The story of 28-year-old Lily Leonidova may not be a fairy tale, but it certainly could compete for a place among modern Ukraine's success stories.
Originally from a small town in Mikolayiv region, Lily started her career with Pan Pizza as a waitress in Odessa, where she had been attending college.
After spending five years in the lively port town, the prospect of going back to the provinces to solve plumbing and sewage problems, Lily's major at the Odessa Construction Academy, didn't capture her imagination.
Some people think that a person's destiny is determined by the name he is given at birth. The case of Lily would seem to confirm this. The pretty wild flower that she is named after is also known for its tenacious roots and ability to survive the harshest of dry spells.
Without such personal characteristics, Lily would have likely resigned herself to a dull and impecunious existence upon finishing her studies.
She learned of the waitress job with the Odessa-based restaurant chain through an advertisement in a local newspaper. The plan was to earn some extra money during summer break. And it paid off. Vacationers were particularly generous in the center of town, where the outlet she worked at was located.
It didn't, however, give her much experience in water resource management or waste treatment. But by this time, any illusions Lily had entertained about what kind of career she was studying to enter had been dispelled.
"When a specialist came to my small town and recruited kids to enter this college, my mother advised me to enroll. She told me that I would sit around in a white lab coat checking test tubes, just the kind of work a woman should do," Lily said.
So Lily went to Odessa with a few girlfriends and passed the entrance exam with flying colors. Reality set in only during her first on-the-job training, after the first year of college. Arriving at a treatment plant, she was greeted by women in black smocks and knee-high rubber boots. The work wasn't just dirty, it was smelly too.
Her classmate used to tease her: "Hey Lily, where is your laboratory?"
Meanwhile, at Pan Pizza, she had been promoted to cashier, working in the restaurant's pastry section for several months. Within a year, she was managing the restaurant on the city's prestigious Deribassovskaya street full time.
As Lily moved up the corporate ladder, acquiring more and more management skills along the way, her relations with other employees became strained.
"During the probation period, I was all tears and nerves," says Lily, "For starters, this was the first management experience that I had ever had. Second,
I had to redefine myself with the staff, for whom I had been, until just recently, one of the girls. They didn't accept me as a supervisor. Only yesterday, we had been sweeping the floor together, and now I was telling them what to do."
Some eventually left the company, a few were dismissed. Most got used to it.
Between 1999 and 2001, Lily showed even more initiative and resourcefulness as a manager, overseeing the restaurant's remodeling. Moreover, at this point, her college training finally began to pay off. The project foreman was surprised by her knowledge of building design and indignant when such a dainty young woman uncovered shortcomings in his work. By the time it was all over, Lily had been promoted to director, a position she has held for two years now.
When she had first arrived at Pan Pizza in 1998, the company had had only three restaurants - all of them in Odessa. Two years later, three more outlets were opened, under the direct supervision of Lily.
Of course, the former waitress was given management training courses sponsored by the company along the way. Curiously, while attending one such course, Lily was told that, due to her reticence and reluctance to engage others, she wasn't considered real management material.
"I was a very good listener, absorbing everything, but almost never taking part in discussions. So, after having my communication skills thus evaluated, I thought: No way, I have to work on this," Lily recalled.
Now Lily has around 300 subordinates. Her responsibilities include the development of franchises in Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk. Pan Pizza has seven restaurants in Ukraine, including four in Odessa.
Lily's family life also suffered some strains. While she was climbing the ladder of success, her husband couldn't keep up. At one point, he was reduced to working as little more than a groundskeeper, which soon became the source of numerous conflicts and spats.
"At first it was difficult," recalls Lily, "right up to where he gave me an ultimatum: choose between your job and your family. I would be gone all day and into the night. Finally, after yet another quarrel, my husband agreed to support me in my career growth."
Oleg has even gotten used to her business trips. "We have been married for eight years and are still together," Lily emphasized. It was a lot of stress but she has also gotten a great deal of professional satisfaction. In addition, the couple has been able to purchase a car and an apartment.
The difference between her and her husband's salaries was also a sore point. But when they stopped talking about it, they stopped fighting about. "I wouldn't say that I have to finance him. We have common money. There was a time when I was a student, and Oleg earned a decent salary at his job. I didn't have any qualms about living on his money. We bought clothes and furniture. Now we do the same thing on a larger scale.
He also earns money," explains Lily.
Lily's success has in fact made them closer. Her busy schedule prevents her from doing much socializing outside of the workplace anyway. "When I moved up, many of my friends left my life. This isn't good or bad. It always happens that way. I think this happens to all managers," she said.
At first, when Lily was less confident about giving instructions to her staff, she often had to perform many tasks herself or the tasks wouldn't get done. "Practically all the friends and loyal girlfriends whom I started off with have gone. We had become close as families as well as co-workers, going to parties and spending time together," Lily said.
Looking back on it all, Lily feels like she has come a long way, and that the company has been behind her every step. "I came across one company in Odessa where they simply don't hire women as managers. At Pan Pizza, there is no distinction between men and women," says Lily. Of the country's seven restaurants there is only one director who is a man.
So has Lily achieved her goal? "I have big plans for the future," she confides, "and they are connected to the company. It's been like a family to me for the past seven years."
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