Oxana Kunets

I've always been a proponent of taking big leaps of faith in life. At 20, I dropped out of a prestigious university and moved alone across the ocean to the US, where I earned a bachelors degree and started a pole dancing studio with my friend. Fast forward a couple of years, I completed one of the top business schools in the world and worked as an investment banker. A firm believer of staying true to my passions, I continued training pole dancers while working in a very traditional field of finance. Realizing that my odd profile would never fit into a rigid corporate structure, I left finance in a quest to live life on my own terms. It took different forms with various degrees of success. With entrepreneurship, random gigs, and tech consulting, I moved between an elated sense of freedom and a crippling sense of personal failure. On a path, far from traditional, my the biggest insights were about fears, confidence, and courage. Though my story was unique, my fears were not. While experiencing my own, I had a privilege of having others sharing their fears with me. It led me to a decision to turn everything I knew about fear into a platform to help other women grow. I created KnowYourFear.com, a collection of simple reminders for modern girls to be brave and to conquer the world by being themselves. And, if it helps someone through tough times, or gives a gentle nudge in the right direction, or enables Her believe in herself more, I've fulfilled my mission.

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