Olga Migunova. Renaiccance Person

Olga Migunova manages her Instagram page with over 1 million subscribers, a chain of beauty salons, her role as a mother of two, and a wife to her husband. She does it all brilliantly, as well. “How?” you ask. We went straight to the source for the answer!

My blogging path began back in the 2010s. My friends said I have to tell my story to a broad audience. The thing is, I lost my parents at a very young age, and our financial situation was dire. We had to cram into a 1-room apartment with four other relatives! When I turned 15, I had already been working: passing out fliers and later on becoming a shop assistant. I was studying to become an economist but realized in time that this was not my passion. My passion was art. That was the moment I found out about the actor casting for a series called the City Legends. And, would you believe it, I got hired! I starred in one of the episodes as a Russian girl in love with a Kazakh boy with their parents strictly against this pairing. It was Romeo and Juliet à la Almaty. Although, our story had a happy ending: the protagonists are together, and my heroine is cooking Beshbarmak for him. Later I worked on a music TV channel and then on the radio. Alongside work, I have been working on my Instagram account, and the audience steadily grew.

You have to be in a proper blogging mindset constantly. You have to publish updates consistently and keep working on them. From the very beginning, I was blogging regularly, and when the Instagram Stories came out, I made them too. Now I feel that my Instagram subscribers are my second family! Interestingly, a large part of them is the original group that has been with me since the 2010s. Yes, your whole life is a show, but this is the path that I’ve consciously chosen.

Naturally, my comment section is full of unsolicited advice. I hated it at first, but now I’m okay with them. Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Ethnically I am Russian, but my soul is Kazakh. I was born and grew up in Almaty. This is my home, the place where I took my first steps and spoke my first word. My family is Russian but I can scarcely imagine our dinner table without Beshbarmak! I love our people and their hospitality. I want to expand my business abroad, but there can be no talk about permanently moving to another country.

My business is a chain of beauty salons called Dreambody. I opened the first salon for purely selfish reasons (laughing) as I couldn’t find a good beauty therapist. I did mention this event to my subscribers on Instagram, of course, and people came to us immediately. There were so many customers that I had to establish another branch. Now my chain is present in three Kazakh cities: Almaty, Astana, and Shymkent.

Years of living in Kazakhstan have greatly influenced me, and I have embodied the nomadic culture. A nomad is a free and independent person. These are traits sorely lacking in many people. We are always in pursuit of something, always in a hurry. What seems to be lacking, however, is inner freedom! I can call myself a nomad after a fashion: I love to change my locale. But I always manage to find my way home.

This year marks the 15th anniversary for me and my husband, and we have two children to show for it. Our secret is in our communication: we discuss everything, holding nothing back and avoiding placing ticking time bombs under our relationship. We sit at the table, pour tea and talk out our concerns. Maybe it sounds a bit utopic, but it is true.

Author: Igor Toporkov

Photo: Aidyn Ahmet @aidyn_ahmet