From direct impact
to systems change.

In 2010, through the international volunteer organization i-to-i, I joined a community learning centre in Ubud Village, Bali, which provided free educational support to children from low-income rural families.

As a volunteer teacher, I introduced history and geography through interactive lessons designed to make learning engaging, participatory and relevant. The experience strengthened my ability to communicate across cultures, build trust with children and adapt content to different levels of confidence and prior access to education.

It was an early lesson in a principle that has remained central to my work: access matters, but people also need an environment in which they feel safe enough to participate, ask questions and develop agency.

My role: Volunteer teacher
Focus: Educational access, low-income rural families, cross-cultural communication

Ubud Village · 4 photographs

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After my mother, Nagima Plokhikh, recovered from breast cancer and founded the Healthy Asia Public Foundation, I supported fundraising and awareness initiatives while completing my studies in the United Kingdom.

I helped develop public campaigns encouraging early screening, mobilized partners and supported fundraising for women affected by breast cancer. In 2010, I helped organize a breast-cancer awareness campaign with Almaty Zharnama featuring male celebrities, influencers and media figures. The campaign used city billboards to encourage women to undergo annual breast screening and remained visible for approximately three years.

I was also invited to Georgia in connection with then First Lady Sandra Roelofs' initiatives to share practical fundraising knowledge with volunteers.

My role: Volunteer fundraiser and communications organizer
Focus: Prevention, screening awareness, partnerships, volunteer capacity

Read the article in Время (time.kz) · Russian ↗

In 2013, following the opening of The Ritz-Carlton, Almaty, I helped organize one of the city's first Pink Ribbon Charity Balls. The event raised funds to provide women who had undergone mastectomy with specialized lingerie and prostheses free of charge.

The initiative combined high-level partnerships, public storytelling and fundraising around a subject that was still rarely discussed openly. It showed me how a carefully designed public event can turn visibility into concrete support.

My role: Co-organizer and fundraiser
Focus: Women's health, dignity after treatment, donor engagement

When my mother founded the children's hospice “I Am With You” in 2011, I became a co-founder and led volunteer fundraising and communications activities. I worked with public figures, media outlets, artists and donors to raise awareness of pediatric oncology and palliative care in Kazakhstan.

I organized charitable art auctions, New Year charity balls and fundraising initiatives supporting treatment, care and family needs. I also arranged therapeutic sessions for parents, inviting psychologists and other specialists to help families adapt to the emotional realities of a child's illness.

I remain a trustee of the hospice and continue to support its mission.

My role: Co-founder, fundraiser and communications lead; current trustee
Focus: Pediatric palliative care, family support, public awareness

Photo archive · 4 photographs

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As Head of PR and Communications, I led the international promotion of the Khorgos Gateway dry port and the Special Economic Zone “Khorgos — Eastern Gate.” I worked with international media including Xinhua, South China Morning Post, CNN and BBC, organized press tours and translated a complex infrastructure story into narratives relevant to international audiences.

I also represented and promoted the organization's services at international exhibitions and supported high-level meetings and events involving senior representatives of Kazakhstan and China.

My role: Head of PR and Communications
Focus: International media, reputation, executive communications, exhibitions

Khorgos Gateway · 4 images

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I organized the first diplomatic tour of Khorgos Gateway, bringing together 42 diplomats from different countries. The visit gave international stakeholders direct access to the project, its leadership and its strategic potential.

The case strengthened my ability to coordinate complex, high-level events across institutions, cultures and protocols — a capability I later brought into regional UN programming.

My role: Lead organizer
Result: 42 diplomats engaged

I helped launch Khorgos Gateway Footprint, a social-impact initiative linked to the dry port's presence in the region. The program supported training for local residents so they could access employment opportunities at the dry port and within the Special Economic Zone.

In 2015, I organized Zharkent's first charity run, with more than 100 participants, to raise funds for medical diagnostics for women in the city. The initiative connected the organization, local residents and a concrete community health need.

My role: Project and communications lead
Results: Local workforce training; 100+ charity-run participants
Focus: Community engagement, employability, women's health

Khorgos Gateway Footprint · 4 images

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I led the full program cycle across my portfolio: needs assessment, biennial strategy, theory of change, expected outcomes, budget planning, headquarters approval, implementation, monitoring and reporting. Programs were aligned with national priorities, UNESCO's mandate and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Across three biennia, I managed approximately US$300,000 in regular-program budgets and secured an additional US$50,000 in extrabudgetary funding for youth development and peacebuilding in Kazakhstan. With a small team, I simultaneously managed dozens of projects and partnerships.

My role: Regional programme lead
Scale: Four Central Asian countries; dozens of concurrent initiatives
Resources: Approx. US$300K implemented plus US$50K secured

I created CAYSPACE, a Central Asian youth network that connected more than 2,000 young people across the region with free UNESCO activities, learning opportunities and pathways to internships within UN agencies.

I brought multiple UN agencies together around a shared access point for youth. The network later developed into a free learning platform offering more than 20 educational tracks, with certificates designed to support further study and career development.

The program also featured hackathons, innovation-thinking forums and opportunities for young founders to connect with stakeholders and potential investors.

My role: Founder and program lead
Results: 2,000+ youth; 20+ learning tracks; regional UN collaboration

I designed regional initiatives on intercultural dialogue, peacebuilding and the prevention of violent extremism. These included international forums, online and offline dialogues, training programs and youth-led recommendations for policymakers.

To influence public attitudes, I worked with influencers, bloggers, celebrities and media partners across Central Asia. Campaigns and audiovisual content promoted tolerance, cultural respect and non-stigmatizing narratives. Initiatives included the social-media campaign Be Tolerant, developed around the International Day for Tolerance.

My role: Strategy, partnerships and implementation lead
Focus: Peacebuilding, prevention, youth participation, narrative change

I designed and delivered Qyz4Tabys, a seven-day school for 25 girls in Zharkent. I brought trainers to the city and created a multidisciplinary curriculum covering entrepreneurship, financial literacy, project planning, career readiness, human resources, media and marketing.

The project responded to the narrower access to networks, training and professional role models often experienced by girls in rural areas. It combined practical skills with confidence, exposure and peer connection.

My role: Program creator and lead
Result: 25 participants equipped with new professional skills across a seven-day intensive program

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I initiated and helped edit and review a regional study on the pandemic's impact on young people in Central Asia. The purpose was practical: to move beyond assumptions and use evidence to shape future programs, priorities and recommendations.

This work strengthened the link between research, program design and policy dialogue across my portfolio.

My role: Initiator, reviewer and editor
Focus: Youth needs assessment, evidence-based programming, policy recommendations

As the office focal point on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, I supported safeguarding awareness and responsible program practice. My wider portfolio consistently centered vulnerable and underserved groups.

This included training-of-trainers initiatives for volunteers working with orphanages, crisis centres and autistic people; educational materials for children with disabilities; support for blind football with FC Kairat; joint anti-stigma campaigns concerning people living with HIV with UNAIDS; and capacity development for youth resource centres.

Through UNESCO's Sport for Sustainable Development work, I collaborated with Kazakhstan's National Olympic Committee and Ministry of Sport on policy for quality physical education in schools. I also supported career transition for elite women athletes after retirement, helping participants build skills for life beyond professional sport.

My role: Focal point, program designer and partnership lead
Focus: Safeguarding, disability inclusion, anti-stigma, sport policy, women's transition

I began private practice in 2023, working at the intersection of neuroscience, cognitive behavioral approaches, education and practical behavior change. My work translates complex knowledge about the brain into tools people can apply to decision-making, emotional regulation, resilience and personal agency.

In February 2026, after returning from Moscow, I opened MENTALINK as one branch of this broader practice. Women who have experienced violence can access support at the studio free of charge.

My role: Founder, practitioner and educator
Focus: Neuroscience, behavior change, agency, accessible support

I publish free YouTube lectures, courses and educational content — including Brain4Boost — to make neuroscience understandable beyond academic and clinical settings.

The purpose is not simply to share information. It is to help people understand their instincts, emotions and habitual reactions so they can make more conscious, informed and fair choices in their own lives.

This is where my work in behavioral science connects directly with my earlier social-impact experience: expanding external opportunity while strengthening the internal agency required to use it.

My role: Educator and public communicator

Invited by Be Woman Asia founder Zhanna Kan, I am curating and moderating the panel “Every Voice in Science: Women Shaping Central Asia's Scientific Future” on 15 October 2026.

The session is designed to move beyond visibility alone. Its intended outcome is a concise regional manifesto containing three to five policy priorities, responsible actors, practical indicators, supporting evidence and a six-to-twelve-month follow-up pathway.

The guiding proposition is:

Central Asia does not need to prove it has talented women. It needs to create the conditions for their major discoveries to happen here.

My role: Curator and moderator
Focus: Women's voice in science, policy priorities, regional follow-through