Yak Vdoma: profiles of committed Ukrainian journalists

Since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Yak Vdoma residence has issued six calls for entries and welcomed more than 40 independent Ukrainian journalists.

Six new journalists have joined us. Their experience and backgrounds will strengthen the residence as a place for exchanging and sharing ideas, and building skills.

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Olha Konsevych is a writer, researcher and media expert. With a keen interest in human rights issues, she conducts investigations and writes articles, primarily on the challenges posed by Russia’s war on Ukraine. She is currently working on projects with Tagesspiegel (Germany), EU NEIGHBOURS East (Belgium), the CCIJ (USA) and TSN.ua (Ukraine). 

Olha provides an active link between the media and academia. She has taken part in programmes run by the WZB Berlin Social Science Centre and the Max Planck Society, and holds a PhD in communications.

Olha Konsevych is a member of the Vital Voices Global Partnership VVEngage network, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States (TILN).
Her advocacy efforts were rewarded with the 2024 INMA Elevate Scholarship from the Google News initiative, confirming her role as a catalyst for positive change in journalism.

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 Eva Avramenko: "My journalism career began in my youth, when I wrote for the Dnepr Vecherniy website. Today, I am proud to be associated with the newspaper and website of the Visti Prydniprovya publication, and with the Dnipro section of the Ukraine National Union of Journalists. As a journalist, my unwavering commitment is to counter the hostile propaganda aimed at our young people”.  

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Marianna Prysiazhniuk is an expert on the StopFake project, an analyst on the European ATHENA project on combating Russian information threats (FIMI) run by the Ukrainian cybersecurity company ISSP and an analyst on the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation. She studies Russian foreign policy as part of the PhD programme at the National University of Bucharest (Strategic Narratives of the Russian Federation in Eastern Europe). She is a graduate of the National Academy of Home Affairs in psychology and law, and of the National University of Political and Administrative Studies in communication and the European Union.

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 Daria Potapova: “I started my journey in journalism in 2013 at the local TV station in my hometown, Sievierodonetsk, in the Luhansk region, 90% of which has now been destroyed and occupied. Since then, I have explored various roles in journalism:
- I worked as a video editor for the national ‘1+1’ television channel;
- Journalist at the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union as part of a project focusing on the protection of Ukrainian activists and journalists;
- Head of Social Media at Bihus.Info;
- Head of Communications for the Media Initiative for Human Rights.
All of these experiences have helped me to understand the challenges facing the Ukrainian media community. That’s why, at the end of 2022, I joined the team at the Media Development Foundation, an organisation dedicated to developing independent journalism in Ukraine. I started out as Head of Communications, set up a fully-fledged communications department and to this day I am still developing the organisation’s communications strategy. During my residency, I intend to write my first marketing strategy.”

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Olena Ermolenko: “I was born in the picturesque and welcoming mining town of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region. I’ve been working in journalism for nearly ten years and I trained as an economist.

I’ve always been drawn to creativity and art. I like to write about everything happening around me. On my Facebook page, you’ll find publications, personal reflections, travel diaries and artistic events, as well as poems. When I'm feeling inspired or emotional, I write poems.
For the sixth year running, I’m working as a correspondent for the ‘Monolit’ newsletter. This is the publication of a major coal company in our region. I write about the work of miners and all those involved in the mining ecosystem, including concentrators, installers, drivers, mine builders and others who develop the coal industry in Ukraine. 

Unfortunately, the enemy came very close to Pokrovsk. Now we can no longer stay there. The town comes under Russian bombardment several times a day. Our homes are crumbling, while the hospitals, the educational institutions and the lively, leafy streets of our beautiful city are a distant memory.”

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 Yuliia Semenenko holds a Master’s degree in journalism from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev. She has over 25 years’ experience in journalism across a range of media platforms, including print, television (documentaries, infotainment), news agencies and political party press services.

“Journalism is not just a profession for me; it’s my passion and my life”, Yulia stresses, emphasising her unwavering commitment to her work.

After Russia’s mass invasion of Ukraine, she worked as a journalist for various non-governmental organisations in Romania, covering issues such as how Ukranians adjust to Romanian education and medical systems.