Olena Zelenska turns 47 y.o. — Biography facts of the First Lady

On Thursday, February 6, Olena Zelenska turned 47. The First Lady is a successful woman who has been named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2023 and who runs her own social projects.

On the occasion of Olena Zelenska's birthday, Novyny.LIVE prepared a selection of facts from her biography.

Interesting facts from Olena Zelenska's biography

1. Olena Zelenska's maiden name is Kyiashko.
2. The First Lady has a degree in architecture and graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering at Kryvyi Rih Technical University, but has never worked in her field.
3. Olena met Volodymyr Zelenskyy at school: they studied in parallel groups. But they started dating after graduating from high school and entering a university.
4. Before their marriage, Olena dated the future president of Ukraine for eight years. At that time, the couple did not live together. They got married in 2003. In 2004, the couple had a daughter, Oleksandra, and in 2013, a son, Kyrylo.
5. For a long time, Olena was a scriptwriter at Kvartal-95 show. She worked on the projects Make a Comedian Laugh, Evening Kyiv, Evening Kvartal, and Women's Kvartal.
6. The future first lady learned about Volodymyr Zelenskyy's intention to run for president not from him personally, but from the Internet. She supported her husband's intention because she knew it was useless to dissuade him.
7. Even before the full-scale invasion began, in 2021, Olena Zelenska, together with chef Yevhen Klopotenko, introduced a reform of school meals to make children's diets more varied and tasty. This updated menu is currently in use by school children.
8. In July 2022, Olena Zelenska became the first lady of another country to address the U.S. Congress in the history of the United States. During that speech, she called on Americans to provide more military assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
9. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Olena Zelenska has been actively helping those in difficult life circumstances. She has consolidated social projects into the First Lady's Foundation, which specializes in three areas: healthcare, education, and humanitarian aid.
10. The First Lady loves animals. The Zelenskyy family now has a dog, a cat, a parrot and a hamster. They used to have two dogs, but recently Nora, a 14-year-old Swiss shepherd, died.

In December, Olena Zelenska spoke at the Synergy for Health: Uniting Efforts for Global Change conference and told about the medical project she leads, which has united 21 countries of the world in just one year of its existence. 36 Ukrainian and 43 foreign medical institutions have joined the project.

Previously, the President of Ukraine met with talented youth. The event was held on the occasion of the International Education Day. Zelenskyy noted that young people are the future of Ukraine.