About me
My name is Ivanna Shkromyda. I come from the Carpathian city of Kolomyia. I am a journalist by education. Previously, I worked as an editor of news and youth programs of Chernivtsi state radio (now – public). And now I am a producer of the open podcast studio “IZONE media” in Kyiv. I create my own podcasts on various topics: literary “Acoustics of Shadows” and on psychology— “I know what it’s like”. I also work as a UI/UX designer in a marketing company in Kyiv.
I first learned about you when I listened to one of the episodes of your podcast, “Acoustics of Shadows”. And after that, I must say, I became a huge fan of your podcast and have listened to all the episodes (for those who aren’t familiar, it talks about great writers like Kafka, Hemingway, etc.) What inspired you to start making these podcasts?
In 2016, I took a break from my career as a radio journalist. At that time I was involved in creating and organizing the Triangle Art Festival in my hometown. But I really missed working with audio content. Then suddenly I had the idea to create my own podcast. Since I was most interested in literature at that time, the topic was quite obvious. I remember I decided to create “Acoustics of Shadows” on the last day of summer 2016. And three weeks later I posted the first episode about the Beatniks and Jack Kerouac in particular (famous American writer – ed.). Besides, I personally felt the need for Ukrainian-language content on literature. There was almost no such thing at that time. And it was very convenient for me to listen to something while working on design projects. That’s why I started to fill a niche that was almost empty.
It is clear that a lot of time has passed since you recorded these podcasts, a lot has changed, we now have a full-scale war. Where were you on February 24th, 2022?
The day before, on February 23rd, my mother and grandmother came to Kyiv. I remember walking with my mother near the government quarter, where there were already simple kinds of checkpoints. And I remember saying “no, there would be no invasion. It was impossible. ” In the evening I took my family on the train to Kolomyia, and the next morning my boyfriend and I woke up to a call from his brother. He said that “the war has begun”. My boyfriend had prepared emergency backpacks the day before that and was aware of the basic steps to be taken when a full-scale war begins. I was just calm and did everything that was necessary: we made water supplies. We moved everything we needed to the corridor, bought tickets for the next day’s train to Sambir (where my boyfriend’s parents live) and went to look for the nearest shelters. Of course, it was disturbing to stay in Kyiv for two days under the sound of shelling. But then, after we arrived in western Ukraine, we started thinking about how to help our friends and relatives who went to the front lines.
What was your typical day like before the great war, February 23rd, for example, can you remember? And what is this typical day for you today?
Yes, of course, on February 23rd I had basically a typical working day. Plus, the arrival of my family diversified it a little. Now my everyday life is actually the same. My life has not changed much. The realities in which we now have to live have changed. This war has already taken away three of my relatives. The closest one is my sister’s husband, who was actually my brother. And now every day, in addition to work, life, and hobbies, I also think about my hero – Igor, who gave his life so that I could have all that I have today. And I also think about my nephews and sister, who need to be supported and protected.
Now there are power cuts throughout the country, as we know, it is extremely difficult to live now, there is great uncertainty. What is the situation now in your hometown? And how do these blackouts affect your work today?
In Kolomyia, the lack of light significantly impacts life and everyday life. The last time I visited my mother, I really felt the lack of heating, water, Internet, network, because all this works there only if there is electricity. But on the other hand, this situation in a way unites people. Because without communications, my family and I would get together and talk much more often. It would be happening without distractions from business and gadgets. And in Kyiv, where I live now, we are lucky. The light in my house gets turned off extremely rarely. More regularly, we don’t have water and heating. But even with such inconveniences, you can fully live and go about your business. In turn, we try to use electricity sparingly, because we understand that it is necessary to do so, because it is not clear how and to what extent the occupiers will harm us in the future.
What are you doing today, where do you work? What are you most passionate about?
Actually, I continue to do design and podcasts. I spend my free time communicating with my family, playing with my dog (by the way, I finally decided to get one in June, not least because of the war). I read a lot, it is my way of escapism. I am completing the challenge of reading 50 books this year. And also, to calm the nervous system a bit, I do needlework: cross-stitch and knit. I volunteer only financially, because I understand that this is what I can do most effectively now.
As a journalist, how often do you talk to people who are experiencing war in its various manifestations?
In fact, I talk about the war only with relatives and close people. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, I had the experience of talking to different people about their psychological state in the context of special episodes for my podcast project – “I Know What It’s Like”. I collected more than 10 different stories of those people who stayed in Ukraine and continued to live in stressful conditions, or those who had the experience of moving abroad. It is hard for everyone, for sure. But I tried to record professional comments of psychotherapists for each story so that we would explain why certain emotions and states arise within us and how to deal with them. I do not like to just nod at how people talk about their suffering. I try to act immediately, to look for ways of solving their problems.
As a person for whom “podcasts” probably was the second word ever spoken out loud after “mom”, how do you see the development of this trend in Ukraine? As we know, here in Ukraine there are not very many high-quality podcasts, and the market is not so saturated yet?
Luckily, this past year, Ukrainian-language podcasts have significantly pushed Russian content out of the top charts. And this is a huge breakthrough. The Ukrainian podcast market is finally starting to form. And this entails an increase in the number of quality podcasts, because against their background, similar and poorly made projects will simply get lost. The great advantage of podcasts is that you can download episodes to your gadgets automatically when you have an Internet connection. And you can listen to them at any time. Even when there is no power supply and network – the podcast to which a person subscribes will be among the files on the phone, tablet, or laptop. And this is undoubtedly a great advantage among other media content at a time when we have emergency power outages and no mobile connection basically.
What podcasts do you listen to in general, do you have any favorite podcasts on the war with Russia, for example?
Since I work a lot with podcasts, I listen to other things quite rarely. I can safely recommend the project of our open podcast studio “IZONE media” – “Dirt and Blood”. This is a podcast about war and our society living in it. Also, I recommend you listen to the podcast “Podcast”, where the hosts weekly discuss the most pressing topics related to our country. And you can find more interesting things in the Telegram channel “Our Podcasts”, where our team publishes episodes on a variety of topics every day. So you can always find something that you like there.
We are read by many young people, including journalism students from different universities of the country, who are just starting their way in the profession. What can you recommend to those students from your own experience?
My advice is to always do what you like. Cover the topics that interest you the most. This is, of course, an ideal option, because in the realities of a full-scale war it is difficult to follow only your desires. But it can be done through podcasts, for example. And of course, no matter what topics you talk about, stay human, adhere to professional standards and try to be better today than you were yesterday.
With the New Year holidays many of us, of course, make wishes for the new year, dream of our victory. What are your biggest wishes for 2023, what kind of Ukraine would you like to see in 2023?
I really want to see our society kind and humane. Unfortunately, now everyone is stressed and often angry at each other. There are many examples of poor service. Many people simply forget that our country is at war, and so they behave too selfishly and aggressively. I would really like to see our society becoming better and stronger in the new year. This will bring our victory much closer.
Translator: Ivan Chepaykin
