Athena was born and raised in Ukraine. Her parents wanted her to become a lawyer or a doctor. But she always knew she wanted to paint. She also realized early in life a career in painting would not be possible if she stayed in her country.

Even though she was going to paint all the time and it was her passion, she would never really take it to the next level because in Ukraine most of the artists were hungry artists. So she knew for some reason she would never take art as a career in her own country because she would never in a million years be able to make money and be successful at it.

So Athena came to the United States when she was 14 years old to pursue an American Dream. She was clear on her goal. Athena first worked at a health food store. She began to paint on the store’s menu boards. A customer praised her skill and asked if she would help paint faces at street fairs. Athena says it was a good start. Then she went to FABAIC to start body painting.

Body painting is quite different from plain painting. She says, “With body, you work with people and it’s not only you. Maybe they want to talk or move, and they cannot stand still for several days while the painting will last three to four days. When I paint, I can’t stop.”