Olga Nikolaevna Chizhik

Olga Nikolaevna Chizhik is an entrepreneur, producer, and expert in the creative industries, international management, media planning, and public relations. For more than nine years, she has worked at the intersection of fashion, photography, video production, and media, developing projects that bring together Russian and international designers, artists, models, photographers, and business representatives.

Her professional activities span Russia, India, China, and the UAE. Over the years, Olga Chizhik has developed her own model of international cooperation, in which a creative project becomes not only a commercial product but also a means of building professional and personal connections between people from different countries.

One of her first major international projects took place in 2017, when she organized a winter calendar shoot in Saint Petersburg for a renowned Indian designer. The project marked the beginning of her continued work with the Indian market and demonstrated Saint Petersburg’s potential as a destination for international creative production.

In subsequent years, Olga Chizhik’s team produced music videos, advertising campaigns, and fashion projects in Saint Petersburg involving Indian artists and companies. One music video featuring an Indian star, filmed in Saint Petersburg, has received more than 66 million views on YouTube. Approximately 150 people were involved in the production.

Cooperation with Chinese clients has been developing since 2023. Photo and video projects for the Chinese market have been produced in Saint Petersburg. Following Olga Chizhik’s participation in a Russian business mission to China in 2024, new professional contacts and collaborative projects emerged. In 2025, her team carried out projects in Saint Petersburg with a Chinese blogger for the international fashion houses Chanel and Louis Vuitton. In 2026, this area of work continued with new international fashion campaigns.

Another important area of her work involves Indian brands. In 2024, advertising campaigns for Indian traditional clothing brands were produced in Saint Petersburg. For the second consecutive year, her team has also been shooting an advertising campaign for the Indian footwear brand Saint G in Saint Petersburg and Vyborg.

Overall, the production team has completed more than 1,000 projects of varying scale.

Eurasia Fashion Week

In 2021, Olga Chizhik served as producer, organizer, and PR director of Eurasia Fashion Week, an international fashion week held in Saint Petersburg.

The project was conceived as an opportunity to support Russian designers and help them reach beyond the domestic market. Its programme included fashion shows by Russian designers, a pop-up store, and educational events. The event brought together representatives of the fashion industry, media, business, and creative professions.

Olga Chizhik identified a practical challenge facing emerging Russian brands: it is difficult for young designers to develop high-quality products, organize fashion shows, and secure the media coverage they need at the same time. The project’s objective was therefore not simply to stage fashion shows, but also to create conditions in which Russian designers could establish professional contacts and gain the attention of international audiences.

The project’s international character was reflected in media coverage in Russia and abroad, while its programme brought together participants from different countries. Russian media covered the event, helping extend its reach beyond the domestic market.

In 2023, Olga Chizhik continued developing this initiative by organizing Eurasia Fashion Night, demonstrating the project’s continuity and the ongoing development of international cooperation in the fashion industry.

Finch Models and Finch Production

Finch Models and Finch Production are important parts of Olga Chizhik’s professional work.

Finch Models operates across Russian and international markets, including Europe and Asia. More than 100 models who have worked with the agency have secured international contracts. For many young professionals, these opportunities have provided valuable international experience and enabled them to pursue careers beyond the Russian market.

Finch Production specializes in photo and video production for Russian and international clients. Depending on the scale of a project, its production teams can bring together between 5 and 150 specialists.

Working with international clients allows professionals from different countries to collaborate on a single project. During a shoot, they do more than simply learn about one another’s cultures: they learn to work together, solve professional challenges, and create a shared result.

This is how one of the mechanisms of public diplomacy that Olga Chizhik advocates takes shape: trust emerges through working together.

She also supports emerging designers, models, and other creative professionals by providing opportunities to participate in professional projects, offering organizational and expert assistance, helping them gain practical experience, and facilitating new professional connections.

International Business Cooperation

International business cooperation is another important area of Olga Chizhik’s work.

In 2024, she was selected among the TOP 20 Russian entrepreneurs participating in the Rosmolodezh.Business mission to China. During the mission, she presented the experience of Finch Production and Eurasia Fashion Week and held business meetings with Chinese entrepreneurs and representatives of the creative sector.

In 2025, Olga Chizhik was selected among the TOP 5 Russian entrepreneurs participating in a business mission to India.

For her, these missions are more than a way to find clients and business partners. They create professional relationships that can subsequently develop into concrete international projects carried out in Russia.

Working with International Delegations

Olga Chizhik’s international engagement also extends to public and professional activities.

In 2024, 2025, and 2026, she served as a representative of the organizing committee of the Saint Petersburg International Cultural Forum on behalf of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Her responsibilities included coordinating foreign delegations, communicating with international participants, and addressing organizational and operational matters.

Her work with international professionals also includes educational meetings introducing foreign guests to Russian culture, Saint Petersburg, and the opportunities offered by Russia’s creative sector.

In this way, professional engagement becomes a means of fostering a deeper understanding of Russia—not through formal presentations alone, but through personal experience, professional dialogue, and collaborative work.

Youth Engagement and the Development of Russian Regions

Youth engagement and the development of the creative industries are another important focus of Olga Chizhik’s work.

She conducts educational meetings in Saint Petersburg and Delhi devoted to visual culture, the creative industries, career guidance, and opportunities for international cooperation.

In 2025, Olga Chizhik participated as an expert and speaker at a roundtable on the development of the creative industries in Donetsk. Discussions focused on ways to unlock the region’s creative potential, develop its professional environment, and integrate Russian regions into the modern creative economy.

For Olga Chizhik, the development of the creative industries should not be limited to major international centres. It is equally important to create opportunities for professionals in Russian regions where new creative communities and professional environments are still emerging.

From International Cooperation to the Diplomacy of Creative Industries

Olga Chizhik’s professional experience points to a distinct area of public diplomacy: the diplomacy of creative industries.

Traditional cultural diplomacy is largely concerned with presenting a country’s culture, facilitating cultural exchange, and promoting national heritage. The creative industries introduce another mechanism: the collaborative creation of something new.

This may take the form of a film, advertising campaign, fashion project, photoshoot, design project, or international production. In each case, people from different countries become members of the same team. They make decisions together, share responsibilities, address professional challenges, and create a common result.

This is why the creative industries can serve as an independent instrument of public diplomacy.

The diplomacy of creative industries is a practical form of international engagement in which trust and mutual understanding develop through the collaborative creation of projects, professional cooperation, and human connections.

For Olga Chizhik, public diplomacy begins with trust. Trust develops when people from different countries have the opportunity not only to tell one another about their cultures, but also to work together, create, solve problems, and share the results of their efforts.

This is the model of international cooperation she advances through fashion, photography, video production, media, education, and support for emerging professionals. At the same time, her work promotes Russian creative industries internationally and attracts international projects to Russia.