The official presentation of the calendar "Ukrainians in Italy" took place
On 22 January, the Casoria Municipal Library hosted a lively and very well-attended event to mark the launch of the ‘Ukrainian Women in Italy’ calendar.
The event was organised by the association C.R.A.S.A. APS (Comunità di Rifugiati: Attività, Sviluppo, Arte), founded by Ukrainian women who found refuge in Italy due to the war. In collaboration with other Ukrainian associations and with the support of the Municipality of Cassoria, Mayor Raffaele Bene, Councillor for Social Policy Salvatore Lavarone, and the LESS cooperatives, the initiative turned Ukrainian Unity Day into a deeply symbolic moment of solidarity, dialogue and integration. “This project has already become a wonderful tradition: people look forward to it, they want it, and many women are keen to get involved. It is a platform that allows young women to say: even in another country, I exist, I have achievements, I am strong, I am Ukrainian,” noted Zhanna Zhukova, the project’s creator and president of the CRASA APS association.
The funds raised through the calendar are directed to charity. This year, the association is collaborating with the Talan.ua foundation from Kharkiv, which, among various initiatives, also helps to improve shelter-classrooms in schools. The calendar’s main protagonists are women who have achieved significant results in their professional careers, business, education or community work. Many of them arrived in Italy at the start of the full-scale invasion and are now forging their own path in a foreign country.
The women featured in the 2024 calendar:
- • January — Oleksandra Dydiuk, a popular blogger from Milan (Sasha Mazhorka)
- • February — Tetiana Smolyak, an entrepreneur and volunteer who helps stray animals
- • March — Tetiana Shavolina, an entrepreneur in the beauty industry
- • April — Tetiana Schneider, an entrepreneur in the beauty industry
- • May — Olga Orekhova, musician, activist and volunteer
- • June — Olena Nuzhevska, entrepreneur and founder of a successful business in Italy — an online shop selling security systems and CCTV
- • July — Roksolana Solonetska, entrepreneur in the beauty industry
- • August — Kateryna Klymenko, certified translator of Russian, Ukrainian and Spanish at the Court of Naples and in the legal sector
- • September — Olga Bigunenko, manager in the tourism sector
- • October — Alina Nefidova, professional model
- • November — Yulia Dukhnych, manager of a luxury hotel complex
- • December — Olena Braga, psychologist, facilitator and youth educator; formerly a professional dancer
Numerous professionals volunteered to help create the calendar: Iryna Levytska, Illia Dymytro, Anastasia Alikas, Yurii Chartorinskyi and Zhanna Zhukova. Olga Martynyuk, Iryna Tkachova, Kateryna Klymenko and Lino De Matteo worked on the make-up and hairstyles. The project was implemented with the support of the Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples. The calendar can be ordered by making a charitable donation of 30 euros or more.
