POPSUGAR: What is it like to run the business right now, and how do you stay motivated through everything? What are some lessons you've learned along the way?
Mary Furtas: It's hard, because [my team is] all tired. They're not very motivated. I'm busy with all the activism and all the social network[s]. If something happens, I'm furious, but I'm trying to move forward. The hardest part for me at the very moment is to set up the production of new things, because I'm not physically with my team. I'm now having zoom meetings with the fittings, and I'm used to touching everything, but let's see how that works out.
But my team is made up of strong Ukrainian women. My chief operations officer does so much volunteering, collecting stuff for the army and helping our territorial defense, then she goes and has some fittings. It's a half-military, half-fashion kind of job right now. I think they're heroes.
I've learned that people are the main resources for everything. My team is Cultnaked's best asset. And now that I see how the country is united against the enemy, that gives me so much hope for humanity. I learned that nothing matters as much as human life.
