Forbes Woman New profile of Natalia Vodianova

№03 October 2021

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3 6 . / Cover Investments by

Natalia Vodianova
Timon Afinsky: The important thing here is that by the time we started
collaborating with Locals, Natalia and I were already quite the seasoned 2 0 1 3

L o c a l s . o r g

angel investors and had some experience in creating and developing A service for finding
start-ups. At the moment, we already have about 20 companies. E l b i
people with common
However, the peculiarity of Locals.com as our common baby is that here An app with which you interests to communicate
we’ve gathered such a dream team; a super team. And today this is, can help charities around and spend time together.
probably, our most important project to which we dedicate all our the world, with one click.
To participate in a
energy. meeting, you need to
2 0 1 7

make a charitable
It seems that these two projects — Elbi and Locals.com — are united by an donation to the
important idea: democratisation and the accessibility of charity. You are F l o P e r i o d Tr a c ke r
organisation, supported
one of the few people in Russia who, for many years, has been making A tracker app for by the initiator of the
charity trendy, in a good way. Why, in your opinion, does this idea still reproductive health. The meeting. Launched in
work poorly in Russia? Why do we still need drama? absolute leader in the London and Los Angeles.

category of health apps.
This is a good question but I have a different experience. Why doesn't it Flo is used by more than S i m p l e

work? During the 17 years that the Naked Hearts Foundation exists, we 180 million women An app in which artificial
have seen huge results. Even 10 years ago, everything was different. worldwide.
intelligence builds an
When we started handling the difficult topic of disability in Russia, individual, health-
everyone used to tell me, "No, no one is interested in this. Magazines P i c s A r t
friendly schedule of
don't sell it." And now we see that those first brave journalists and press A photo processing app intermittent fasting for
who supported us won because we had great media stories that sold that includes more than the user.

very well. First, my mom and I appeared on the cover of ‘7 Days’ with 3,000 tools. One of the
our personal story. Then they began to talk about other families about top 15 most downloaded 3 D l o o k

the organisation in Nizhny Novgorod.

apps in the world.
The developer of a
unique technology that
The next big step was a project with Dima Bilan. His music video, ‘Don't A r i v a l
determines the size of a
Be Silent’, which captured all the charts, was in the Yandex top for three An international FinTech person's clothes from two
days. And this all happened, along with the fact that three days before bank, with its head photos from their
the release of the video, that very incident with the Flamingo cafe offices in Florida and a smartphone.

occurred when my sister was kicked out of there because of her US banking license. Arival
peculiarities. Imagine, we have huge plans, we are going to dance and Bank provides banking Fr i d g e n o m o r e

conquer the music charts, and here is such a scandal. But in the end, the services to international A fast and free grocery
story with the cafe only warmed up the attention of society. Many then business clients of the delivery service in New
said, “We don't want to be like the security from the Flamingo. We new generation from the York. The project is aimed
accept all people as they are.”

technology industries, at the promotion of
including fintech, rational consumption.

Then, of course, there was the Paralympics and the cover of blockchain, and crypto.


Cosmopolitan in 2014 - with Paralympic swimming champion Olesya e - g r e e

Vladykina, a beauty and heroine. I remember how we persuaded the 2 0 1 8

An app for the remote
editors not to come up with any tricks to hide her disability. They, of compilation of legal
course, were afraid that advertisers and readers would leave. As a result, Vo i r
documents and contracts
they still receive letters of gratitude for that cover. An Augmented Reality between users.

app for make-up fitting.


What contributed to these changes? Z e n i a Yo g a

2 0 1 9

A service for self-study
In order to change this reality, you need to change a lot. I wrote the yoga, based on artificial
story for that music video of Dima Bilan, and, in fact, this is the story of L i t t l e Tu m my
intelligence.

my mother. At that time, not only men left women with special children, A healthy baby food
but also family, neighbours, and everyone else turned away. These start-up, founded by R e f a c e

people remained as if on an island. They had no one to turn to, although women, that aims to help An entertaining
they continued to live in society. And today, this society is completely working parents provide application for replacing
different, even in Russia. I judge the state of society by how it treats our children with fresh faces in photos, GIFs, and
children and our families. So, 10 years ago and today — it's like day and nutrition approved by videos. Among the users
night. Today, we have parents coming to our centre who are totally paediatricians.
of Reface are celebrities
different. such as Miley Cyrus, Joe
Wa n n a by
Rogan, Snoop Dogg,
An Augmented Reality Britney Spears, Dua Lipa,
app for fitting clothes Chris Brown, Justin
and shoes


Bieber, Elon Musk. The
app became #1 in Apple’s
2 0 2 0

App Store in the USA,
ahead of Zoom and
L o ó n a
TikTok.

An application that
allows you to quickly B o l t B e a u t y

tune in to a healthy sleep Biodegradable and
after a busy day. ‘Best waste-free skincare
App’ on Google Play and products.


winner of the Apple
Design Award, 2021. 2 0 2 1



Fa c e m o j i

A platform for creating
avatars.


Forbes Woman









4 2 . / Cover №3 /

I personally do not know an opponent who is this strong and And among other things, in Japan, we were struck
empathetic at the same time. Because she’s guided in by the number of masks. We saw that young people
negotiations, not by the desire to win at any cost, as men treat them as an accessory and paint them in
usually do to amuse their ego, but so that in the future, the different colours. So we thought it would be great
project and the opponent win. It's a long game. How can you to do some fashion collaborations with brands and
resist a negotiator who’s guided not by his own but by your release a collection of masks.


interests and negotiates with you in the full force of their
empathy?

But when we began to research the issue more
closely, it became clear that in Japan, the
Natalia: I have some experience which, by the way, came production of masks leads to a huge amount of
from charity, where I had to fight a lot for what I believe in waste which they then simply burn. None of this is
and convince people of it. I think I have a slightly different at all sustainable. I told Timon that we would never
approach from that of many people in charity. I never push be engaged in polluting the planet and we needed
for pity. I never say, "Please give me money; children are to look for an alternative. We started looking for a
dying there." Although, believe me, in Russia, children with strong partner with the right technology and
special needs who are left without a loving family do die. So eventually met the company, Pentatonic, with
thanks to this experience, I learned not to waste time, to which we had great synergy. Together, we began to
listen, to find a real (not a fictional) problem, and to convince develop a prototype of the mask of the future. As a
with arguments that’ll be understandable and close to people. result, we came up with our own patented three-
layer filtration system with electrospinning, while
How has your experience in charity influenced
the masks themselves are the only ones of their
you as an investor and vice versa? kind in the world — completely degradable in a
natural environment. Even if you lose one of these
My experience in charity has helped me to develop certain masks in the woods, you don't have to worry as it
criteria when picking projects for investment. Firstly, we won't cause any harm to nature and will disappear
choose our partners very carefully. We do not like to waste without a trace within weeks.


time because it really is precious. Not only mine, personally,
but also the whole team's, since the foundation has a small The only challenge, at that time, was how to spread
team and there are a lot of tasks to be done. We, at the the idea of wearing the masks and to make them
foundation, don’t even drink tea with children without it trendy among young people.
being aimed at their development and growth. Secondly, if we
are working with a business project, we’re trying to improve W , gell history has worked to your advanta e here.
its culture and help it engage with a global idea and mission
and infect the whole team and community with it. This, of Yes, life explained it for us. But then the problem
course, came from our experience of working with Naked
Hearts.

was that the masks were produced in Wuhan,
which played against us. When the pandemic
An interesting question is how I look at charity now. My came, and it began by a fateful coincidence exactly
attitude towards money has probably changed. I see how in Wuhan, we couldn't give people something that
easily our founders part with it when they need to spend a lot we knew would help them a lot. It's sad but we
more than they have in order to take the next step in the made the right decision then, realising that this
development of the company and eventually win. This is a would not end quickly, and the problem of air
revelation for me because, in charity, we always save on quality is more fundamental and long-term than
everything. And if earlier I thought that I was 100% right, the pandemic. As a result, we opened production in
now, looking into the future of the fund, I wonder that maybe England.
in order to reach the next level of fundraising, we need to look
at this process as a venture business. T e
hat’s probably many times mor
Wexpensive than in uhan?
You’ve recently become the owner of a small candle factory
which produces Masuku masks in the UK. How did you decide to Not many times, but in the current conditions, it is
do this? more reliable. And everything is under our control.
I'm not afraid to say that Masuku is the best
This was my big adventure with Timon which began back in product on the market, even considering how
2016, long before the pandemic. We then went to Tokyo with many years it took to develop this filter and this
my children, Lucas, Neva, Victor, and Roman. We left Maxim, technology. And in September, we launch
who was still very young at the time, as none of us slept degradable, disposable masks. And this is very cool
because of him. Timon also joined us because we tend to because now humanity is faced with a huge
discuss and solve key issues during flights where there’s no
communication or distractions. .
problem of waste recycling due to the pandemic

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