When war disrupts your career and life - What to do? Where to go?

2024-04-03

In 2022, just when Anastasiia Zhemchugova landed her dream job in an international law firm in Kyiv, Ukraine, war disrupted her career and life. Her firm had an office in Prague so she worked there for a while but without the local language skills it was complicated. Then, a perfectly timed opportunity emerged – from Canada. Years earlier, pre-pandemic, Anastasiia had applied for a law internship with the Canadian Parliament. Their offer came just in time. She accepted and arrived in May, 2...

In 2022, just when Anastasiia Zhemchugova landed her dream job in an international law firm in Kyiv, Ukraine, war disrupted her career and life.

Her firm had an office in Prague so she worked there for a while but without the local language skills it was complicated. Then, a perfectly timed opportunity emerged – from Canada. Years earlier, pre-pandemic, Anastasiia had applied for a law internship with the Canadian Parliament. Their offer came just in time. She accepted and arrived in May, 2022. Then, Anastasiia got into a career boosting bridging program for internationally educated women lawyers. Run by the University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies, the Brief Law program and the School’s Blueprint Career Services, led by Ann Park, helped Anastasiia get ready for life and law in Canada where she’s now doing a law degree at York U's Osgoode Hall.

Join Mark Franklin to hear and learn from both Anastasiia and Ann's insightful career stories.

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