Vasyl Yatsura (Backstory)

Then:
- Apartment on left bank of the city (long commute)
- Born in Siberia (where his parents had been exiled)
- Worked in radio, then television. Knew that his career was going to be restricted based on his birthplace

Backstory:
In the days of perestroika, State TV had to show some examples of new types of TV programming. Vasyl was tapped to launch a youth-oriented TV show. There were to be three crews and each crew was repsonsible for creating one show per 3 weeks. Vasyl agreed on the condition that he could hire his own team and that the team would be half the size of the other teams. Vasyl reasoned that his team would be issued an office in the State TV headquarters on Khreschatyk. The rooms were small and it was unpleasant to be stuffed in such a small space with 14 people. He wanted 7.
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Vasyl was the first person that I recruited to join the International Media Center after Mykola Knaiazhytsky and I got access to the building on Khreschatyk.

When we launched IMC, then UNIAN, and Vikna and UNIKA, Vasyl, and his business partner Volodymyr, played the roles of COOs (Chief Operating Officers). While Kniazh and I raised funds, schmoozed in Kyiv, Washington, and Arcata, Vasyl kept the troops engaged. In today's workplace in the States, the equivalent would be that while I made powerpoint decks, Vasyl recruited and managed people.

He spent hours at the office. 7 days a week from 9am to well-past 9pm. He lived with his wife and daughter in an apartment on the left bank. It was frequently full of his family, their large dog, and several younger staffers who did not have a place to stay in Kyiv.