Masha Cheriakova

A long time ago I was born in, back then called, the Soviet Union. But my parents soon decided that the Soviet Union is not the right place to raise two children, that is why we moved to the Netherlands. I was raised by a typical Soviet mother in a very free spirited country. This challenging and strict upbringing was one of the reasons I became very early on independent and entrepreneurial.

My passion during my bachelor (Business Administration Vrije University of Amsterdam) and Masters studies (International development studies, University of Utrecht and Russian The Netherlands Utrecht Studies, University of Leiden) was traveling. I have traveled the world to see and experience new people, cultures, and food. It has been a wonderful and unfinished journey.

After my studies, I decided to visit my birth country, which is now called Belarus, Minsk. I got hooked and stayed there for 3 years, building up training programs for social entrepreneurs. I have met many people that wanted to change something in their lives and in the lives of others, they just needed someone who could train and guide them. So that was my role provide them with education and tools to make a social impact by social entrepreneurship. I have founded 2 educational programs that trained, over the course of the last 5 years, more than 1000 Belarusians.

In the meantime, I can officially call myself an author as more than 14 books have been published with my name on it. My social mission with the books is to promote Belarusian and English language among the Belarusians with awesome and needed books. On top of these achievements, I have also built a family of my own with my husband Georg. We have two little kids. More recently, I started to become interested in mindfulness. I believe Mindfulness might be my new addiction that I would like to promote among people as I believe that our society could profit from more consciousness, awareness and being in the present time!

I love to spend as much time as I possible with my two kids Noam and Misha. They grow too fast and I don’t want to miss out on this amazing development. I love to sport: running, playing Squash or dancing. I also paint whenever I get the opportunity.