Oksana joined RIVET to spread our message and brand to contractors and the construction market at large. We were excited to work with her the minute she said “put me in, coach” and approached the role with drive and intense accountability. Thank you, Oksana!
– The RIVET Team
Tell us a little about yourself, Oksana!
I was born in Ukraine but moved to the United States with my parents and brother when I was three years old. Despite being raised in America, I have always been surrounded by the Ukrainian culture and language. Ukraine is deeply rooted in me and is a big part of who I am today. I am especially proud to be Ukrainian more than I have ever been during these difficult times.
This brutal attack on my homeland is absolutely devastating, and the resilience of the Ukrainian people is a true inspiration. We will never get back the Ukrainian lives that have been lost and this genocide will not ever be forgotten, but I am hopeful that Ukraine will defeat the occupiers and we will rebuild our beloved country! Once the country is rebuilt, I urge everyone to visit. It is a beautiful, underrated land, language, and culture. In my opinion and many others, it was, and once again will be one day, a hidden gem of Europe.
Besides being a proud Ukrainian, I am a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a wife, and a new mom. I play many roles in my life, as do many of the people reading this, but my favorite roles are being a wife and a mom. My husband and I met 10 years ago, started dating 8 years ago and got married 3 years ago. He is one of my favorite people. I know it’s cliché to say he is my best friend, but he really is. I cherish every moment we spend together whether it’s just staying in to watch TV, doing something active, or traveling the world. Although, he may soon have some competition once our daughter enters this world 😉.
In terms of my professional career, I graduated from Wayne State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA in marketing and international business. Immediately after my undergrad, I was fortunate enough to secure a marketing internship with Bosch. That internship evolved into a full-time position with the company, and I spent over 5 years there learning, growing and grooming myself to be ready for a marketing managerial role. Education and continuous learning has always been important to me. It has gotten me where I am today in my marketing career.
Why did you get into Marketing?
Honestly, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer for the longest time. No one ever told me that’s what I should go into, it was always a personal choice but I think that choice was made to satisfy a need to please parents who left their homeland and gave up their careers for a better tomorrow for their children. When time came to choose a major, there were no requirements to fulfill during your undergrad for law school so I picked what was an interesting topic to me – marketing. Three years into my undergrad, I realized I did not want a career as an attorney, but I was graduating in a few months… Luckily, I had picked a major I actually really liked and I was even luckier that I secured a position as a marketing intern right after graduation when I had no prior marketing experience.
I truly love being a marketer. For me, using what I know about consumer behavior and being creative to create content that people enjoy and relate with brings me so much joy. For the science nerds out there, marketing is just like conducting an experiment. You use what you know to create content that you think will resonate with your target audience, then you test it to see if it worked or not. If it didn’t work, you use what you learned to make adjustments. If it did work, it’s the most satisfying feeling ever.
Why did you join RIVET, and what are you most excited about?
I joined RIVET for the people and for the opportunity to build something from the ground up. I believe the people that make up your team contribute to 75% of your happiness at a company. You spend every day with your team and if your personality’s do not mesh, it can be a miserable experience coming into work every day no matter how much you love what you are doing.
At RIVET, I already knew Alison Accavitti, Co-Founder and CMO, and I knew I would be working very closely with her on all of RIVET’s marketing initiatives. In my experience, she has always been an inspirational leader, a marketing genius, and an easy-to-get-along-with personality. The opportunity to work with her again is a gift! And I knew that working with this team would be an absolute pleasure because of all the positive feedback I had already seen, and I trust the leaders who are putting this team together.
I am most excited about the opportunity to really drive and shape an effective marketing strategy for RIVET. That is what is so special about building a company from the ground up. You have a say in what you believe is the right approach for continuous growth and you are actually heard. Besides that, as the RIVET team grows, I am excited to build my own marketing team. I have always loved to mentor and coach others so I very much welcome that challenge.
What are you passionate about?
I am passionate about a lot of things, but the thing that brings me the most joy and I can talk about forever is travel! My husband and I travelled to Australia back in 2016, kicking off the next 6 years of adventures for us covering 17 countries all around the world.
After our first few adventures together, we started an Instagram travel account and blog to promote the stunning places we travel to, kravingadventure.com. We have found ways to travel the world within a limited amount of vacation days in a year and under a budget so we wanted to share our secrets to make it possible for others to do the same because traveling is a gift and everyone should experience it!
We shared our travel tips for a 7-day trip to Bali, we have a page where you can find our recommended travel essentials, but my personal favorite is the daily deals page. There are certain twitter accounts we had followed in the past that alerted us of flight deals and we pulled them in all-in-one place for our fellow travelers. The deals don’t last long so you’ll have to act quickly, but if you have the flexibility and don’t mind to be a little spontaneous, you can find some great deals!
Videos from Oksana’s travels can be found at kravingadventure.com/videos.
