From concerts and festivals to the ranks of the Armed Forces: the story of a director at war
Before the full-scale war, Anna Oboyanska was a director of concert events: she organized festivals, stadium concerts, open airs, concert tours and other large-scale events both in Ukraine and abroad.
Anna has a director's diploma, all her life she worked exclusively in the profession and felt that this was her vocation. Six months before the full-scale invasion of Russia, she went to get a second education - an operator-director.
At the time of February 24, 2022, she had several international projects to complete. One of these projects was an international festival and the organization of a solo concert of a foreign artist in Dubai during the exhibition “Expo-2022”.
“I could have stayed there and continued to work, but I realized that for me personally, my profession is not on time. Therefore, I completed those projects and in early May I returned with my son to Ukraine. I realized that it is impossible to just close my eyes and ears and continue to live and work as before,” says Anna Oboyanska.
She tried to organize concerts for fighters and charity concerts abroad, did volunteer activities, but all this did not satisfy her need to be useful. She realized that her only way to be valuable now was to join the army.
Then Anna went to military training, but realized that it would be difficult for her to withstand physical exertion. During these exercises, she began to take photos and videos of the military and the process of their pre-mobilization training. Then I felt: “This is it.” After all, this is exactly what she knows how to do, in which she has considerable experience and what brings her pleasure.
Since then, she began to actively monitor the vacancies she was interested in in in the Defense Forces. It worked, and at some point she was written from the First Presidential Brigade “Bureva” of the National Guard of Ukraine, in which she now serves in the press service team.
Currently, she deals with all processes in the team related to media and communication with journalists. Anna covers the training and coordination process of the brigade. Sometimes she and her team have trips to the combat zone, but for the most part she works in the Kiev region and has a full working day.
From Anna's observations, it is important for the military to tell about their achievements, pain and victories, sufferings and trials. In her opinion, the more she and her colleagues talk about the brigade, their activities and opportunities, the more people will learn about them, and perhaps someone motivated will join.
National Guard of Ukraine
