The third heroine of the #VyOgonyok rubric is Dr. Olga Pollak, who has been with us since the very opening of the Ogonyok. For the first time I interviewed on the road: we recorded a conversation with Olga in a place of strength and health - Edem Resort Medical & SPA near Lviv. Of course, this is no coincidence - it is here that she has recently headed the department of aesthetic medicine. I spent two days in this, without exaggeration, an incredible place - and although I know and follow Olga for many years, it was there that she fully revealed herself to me, plunging into her very special world. Olga and I wandered around the center for many hours and talked about how and why she made a choice in favor of aesthetic medicine, about professional ethics and family values, about rest, favorite food and, of course, about style, shopping and love for shoes.

This is a partner material that we wrote together with Edem Resort Medical & SPA.

 

- Olga, describe yourself in one sentence.

- Positive. Small and big positive (laughs).

- You have been working in the field of aesthetic medicine for over 20 years. I want to trace your path from a medical student to head of the department of aesthetic medicine, Edem Resort Medical & SPA... Tell us why you chose this particular direction and at what point you came to it.

- While studying in Medina, I clearly understood that my profession should be associated with positive in medicine. We underwent practice in different directions: in surgery, I realized that I was not ready to sacrifice my family and personal time in order to completely devote myself to work, and in therapy I did not have enough energy - this is a profession for those who like to work scrupulously and monotonously.

I must have time for contemplation, for myself, and for the work I love. I work very hard, but I must have time to exhale.

I thought about going to gynecology, but in practice it turned out that the main job of a gynecologist in those days was abortion, and I realized that I could not do 14 abortions a day. So in the fifth year, when it was necessary to determine the specialization, I chose the dermatovenerological direction. Naturally, to get there, it was necessary to make a lot of efforts - only 4 students got into the Kozhven from a course of 300 people, this is an elite specialty. I was incredibly happy doing my internship there because I was dealing with healthy young people (laughs). Their main problem was temporary diseases, from which no one died. And at that time it was an amazing profession, because it allowed you to earn money. It is very important for me that my work has a decent reward - this is energy that matters a lot. Money is needed for development, for further study, in order to take place, since medicine is a profession where you must constantly study, constantly invest in yourself.

After working in Kozhven for some time and then on maternity leave, I realized that I want something more, I want to develop further. At that time, the first luxury center appeared in Odessa, in which they opened a separate direction in aesthetic medicine and promoted cosmetology. I became very interested in this and began to actively attract new technologies to the center. At that time, I was already a well-known doctor in Odessa. Then my personal brand began.

 

- Can you say that your formation in the profession took place there?

— Yes, and I am very grateful to that time for meeting people who stayed in my life for a long time. We were quite close with fellow doctors, and there only doctors worked in aesthetics - even now, when we meet, we have something to remember. And of course, there I met many of my clients, whom it is difficult to call clients now - these are my people, with whom we have been together for 20 years. We know who got married when, who got divorced when, I am invited to the weddings of their children. This is a fairly deep level of communication. But, naturally, if you penetrate into the personal life of clients more than necessary, after a while rejection or separation will inevitably occur. Therefore, we must keep our distance. Even though I am convinced that a new patient always comes to a departed patient, it is even better. If we part, I never insist on the opposite - the main thing is that we part on a mutually good note. By the way, there I met Vika Ogonyok.

- How did your personal brand develop further?

— I was with my people all the time, without leaving the shadows - this allowed me to build up unique skills that were not masters. Because as soon as the technology went into masthead, it ceased to interest me - I needed new knowledge. All my patients are well aware of this, because I always offer them the best and most advanced. This is how the Odessa medical center B'uteeth appeared in my life, in which I head the direction of B'uface. Now, when I work with a new generation of owners who are 10 years younger than me, I understand how different this generation is. Calm, properly built: they have different values, a different attitude towards people, they value family, consistency, they all have many children, they are friendly and light everywhere. This new generation of people is very close to me - they allow people around them to develop.

It was on the basis of B'uteeth that I tried all the cosmetic novelties and brought the latest devices to B'uface. And she began to gradually move towards anti-aging medicine, realizing perfectly well that injections alone cannot return youth - for this it is necessary to work with the body as a whole, to rebuild oneself from the inside. The more I studied anti-aging, attended specialized congresses in Ukraine and abroad, the more I became convinced of the need to move towards nutraceuticals and naturopathy.

Injections alone cannot restore youth - for this it is necessary to work with the body as a whole, to rebuild oneself from the inside.

So I got to know the doctors from Eden, the head physician of the center Alexei Bashkirtsev and its owner Olga Filatova, who surprised me with how deeply she penetrates into the medical topic. She studies with us, studies the subtle mechanisms of biochemical reactions, understands exactly how everything is connected with everything. As a teacher and specialist of Ipsen and Innovaesthetic, I have been invited to private events more than once - and these companies are the best venues for their specialists to meet. So I got to Eden for the first time, and even then this site amazed me with its magnificence. On one of his visits, Alexey Bashkirtsev introduced me to the general director of Eden, Alexei Voloshin, and we talked very nicely about plans for the future. Even then, they started hinting at me about potential cooperation. Gradually, there was a rapprochement: we understood that we were in many ways close, but I am a person who is quite difficult to admit to me.

When it comes to clients, I generally don't like familiarity and don't like getting too close.

Otherwise, you risk becoming friends, and in this case your services are no longer appreciated. Each stage of acquiring new knowledge costs a huge effort, and in addition to reaching the highest level, it is necessary to make large, expensive purchases. You must be a specialist who is allowed to enter the club: this applies to both the level of knowledge and the cost of services. All this helps me to find like-minded people with whom we are moving in the same direction, to rebuild myself correctly and share what I have with those who need it. When they direct me with a question about the price, I do not answer, because this approach is not the way to me. This question cannot be answered immediately, because I do not provide a service - we go along a certain path together.

- We have just touched on the topic of your direct. I have been following you for a long time - for a long time you really did not leave the shadows. And I understood that this is your deliberate choice. And at some point you decided to get out of it - and went out in a huge ship. And knowledge fell on us with an avalanche thanks to your insanely interesting texts on Instagram. How did it happen, what became the trigger?

- At some point, people who were not the first in our profession began to enter the arena of leaders in aesthetic medicine - they were not even opinion leaders. My colleagues with extensive experience, knowledge and a wide range of clients saw that people whom we do not know, but who "make" themselves through social networks, come to the fore. It became clear that we were losing this platform and it was time for us to go out to it: to show that we are mastodons of the profession, with education and great knowledge of what we have, what to say, and what we should look up to. To tell that people should look up not on lips-cheekbones, not on this wrong beautification of self-image, but on correct aesthetics. It became clear that it was necessary to get out of the shadows and conquer Instagram. And it turned out to be easy to conquer - with such a background and such a wardrobe (laughs).

- You really have something to say.

- Of course. I show people that I understand aesthetics, that I know a lot about face harmonization and that I understand the true canons of beauty that come from knowledge of painting, knowledge of history, and deep medical knowledge. Now so many new things have been discovered in the field of biochemistry, biophysics, human genetics - this is space, another world. It opens gradually and is not revealed to everyone - you need to be internally ready for this. On the one hand, it is dangerous, but on the other, very interesting. That is why we attend specialized conferences, share different lives. As the head physician of Eden Aleksey says, if there is an inhalation, then there must be an exhalation... Accordingly, when knowledge ripens in you, you want to breathe out, share it.

- Tell us what you believe in when it comes to biohacking and aesthetic medicine.

- At each stage it has its own theme. As there is fashion for dresses, so there is fashion for drugs.

- What's trending now?

- In medicine, discoveries happen all the time. Moreover, such subtle mechanisms begin to open up that are a little dangerous for unhealthy people. If you are healthy, then peptide therapy is for you. Its essence is that scraps of proteins are completed in your body - accordingly, your cells should be healthy. By this time, your diseases and chronic breakdowns that have manifested themselves should be in remission. This is aerobatics. Before that, you can work with amino acids, and before amino acids, in order to come to ourselves, we start with a detox, which is preceded by a medical check - a complete examination of the body. He shows us what we need to work on, what we need to get rid of, what is your weak link, what has already manifested itself in you and to what extent.

Eden is the perfect platform for the journey to yourself.

This path is not fast, so we work here with everyone individually and say that this path to yourself must be passed several times. Naturally, for our life, to get emotions, endorphins, we cannot be on proper nutrition all the time. If you lead a correct lifestyle absolutely always, you will be a very boring person, uninteresting to society. Therefore, periodically there should be both junk food and hormesis - the so-called beneficial stress. The beneficial stress of eating, drinking, bingeing, traveling. All this, on the contrary, gives a useful jolt to the body, which tests us "weakly". We make such a shake-up and after it we must again return to ourselves for a while. Therefore, this site allows you to very correctly approach your check-up, identify weaknesses and work on them. And as we can see, if you are here on detox, the aesthetics suits you perfectly.

- At what point did you realize that you need each other thoroughly? And how did you join the Eden team?

- The fact is that then, 5 years ago, cosmetology was still at a different level and I did not fully understand how I could be useful to Eden. Let me explain: Eden is a spa area, a balneology area - treatment with mineral waters. And cosmetology and balneology are a little on friendly terms, because if you go to body treatments, you constantly visit baths, saunas - everything that implies elevated temperatures and warming. It is difficult to offer cosmetology services at the same time. For example, detox programs take all the time. If you are here on detox, every minute of yours is scheduled: you go to the procedures as if you were to work, according to the schedule - from 8 am to 8 pm. Accordingly, it is very difficult to find time for cosmetology. But as time went on, hardware cosmetology has grown a lot - a lot of new equipment has appeared, which allows the procedures to be both effective and at the same time not very traumatic. These new proposals have shown us that we have more common ground. When we met a year and a half later, it became clear that I already have something to do here, and that this site is maturing for such a level of services - they are already beginning to be in demand. Technologies have appeared that allow us to look into the future through the prism of a step-by-step path to ourselves and the use of our own cellular reserves. If at the beginning we use highly purified high-tech injectables, then as the body is purified, we come to use our fat and thrombotic cells, fibroblasts, growth factors isolated from platelets. Thus, we use our material, which is most useful for us.

- What's your favorite Eden procedure?

- Everything here is individual. It's hard for me to choose my favorite procedure, because my favorite procedure is when you see what kind of person came to you and what kind of person they left in a week. And this is not one procedure, but a complex, because only he gives the result. Many guests, coming to me, say that they have already tried this or that procedure, this or that drug, and this did not give an effect. This is because the right combination is important, the right cocktail of procedures - this is the only way they will have an effect. Unfortunately, very often, due to the wrong approach, some types of treatment are devalued, where good quality drugs are misjudged and misunderstood - people just sell the procedure, not the approach.

- Describe your day in Eden.

- Any of my days begins with activity on an empty stomach: if I'm in Odessa, then this is a morning sport, and if in Eden, it's an hour-long morning walk at a fast pace. Then I go to breakfast and after that I go to work. My working day in Eden lasts non-stop: my last guests can be at 19:30 and at 20:30, that is, I end the day here very late. Therefore, my dinner is late - at 20: 00-21: 00.

- You are fasting.

- Fasting, fasting (laughs). Many are amazed at how I can withstand this, and this requires a lot of work. If you work hard, intermittent fasting is easy.

- How do guests of Eden get to the aesthetic cosmetology program?

- It all depends on the level at which the guest is, where he is ready to move. Cosmetology is offered here as an additional offer - it is not included in the program, these are separate paid services, and they are quite expensive. Before coming to the cosmetology program, the guest must attend a consultation. On it we find out whether he is ready for cosmetology in principle. Now we are actively developing this direction and offer it in such a way that the guest would like to come to cosmetology. We are overgrown with top-of-the-line gadgets, unique offers and self-service programs that deliver incredible results - and guests want this service. And of course, the internal word of mouth is triggered - everyone who goes through the detox program, dine in the same restaurant, communicate, see each other and see each other's results. For me, the highest praise is when guests notice a change in others and share it.

- Now let's talk about style. Olga, tell us about your style in your youth. You are endlessly experimenting with style, and, as I understood during our conversation, this is basically your approach to life. How did it all start?

- It was always - in my family on the female line, everyone was fashionistas and liked things to be of good quality. For example, even in Soviet times, my mother managed to find things brought from abroad.

My style is where I give myself freedom, it is a manifestation of my intelligence.

Yes, I believe that style is intelligence, respect for society, the way you feel. I absolutely do not care that someone may not understand me or decide that I am showing off. Many people wonder how I do not get tired of dressing up all the time, but on the contrary it invigorates me. If you wake up in the morning with a bad mood, dress up in front of a mirror, go out to people - and get your "wow". This will turn you on right away. I am very glad that my husband welcomes and encourages this passion of mine. He has a very philosophical view of these things: he never limits me in what causes endorphins. Whatever fire gives is welcome.

- Has your style changed over time? How did you look during your student years?

- Of course, it is still transforming all the time - from year to year, depending on trends. Naturally, I accumulate a lot of clothes, and sometimes I look and think: God, how could I even buy this. And my student photos are horror: arrows, shadows, pearlescent lipstick, some kind of fleece and chemistry, with which I went for many years. But in those days, of course, it was cool. Now I actively follow trends - for me it is a drive. New clothes are like new drugs. This all invigorates me. I would even say that it is young, but I do not like this word: I think that it is ugly to be young, you should look your age. Although no one gives me my years. The style should have bitchiness, character, a little challenge and shocking - and so that I feel comfortable. At the same time, it is important to clarify: I do not wear a mini or neckline, for me shocking is not showing half of the priests or neckline to the waist, this does not emphasize the figure, although I have a figure that can be shown. I feel uncomfortable when I have something underlined, it seems indecent to me (laughs).

- Avicenna has a phrase that I found while studying in the medina and which resonates very much in me. He says that the doctor should have the best clothes, the best horse and the best ring, so that he does not think about the bread of the world, but think about caring for people. I believe that you manifest this very correctly, and it is a pity that often our society perceives it incorrectly.

- I really like the attitude towards doctors in the West. They understand that a doctor is a highly educated person, that his education is long, expensive, and that he has been studying all his life. It's about respecting people who study for so long and invest so much in their education. Unfortunately, we have no respect for educated people. While working, I collect a lot of energy information from other people, and therefore I have a need to love and encourage myself. That is why I want to buy unique things, interesting clothes. I work in such a way that the person would like to thank me. And I, receiving this energy, should spend it on myself in the right direction. It's about inhaling and exhaling, showing self-love.

- Avicenna was right. Great doctor. Let's move on to my favorite questions. The first thought with which you wake up.

- (Thoughtfully) Difficult. Of course, all my thoughts are about the work and the plan for the day: has nothing changed in timing, has anyone canceled in the schedule. Because if the timing is confirmed, I definitely have sports and breakfast. And if the timing changes, then both can fall out. 

- And before going to bed? With what thought do you fall asleep?

- There are two points. The first is the joy of the past day, of the results obtained, of communicating with people, gratitude for new acquaintances, for new interesting people. The second point concerns directly working with guests: when there are complications, displeasure, side effects or unpreparedness of people for the volume of procedures, then, just like an alcoholic, a doctor's sleep is superficial and disturbing (laughs). We are all crazy people here: we talk to everyone about the need for good sleep, but we ourselves have problems with sleep.

- Tell us a little about your family.

- I was lucky with my family, because my husband is a doctor by education, we studied together at the Odessa Medical Institute. His specialty is anesthesiologist. He did not work on it for long - this is a very difficult profession, and at some stage he realized that peace and family are much more important to him than a career in medicine. He left practical medicine, and now, taking advantage of the lockdown conditions, he found the opportunity to enter the university in Toronto, to study IT in medicine. And also thanks to this, I had time for Eden. Our son is also in Toronto - he has been living there for the fourth year and works for an IT company that creates cloud storage. I am very happy for my boys.

In a family, we give each other the opportunity to develop and grow.

To keep this ether, interest in life. You must constantly saturate yourself with new knowledge in order to move on, otherwise I would not have been able to do it with my ordinary husband. When I communicate with men, they tell me all the time that I understand them well. I really understand how hard it is for you (laughs), how many obligations are imposed on a man, that he endlessly owes something to someone. Ideally, you need to live in such a way that the man himself wants to do something for the woman, and does not do it only out of a sense of duty. Few people understand this. Fortunately, next to me is a person who understands.

- Do you have many male clients?

- Yes, about 1/3 of men. These are mainly the husbands of my clients. 

- You write quite a lot about men on your Instagram.

- Yes, because now it is very important for a man to take care of himself. At the age of 50, my husband decided to fulfill his youthful dream of getting an education in the States. All these obligations to your wife and family can really close the path to yourself, but it is important to listen to yourself. And it is important to play long: thanks to the passage of check-ups, detox, thanks to self-care, we understand that in our life we can change ourselves several times. Even if you change yourself twice, it refreshes and rejuvenates you. You understand that there will be no pension, that you have to work always, without stopping - and, accordingly, look good. Your appearance is your calling card. And respect - for society and for yourself. By rebuilding yourself, you realize that you feel younger than you look, that your face and the state of the outer membranes do not correspond to your brain. For this to happen, there are special helpers. At the same time, the man retains his masculinity, not disfiguring himself in any way, but simply making himself neat and refreshed. In general, I believe that a person approaches higher powers by doing his job well, including working on himself. And of course, along with work there should be relaxation, exhalation: sports, family, travel.

 

- How do you relax?

- We only have active rest. The son used to not like to walk a lot, but we taught him - and now he himself loves long trips. When we are on vacation, we wake up very early and go out for a walk - go around the city while its inhabitants are still sleeping, sit down for morning coffee with a croissant in some small coffee shop and enjoy. After that, we go on individual excursions, visit museums and other interesting places - we are always on the move. Arriving home in the evening, our legs literally fall off.

After such an active movement, I must definitely love myself - so the next day I have a shopping.

At the same time, the husband can hang out in some restaurant at work, where I will come for dinner after shopping. When I'm shopping, then I have champagne, and coffee, and good conversations, and a lot of compliments. Because when I come to the store, I am very often asked if I am a blogger. There already, according to my appearance, they determine what I definitely am on Instagram (laughs).

- What do you like to buy the most?

- Most of all I love bags and, probably, shoes. Shoes must be unusual. I'm also a big fan of men's accessories. I can go to the men's section and buy a cool men's handbag. And everyone will wonder where I got it and why no one saw it. I also love unusual stylized unisex things: something between a tailcoat, shorts and large, shapeless jackets. I don't like the girl-girl style - it's not about me.

 

- What are your top items from Ogonyok?

- I really love all your things "with regards" (laughs). You know that I am happy to select these from you. This can be, for example, men's jeans, and some kind of unisex sweater. At the same time, unisex can be supplemented with some very feminine dress - with a thin waist and some interesting back, an unusual skirt, sleeves. Petar Petrov is my greatest love and all your Koreans: Low Classic, System Studios. Cashmere, of course, and unusual accessories are what Vika loves and you.

- How did Fire appear in your life?

- The fire was in her from the very beginning - I always liked Vicki's taste. She always dressed very stylishly and impeccably dressed the people who were with her. Accordingly, when she began to bring things, I began to wear them with pleasure. I know that there will always be the right emotion in Ogonyok, that I will wear the thing with pleasure and everyone will ask me where it comes from. With your appearance, Jordan, Ogonyok seemed to have a new breath: new brands, new collections. I love that you only have some of them for a couple of seasons: you skim the cream, have fun, and move on to new ones. This movement, this new broadcast is the coolest.

 END

Edem Resort Medical & SPA is a real paradise on earth. This is a place where everything moves along its own special trajectory, in its own rhythm and with its own mood. There is magnificent nature: park, forest, lake, there are no unnecessary sounds and as if there are no unnecessary experiences. Everyone there is sincerely glad to see you and everything is done there so that you can rest at all levels of your consciousness and your sensations. This trip once again reminded me of how important it is to listen to yourself, take care of yourself and, as Olga says, to rebuild yourself correctly.

 

From Olga:

Learn, do what you love, go to yourself all the time, and do not run away from yourself and your complexes! Because beauty with brains is very sexy!

Favourite thing: my fetish is shoes. I am an adherent of Balenciaga shoes - its aesthetics are close to me. And I also love Maison Margiela.

 Favorite book: The last author that I enjoy immensely is Irwin Yalom, an American psychotherapist who presents the medical histories of famous people in an artistic style. For example, I was very impressed by his work "When Nietzsche Wept".

 Favorite food: my must-have is an espresso and a glass of champagne (laughs). Everyone knows that this is where I start any meal. This is correct from the point of view of digestion: before a meal, espresso triggers bile secretion, and champagne increases acidity. After that, everything goes right for me: I am already ready for food intake, and for communication, and in general life is a success!

 

Style: Petar Petrov jacket and dress, Low Classic jumpsuit, everything else is Olga's property.

Photo: Nikita Zhuravlev

Editor: Diana Remizovskaya