running an 86-kilometer trail marathon last year that took nearly 15 hours. How does one find the motivation to change, and is this even a question of motivation? Do we always know our own limits? As we start counting down to the New Year, when people often make resolutions to live a better life, Oksana tells us how we can truly achieve our goals.

Science had already moved into the sphere of consumption in the 20th century, and we now treat technological innovation as if it’s simply a new item on a restaurant menu or the premier of the latest blockbuster film. Science works for everyone personally, and this ‘scientific marketing’ is the merit of new-era scientists – the ‘Steve Jobses’ who are capable of not only inventing, but also selling their inventions. Alexey Rolich, who is a graduate of HSE MIEM, the head of the 3D Visualization Laboratory, and the creator of the Public Charger project, which has received an UMNIK grant, tells Success Builder how to make money in science.

Maria Sarycheva, graduate of the MA in Applied Cultural Studies at HSE began preparing museum guided tours for people with special needs while she was still studying. Now she works in the department of inclusive programmes at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art. She was instrumental in designing the new HSE Accessible Museum course. Maria Sarycheva talked to HSE News about what to do when there is no sign language gesture for installation and how to introduce art to people with visual and hearing impairments.  

The digital age is opening up more and more opportunities for some of the most unbelievable startups imaginable – startups for which ideas and a drive to conquer new business territories take precedent. For Vitaly Aleksandrov, an HSE alumnus and the founder and head of the studio Out of Cloud, this territory was email marketing. Below, he tells Success Builder how correct distribution methods differ from spam, how to write meaningful letter, and whether a student is able to make money off of scholarships.

Working abroad after the university is both a step forward in your career, as well as a valuable personal experience. HSE alumnus Mikhail Savkin, who is currently the Director of Global Strategy at France’s Schneider Electric, tells Success Builder how easy it is for a consultant to lead a nomadic lifestyle, why HSE should become a subculture, and how to survive in the French corporate world without losing your own cultural identity.

If you think all women in leather chairs are heavy-handed Miranda Priestlys in Prada heels, you might find yourself looking for a job your entire life. Over the last 100 years of women’s emancipation, the world has changed beyond recognition; being a mother, heading a large company, and looking good are all absolute norms for the 21st century. Anastasia Karpova, the CEO of the pharmacy chain Doctor Stoletov, tells Success Builder how she built her first business with the help of Saddam and Che Guevara, why the humanities need mathematical analysis, and why her pharmacies sell permanganic acid.