At Svitla Systems, we work with people who shine not only at their jobs, but also at their hobbies and personal projects. Olena Mulyk is a good example.
Professionally, she is an Agile Master, helping our software teams work well together, clear roadblocks, and keep improving the way they deliver and collaborate with clients.
Away from work, Olena is a writer, and this year she reached a great milestone, becoming a published author!
Her debut book, Eloise's Choice, came out this year through Beagle, a new Ukrainian publisher, as part of its "Sviy Bereg" series. The book follows Eloise, a young woman who moves between Ukraine and Germany while finding out who she is beyond other people's expectations. It is an honest story about growing up and learning that self-worth cannot be borrowed from anyone else. Olena believes many readers will recognize themselves in Eloise's doubts and contradictions and come away with self-compassion, able to look at themselves with more honesty and less judgment.
At Svitla, we are happy to celebrate our teammates' achievements. Olena's accomplishment alongside a demanding career took a huge focus, discipline, and determination. Qualities we value, encourage, and happily share to inspire others.
Turning a dream into a commitment
Olena has always been writing. She kept diaries as a kid, made up stories, and read constantly. But for years, the novel sat in the "someday" pile as the whole thing felt too big to start, so it stayed a wish rather than a plan.
Until she changed the way she thought about it.
"I stopped treating writing as a dream and started treating it as a project that deserved real time and commitment," she says.
It sounds like a small reframe in wording, but it dramatically changed the approach. Unlike a dream, any project comes with a deadline and an owner, and Olena made herself both.
She gave the book a real place in her life instead of squeezing it into the gaps.
Writing a novel is a lot like building a product
Here is where Olena's professional skills emerged. She did not sit around waiting for inspiration. Instead, she worked on the book the way she led projects and coached her teams at work.
"Writing a novel is surprisingly similar to building a product," she says. "You start with an idea, create a first version, gather feedback, revise repeatedly, and slowly shape something meaningful."
Anyone who has built software will recognize that loop.
For instance, Eloise was not born as a fully formed main character. She has grown her own voice, strengths, and mind gradually. "By the end, she felt much more like a person I was discovering than a character I was controlling," Olena says.
Additionally, as an Agile Master, Olena supports teams in becoming more collaborative and self-organized. Her responsibilities include facilitating Agile processes, coaching team members and stakeholders, and creating an environment where people can do their best work.
So, Olena carried the same principles into her writing: breaking a big goal into small steps that were easier to accomplish and helped push the writing process further.
“It is a great way to work, and it applies as well to a manuscript as it does to a product release.”, she says.
Believe in 'believe'
Starting a project was easy and a little fun. Staying with it through the long, gray middle, when the payoff is still theoretical, that’s where most work quietly dies. Finishing takes a steadiness that is easy to underestimate.
"The hardest part was continuing to believe in the project over such a long period of time," she says.
There was no promise of publication, and no guarantee anyone would read a single page. What carried her through was one honest question: what if I don't do it?
"Eventually, the possibility of regret felt more uncomfortable than the possibility of failure," she says. It is a kind of clear-eyed decision that is easy to admire and hard to make.
Well-deserved success
Publication, she says, is a very different experience from writing. For years, the book lived between her and the page. Suddenly it belonged to readers, too.
After the publication, Olena went on a book tour, meeting readers in person. People come up after events to tell her which moments stayed with them, or how they saw themselves in Eloise.
Those conversations have been one of the most meaningful parts of the whole journey. Reading for the audience, she found, was not a solitary act. It created a connection between people who might never have met otherwise.
Currently, Olena is already about halfway through her second novel.
And we can’t wait to read it.