Tetyana Grygoryeva

Russian and Ukrainian Team Lead

“Knowing that my work supports my Ukrainian people, makes me feel complete and gives me a sense of being useful.”

Tetyana Grygoryeva is not only the Respond Russian and Ukrainian Team Lead, she is also an International Development Specialist.

When asked to share something about the language(s) she translates that people wouldn’t necessarily know, Tetyana says, “Ukrainian is a beautiful language. For centuries, there were attempts to suppress Ukrainian language and culture. During the Soviet Era, the Russian language was imposed over Ukraine. After the Russian Invasion to Ukraine started, Ukrainian language became even more important for self identity and Patriotism of Ukrainians. A great number of Ukrainian people who always spoke Russian started speaking Ukrainian. The language is parallel with Ukrainian culture and patriotism.”

Tetyana jumped into her work at Respond during the war, and shares, “Knowing that my work supports my Ukrainian people, makes me feel complete and gives me a sense of being useful.  The mission of every Ukrainian now is to support Ukraine for the victory of Ukraine, which means the end of massacre, victory of democratic values over the outdated Russian totalitarianism.  Most translators in our team feel the same way I feel. I am proud to work with the most motivated and united team. 

When asked how she takes care of her mental health doing this work, Tetyana says, “The most challenging thing for my mental health is observing my people being killed, and my country being destroyed. My work at Respond is part of caring for my mental health—knowing that I can help. I also do triathlons and study in Holistic medicine school. I am a certified NLP practitioner (chicology and am studying towards an NLP Masters certificate.”