Dmitry and Oksana, Rome, 1989 (in transit to America)

Oksana, Dmitry, and Lyudmir, Dmitry’s father, first weeks in America, SoCal, 1990

Dmitry, Ukraine, 1970s

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Oksana was 17 and pregnant when she came to America on a refugee visa. With little to no money she would walk miles in the San Bernardino heat to find food to eat. At an early age, Oksana worked many odd jobs to get ahead, from housekeeping to cleaning offices, but she pushed on. She was determined to achieve more, for her and her children. While working and raising two children, she taught herself English and how to code and thus began a successful career in the technology sector without any formal education.  She climbed the ladder of hard work and is now a senior software engineer for a national corporation. She never gave up or gave into the many obstacles encountered along the way. Oksana’s story is the story of HARD WORK.

Dmitry escaped from the former USSR, at 23, to avoid religious persecution. After making the tough decision of leaving a life as a design artist in Ukraine, in order to unify his family in America, Dmitry turned his creative passion into manual work in various auto body shops in California.  He has the heart and passion of an artist and in order to provide for his family, found various ways to put his creative skills to use in his new country. The work he does now is a different type of art but each and every one of his projects is still a masterpiece. Dmitry’s story is the story of PASSION.

She never gave up or gave into the many obstacles encountered along the way.