Janna Yeshanova

Janna...Every one of her classmates was enchanted with her name, her beauty and her grace. We looked up to her. We lived on the same street in a sunny Soviet Republic - postwar children with wonderful, hard working parents. Her mother, decorated with medals from WWII, to us was legendary. Her mother and father were attorneys...protectors. But suddenly, among sunlight, a dark cloud snuck into her life. Both parents lost their jobs. Protectors were moved out of the way, and those from the inside started to undermine the country. And they succeeded! Oh, how they succeeded in their task! Janna successfully finished high school. She participated in archeological expeditions and traveled a lot. Her University was not just an academic entity, a philological department. Her University was life! Janna got married and her Allochka, her daughter, her sunshine was born. Her classmates were already starting to leave their native nest, their homeland, but Janna taught Russian language and Literature in a Kishinev college and shone with all the light of her soul. She loved beauty, the sea, and Odessa - a special city. Before leaving for America, she quickly said her farewells, wished everyone happiness, and left. The USSR fell apart. War began in Moldova. And her father, the protector, has been gone for a long time. He left forever....died unexpectedly. And Janna, with a child and a sick mother, became a refugee. In a distant America, she finished a Master's Degree and began teaching in a University. Now she lives in Ohio. Everything else is in the book because it extends Janna's light, forever, for all readers... Nina Kachurenko, teacher, NY, NY (Janna's classmate) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Janna Yeshanova, M.A., M.Ed., founder and principal of Life-Spark LLC, is a dynamic and powerful life coach and trainer. Janna leverages her passion and engaging style to help others overcome adversity, achieve their goals, and spark the possibilities of their lives. Originally from the Soviet Union, Janna began her career as an editor of scientific and technical information in her native Moldova, one of the Republics in the Soviet Union. Later, she taught college level Russian language and literature in Kishniev. Janna escaped to the United States when persecution became violent during the crumbling of the Soviet state. She left behind house, social status, citizenship, and every friend she had to seek a new life in America. Arriving in the United States with her mother and daughter in tow, $126 in her pocket and knowing not a soul, she earned a Masters Degree in Applied Behavioral Science from Wright State University, and became a US citizen. She taught at Antioch University and participated in the Dayton International Peace Conference on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Today, she continues to pursue her passions of teaching, training, life and executive coaching and public speaking. Janna's experiences rebuilding her own life have helped her serve as a living model of the power of persistence to individual and organizational clients.