From Russia with Love: Anna Krasnykh on Purpose and Perseverance

Episode Transcript
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Tonya J. Long (00:01):
Welcome home, friends.
I'm Tonya Long, and this isRESET.
Where purpose meets possibility.
We're broadcasting from KPCRLP92.9 FM in Los Gatos and KMRTLP
101.9 FM in Santa Cruz.
Each week, we shareconversations with thought

(00:22):
leaders and innovators.
Each week, we shareconversations with thought
leaders and innovators, dreamersand doers who are reshaping the
future of work, technology,longevity and purpose.
Whether you're navigating AI'simpact, reimagining your career
or searching for deeper meaning,you're in the right place.
So settle in, open your mindand let's explore what happens

(00:47):
when purpose meets possibility.
Hello and welcome to KPCR LP92.9 FM.
This is Tonya Long with RESETwith Tonya.
We are here in the studio todaywith someone I just met a

(01:10):
couple of months ago, but she'sfascinating.
It's Anna Kresnik and I'mpracticing my Russian because
Anna moved here when she was ateenager and she still looks
like a teenager, but that's goodliving on her part.
So Anna has moved here fromAustin just a couple of months
ago and Anna has.
The more I get to know Anna, themore transitions I recognize

(01:33):
that she has had in life.
She grew up in Russia, movedhere when she was a teenager,
then from there she, you know ofcourse, went to college, got
married and then lived in Austinfor 16 or 17 years and just
moved back to the Bay Area a fewmonths ago.
So she moved back with a family, which is also a transition

(01:55):
point in life.
Anna was a member of themanagement team at Amazon AWS,
so she was in a huge enterprise,built her family while she was
doing that and now has steppedinto senior leadership and
entrepreneurial roles.
So Anna just got all kinds ofresets in her life and we are so
excited to have her here todayon RESET, Anna welcome.

(02:19):
Thank you so much for having meTonya.
I don't think that we've got agood mic on you.
Try it again for me, hi.

Anna Krasnykh (02:27):
Tonya oh, that's beautiful.

That was completely my fault, so welcome,
I'm so glad you're here.

Thank you so much , Tonya.
Thank you for having me.

So tell me a little about what you are
looking toward here, now thatyou've moved back to the Bay
Area.
It's not your first time livinghere, but, but you're just
settling in.
If it's been two, maybe threemonths, what?
What does that look like foryou?
What are you working on rightnow?

yeah, there's a ton we're working on.
You know we've been here threemonths now.
You're exactly right, but to behonest, it feels like home
already.
It is just absolutely amazinghow the community has seemed to
embrace us, yourself included,Tonya, thank you.
And you know we're working onbuilding multiple businesses

(03:16):
right now.
You know I am watching mykiddos just absolutely thrive
here and it is just such apleasure.

You have hit the scene pretty hard and it doesn't
feel contrived, it doesn't feelforced.
You and your husband havereally, as a team, been out
meeting people and doing thework of networking.
I wonder if that's because youare accustomed to change.

(03:44):
I'm segueing back to in thebeginning.
I've got friends who arethinking about moving, just in
general, friends all across theUS.
They're thinking about movingand there's this thing right at
their point in life where theyhave teenagers and the moving is
about when the kids are off toschool, meaning off to

(04:06):
university.
And I think about you being 14and moving not just across town
but from a whole other country.
So what was that like for youto move from a small town in

(04:26):
Russia to where we are now andand what impact did that have on
on on your values as an adult?
Yeah, absolutely.

Happy to talk about that and maybe I'll I'll
actually go back a little bitmore in time and and just give
you a little bit more insight on.
You know where I come from.

I'm gonna learn some things here.

I can't wait tell us absolutely so was born and
raised in a small academia townin Russia.
It was actually what theycalled a closed city.
So and the reason that was isbecause it was off the map
completely until the early 2000s, for scientific, military and
political reasons.
Okay, I grew up near Oak.

Ridge, oak Ridge, tennessee, and for people who
don't, and so I'm making thatlike comparison, because Oak
Ridge was, it was not off themap, because you know, living in
the.
Us is different than living inRussia from a, from an openness
standpoint, but brilliant peoplein Oak Ridge but it was not
over-marketed for all that OakRidge brought to the nuclear

(05:34):
weapons and nuclear researchindustry.
So, anyway, you grew up in aclosed town that wasn't even on
the map until 2000.

Yep, and you hit the nail on the head.
So my dad was, at the the time,a nuclear sciences engineer and
so you know we had theopportunity in 2000 to move to
the United States and you know Ijust I watched my parents take
that opportunity.
You know, when I think aboutRussian culture in general

(06:04):
incredibly gritty and resilientculture you know I think that is
probably one of my points ofstrength as well a very
successful life behind, but forsomething that was going to be
so much better for all of us andprobably driven by the desire

(06:32):
to provide their children withbetter opportunities down the
line, while making a sacrificein the short term for themselves
, has been just an incredibleleadership example for me in my
life.

I love that, but 14 is a fragile age.
That's why my friends won't,you know, they won't even move
across town until their kids,you know, because they wouldn't
want their kids to even changeschools because of the
disruption that would create.
So what was it like for you?
You know, leaving behind yourfriends.
This was this.

(07:09):
This wasn't pre-internet, butit was pre us all being so
socially connected via, viaonline models.
So you really left that lifebehind at a, at a, at an age
that's precarious, and startedfresh here.
What was, what was the magicfor you in starting fresh?

You know I mean at that moment.
You know we as children are soincredibly flexible and
resilient.
You know, at that time I don'tremember being scared in the
process of moving.
You know, making friends here ofcourse, was hard, but I think
life in general, you know, whenI look back towards my childhood

(07:50):
, it really prepared me for that.
Happy to even tell you a storyon that front.
So you know, in our town andwhen I was six years old, I
tested into the best school, thebest you know academic school,
our town.
When I was six years old Itested into the best school, the
best you know academic schoolat the time that focused on four
languages of math and Iremember first, through fourth

(08:13):
grade I must have gotten thestrictest teacher that there was
at the time.
His parents were scared of her,kids were scared of her.
I'm pretty sure you know theprincipal of the school was
scared of her and you know likeshe wasn't abusive or anything
like that, but she certainlymade a point of making sure that

(08:34):
everybody in class knew she wasgoing to call on them and if
they didn't know the answer shewould publicly shame you.
So I think we all got the pointreally really quickly that you
know you better know your stuffand so I think that really
shaped me.
That was good training.
Yeah, absolutely.
But you know, interestinglyenough, I think at the time.
You know I wasn't a standoutstudent.

(08:57):
You know I was pretty average,I'd say, you know, when I
compared myself to my peers B'sand C's at the time.
But then I remembertransitioning into like fifth
grade and beyond, all of asudden I started getting A's and
I felt confident.
I had all these friends and itwas like, oh, I like this, you
know, I like the competitiveness, I liked achievement, I liked

(09:18):
winning, yeah, so I think thatthat really, you know she.
You know I'm 40 years old today, almost I'll be 40 this year,
and it's interesting that Istill think, really, you know
she.
You know I'm 40 years old today, almost I'll be 40 this year,
and it's interesting that Istill think back to, you know,
my elementary teacher helping tomold me into what I am today.

Those experiences stay with us.
One of my colleagues here atthe radio station teaches drama
to like the junior high age,teaches drama to like the junior
high age and and I remember Icould, I could, I won't, but I
could come through here with myown stories about what made me
me back in Sue Cherry's for allthose people in Tennessee
listening for, back in SueCherry's first grade class and

(09:58):
they, they start to form how wefeel about ourselves, right.
So when you moved over here,equally, you know tough age.
I don't think it was as tough20 years ago as it is today in
terms of you know, we hear a lotabout kids bullying each other.
You know school's tough.
It's tough to stand out.

(10:19):
So when you moved over here,did you stand out?
Were you?
You know, because you moved,russian was your first language.
Yes, I imagine you were in afairly competitive area in terms
of your classmates.

Yeah, you know, I think what really helped me
through the transition?
Because I did, I felt like Istood out and I think at that
age, all you want to do is fitin with your peers.
And you know the fact that youhave an accent is super
uncomfortable.
So I think you know I workedreally, really hard to get rid
of mine.
You know you'll probably pickup on some points where you can

(10:55):
still hear it, but for the mostpart people don't.
But I remember, you knowjumping into sports right away
is something that really helpedme fit in.
You know bonding with my peers,with my teammates at the time,
and again working on somethinghard together, right, and you're
all working towards a goal andyou know you're all failing and

(11:19):
then you're all winning and youknow you're celebrating each
other.
And that really helped methrough that transition.
I would say so that helped mefind my community there at the
time get my footing.

I love it.
I love it.
At some point you went tocollege, and I don't remember
where you went to school, butthen you landed, really as an
adult, in Boston Austin, notBoston, whoops, yeah, and
Austin's a great town.
You built a family there, yes,and then you moved from Austin

(11:55):
back to the Bay Area, as we'vedescribed the last three months.
what was it like having to makesuch a large transition,
establishing your own family?
Your kids aren't 14.
Your kids are on the youngerside, but still they're still in
an age where they have a socialnetwork.
And so you picked up fourpeople and moved from Austin

(12:17):
back to the Bay Area a fewmonths ago.
What have you learned from thatprocess and from being
responsible for children,frankly, through that process,
what are you learning about that, with the transition?

You know, Tonya, it's interesting because I don't
know if it's all that muchdifferent.
I've moved multiple times in mylife, so you know I remember
how scary it felt, even movingfrom California to Austin 17
years ago.
You know, of course at the timeit was just myself and my
partner, you know, we weren'teven married yet.

(12:54):
But what drew us is theopportunity that we saw moving
to Texas, and that was waybefore everybody decided that
they wanted to move to Austin,to Texas, and that was way
before everybody decided thatthey wanted to move to Austin,
you know.
But we were like, wow, here'san opportunity where, you know,
we can buy a home and mayberaise a family here sometime
down the line.
And Austin, you know, has beenabsolutely incredible to us.

(13:18):
But then, of course, you know,when I think about today and
having a family with youngchildren, you really have to
prioritize everybody's needs andand really, what made us make
that decision is it just madesense across the board for the
entire family?
You know it made sense.
For the kids, you know, anopportunity to grow up in

(13:38):
California, different climate,different schools you know all
this opportunity.
And for ourselves, you know,equally right.
So we moved for family reasonsthat really pulled us towards
here with.
You know, we unfortunately lostmy mother-in-law last year and
one of the bigger reasons was tomove here to support my

(14:01):
father-in-law again through thistransition and really be here
for him.
But you know, when we thoughtabout the opportunity to be in
the Silicon Valley at this pointin time when so much about
technology is changing, you knowwe said you know what?
Let's just do it, it just makessense.

let's let's take a little detour on what you just
said.
I first started I lived inTennessee and I first started
coming to the Bay Area in 99,2000 with my early tech jobs.
So I lived in Tennessee and Iwas out here once a month and I
felt in we'll say, 2000, thatthis place was on fire, that

(14:42):
this was you know, that this waseverything and so much of what
was happening in the world.
I knew it was centered here andthe pace felt so inspiring,
scary, fun, and I thought in2000 everything was happening
here and now I'm and you werehere then you would have been

(15:03):
here in 2000 in the Bay Area orclose to the year 2000.
Then you left and we're inAustin for 17 years and now
you're back saying everything ishere.
In the meantime I've been here12 years, 13 this fall, and I've
gotten jaded to how much we seeand experience and are able to

(15:27):
be involved in here.
I appreciate it.
I deeply appreciate living inthis zone of innovation because
it creates a creativity that Idon't think exists anywhere else
.
So, for you, do you recognizeany difference from when you
left and I thought it was thetop of the world way back then

(15:49):
and now, and the fevered pitchthat we're at with AI?
This is not to talk about AI,but it's more about being in the
middle of all the opportunity,being in the middle of all the
opportunity.

Yeah, you know for me what energizes me, is all
of this change?
and all the wonderfulconversations.
And you know I am in favor ofjust leaning into that, leaning
into the curiosities, just tofind out more.

(16:26):
Even if you feel a little bitof fear, you know, I tend to
lean more in and ask, well, whyis that?
And when I think about just theopportunity to soak all of that
in and ultimately be able tobring those insights to our
customers.
You know the people that weserve that live beyond the

(16:50):
Silicon Valley, you know ourcustomers are global, so I mean
it's just a huge opportunity.

Yeah, yeah, I love it, I love it.
I'm going to pause for just asecond and talk about some fun
things going on in our communityhere, locally.
You just said global and I'mpulling us back in to local.
We are broadcasting live fromLos Gatos, and Los Gatos is
hosting a wine walk.

(17:18):
The Los Gatos Chamber ofCommerce will be hosting a wine
walk on Saturday, april 26th,and so that's next weekend, and
there will be vendors.
I think it's more than 30vendors will be pouring wines
from the region.
Kpcr will also have bands inour courtyard.

(17:41):
So we're at 59 Santa Cruz Avenue, north Santa Cruz Avenue, which
is the main drag here throughLos Gatos.
So I would encourage people whoare listening, who are local,
to think about coming downgrabbing a glass of wine.
You have to get a ticket to gothrough all 30 wines, but you
know that's actually a bargainif you think about it.
But the shops are making this abig deal here in Los Gatos and

(18:03):
the radio station is making it abig deal because we have bands.
We'll be doing livebroadcasting throughout the day.
So I'd like to encourage peoplethat are local to get involved
with the community and join ushere.
So back to community for youwith all these changes.
You know you work globallyWe'll talk about AWS more in a

(18:23):
minute or two or ten but youwork globally with what you've
done, with work and how you'velived.
And you've lived very locallybecause I see you when you are
with me at events and I see younetwork and so you're very
interested in people Across thatrange.

(18:49):
What is it that anchors you inwho you are?
What keeps you grounded in?

you know big company, small town, you know
all the range that you work inlive in what keeps you grounded
to be you yeah, the main thingthat comes to mind is is really
values.
Tonya, that is probably the onething that has been consistent
my entire life, so maybe the waythat I accomplish those things

(19:13):
and the tools that I use in mytoolkit might be a little bit
different, but the values reallystay the same.
You know, I think about theimpact that I want to and am
able to drive on behalf of ourcustomers, our companies that
we're building, and really theopportunity to make a difference

(19:38):
and continue to learn, both asa professional, as an individual
, and continue to discoveryourself through the journey.
That has always remained aninterest.

So and Will.
I love it.
You've had all these I'll callthem geographical, cultural
journeys that make youfascinating and patient with
other people.
That's what I see in you.
But you've also had workjourneys.
You were at AWS and for anyonelistening who doesn't know,

(20:09):
because not everybody lives inour tech level, but AWS is multi
, multi, multi, multi, multi,multi.
I could keep going billiondollar behemoth of a company
that has ridden this tech waveinside of Amazon.
Company that has ridden thistech wave inside of Amazon.
You were on the management teamthere.

(20:30):
I think you were responsiblefor like 239% growth in your
division.

And then For 100, for sure.

Okay, and then you, and then you, and then you
moved on to something else.
So so what was your experience?
And what you moved on to was,I'm going to say, obviously much
smaller than AWS, becausenearly everything in the world,
from a work perspective, isgoing to be smaller than AWS.
But what was that like for youto move from something so

(20:59):
ubiquitous with global and tech,into something smaller?

ubiquitous with global and tech into something
smaller.
Yeah, you know I absolutelyloved my time at AWS.
You know it is very widelyknown as a very fast, innovative
competitive culture.
Of course, you know, and theopportunity that I had to work
with just incredibly brilliantpeople all working towards just
this massive vision changinglives for customers and just

(21:30):
people out there in the world.
I loved my time there.
It was incredibly difficult, Ilearned a ton and we've worked
really, really hard, Tonya.
We worked really hard.
And we've worked really, reallyhard, Tonya.
We worked really hard.
You know I remember how much Ialso wanted to shine within that

(21:54):
environment and this is anenvironment where you know AWS
only hires A players.
And it's hard to keep that upright, but I remember my first
two years.
You know I got top tier twoyears in a row.
First year in, you know, Iapproached my manager at the
time and I said you know whatdoes the promotion look like

(22:15):
around here?
And at the time, you know, shesaid well, you know, I'm really
supportive and the leader of ourorganization wants you to serve
two and a half years in a rolebefore that's even considered.
And I went well, excuse me,I'll do it in two.
And I worked really hard.
I worked nights and weekendsand I did it.

(22:35):
I more than doubled my pay inthree years and people knew me.
I was so proud of that withinthe organization.

And then if that wasn't the lure of the big
company environment?

yes, yes, it is and if that wasn't enough, I
threw myself into sort of acareer change to drive digital
transformation with customersout in the field, and that was a
really interesting journey ofits own.
And I remember one morning, youknow I'm getting ready to go to
a customer on site and we'reready to kick off an eight-digit

(23:10):
transformation project andwe've got teams flying in from
other states to help lead this.
And I sign on to my computerand I'm almost dressed, yeah,
yeah.
And I get this email that saysyour role has been eliminated.

Oh my God, that's how your notification occurred.
Yeah, oh wow.
I hope we've learned a lot then, oh, okay, okay, I'm so sorry.

No, and it's okay , you know, and I sat there, you
know, in that moment, yeah,yeah, and I was like like wait a
minute, what?
And I watched my computer startto go dark yeah, wow and I had
tears running down my face oh,of course yeah yeah, and when I

(23:59):
think about how I felt in thatmoment, you know I felt in that
moment.
You know I felt betrayed.
Yeah, I understand.

I felt betrayed.

I felt like I had lost all those years worth of
work.

It's your identity when you go through
that cycle.
Yeah, for most of us.

It felt like I lost.
But then I paused and you knowmy head was racing with all
these thoughts of, well, how doI make sure that never happens
again?
Of course, Right.
But then I was like, well, waita minute, what does it mean to
be a winner?
And here's the funny part Iwent to chat GPT because I was

(24:43):
like, what's the definition of awinner?

So this was more recent than I thought it was.
It was fairly recent.

Oh, then that's embarrassing.
Shame on you, a couple years.
Shame on you, aws.
No, no, no, no, Jeff, do better.
No, no, no.
Like I said, I loved my timewith the organization, I know.
So I went to Chajapati and itgave me the definition of a
winner, and the definition was awinner is someone who achieves
their goals through perseverance, resilience and a clear sense

(25:13):
of purpose.
Oh, yes, and it didn't sayanything about not failing.
It didn't say anything aboutnot failing.
Yeah, of course A winner issomebody who fails.
They get back up and collectthemselves and they do it over
and over and over again untilthey win.
Yeah, until they win.
Um, but my biggest takeawayfrom all of that was that latter

(25:37):
part, the part about the clearsense of purpose, because I had
realized that, while I waschasing all the accolades and
the titles and all the things, Iforgot about my sense of
purpose.
Oh, entirely.

You're not alone, keep going.
I'm like yes, and, yes, and and.

I think, looking back, what this opportunity
really gave me is a chance toreflect, to hop off the hamster
wheel and say, well, who am Iand what do I want to do?
What do I really want to do?
What do I want to accomplish?
How do I want to accomplish,how do I want to feel?

(26:24):
And I found my sense of purposeagain with clarity, and I said
I want to lead, I want to build,I want to learn, I want to love
, I want to touch the hearts ofothers.
You want too much.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

I'm just kidding, kidding Again.
This was a time where I putmyself last.
It just felt so incredibly goodto discover that again, again,
in a big conglomerate, like yousaid, where you're serving your
leaders, you're serving yourcustomers, you've got a family
at home with children whoseneeds you put before your own,
Absolutely All the way around.

We are living for other people there and their
roadmap in life right yeah, ohwow.
So I'm glad chat GPT helped youthrough that crisis oh, it,
sure did.
I'm being a little snarkysaying that, but I but you know
we all have things that we turnto.

(27:20):
To to help give us groundingright and what.
What occurs to me about yourshift and I'm still kind of
reeling over how that happenedto you and I am deeply sorry
because we owe our organism.
I know you, I know you're wholeand full and moving forward

(27:41):
beautifully in your life and,just as a small detour, I was
responsible for those decisionsthat affected thousands of
people in my career and I cansay about you, because I know
enough about you, nearly everysingle person that I was leading

(28:03):
organizational decisions tomake those tough decisions,
nearly every single person wenton to do more and better,
absolutely.
I mean even the ones who werecloser to you know quote
retirement age who were alreadylooking at that, pivoted into
what they were going to do inthat very different next chapter
of their lives.
People who were still, you know, churning on that hamster wheel

(28:26):
you mentioned.
They almost all.
I mean five, nines, five ninesWe'll talk some industry terms
Five nines of them did better.
They moved into roles that werecloser to a lot of people.
Their purpose so that's what Iwill offer is when things do
happen, when these events inlife occur, they happen for us,

(28:48):
not to us.
That's my deep belief.
It's taken a lot to get there,to realize that, to accept that.
But I see you doing better thanif you were still on that
hamster wheel at AWS 100%.
I really really do One of thethings about moving from a
really big company to a to a.

(29:11):
You know I this is not I go.
You can't be bigger than AWS.
It's just hard to be biggerthan AWS.
But to a smaller organizationis the obvious opportunity for
impact.
Right, because when you'reflying to Dali in China every
week, every week, every month,when you're doing things like
that, you feel like your impactis on such a big scale.

(29:32):
And then when you go to workfor any entity that's smaller,
you feel like you know part ofyour identity is tied to the
measurements we put around, theimpact that we deliver.
So how did your definition ofimpact change when you shifted
into the clarity of purpose?

So for me, a lot of the focus shifted from some
of those, as I call them,accolades and things to
relationships with people.
Oh, wonderful.
Yes, Because you know, Iremember, I recall, you know, at
the time, you know, earliertime in my career, you know, I

(30:15):
was like, well, let me just takethe most efficient, quickest
path to where I need to go.
And I almost felt like, youknow, there were certain things
and people who slowed me down.
But what I learned throughout,you know, all these various
transitions and in my career asa whole, it's, it's the

(30:36):
relationships at the end of theday that matter, you know.
And and through those darkerdays, you know, know, when I was
going through the transition ofseparating from from.
AWS, when the door had closed.
It was the people who got methrough that.
Yeah, you know, it was theleaders, it was the peers, it
was my friends and you know someof those.

(30:59):
Of course I had to work torebuild, frankly, because I
again, as I thrust myselfcompletely into the world of,
you know, corporate life, youknow there were friendships that
you know slipped and again Ihad to work really, really hard
to get them back.
You know, and sometimes that'snormal, right, like we grow and

(31:22):
some people come and go out ofour lives.
But you know, to me that iswhat I think about today and in
building companies and cultureis is kind of a people first
mentality because, at the end ofthe day, these great companies
and tools that we're buildingare are for the people, they're
for people, they're to make ourlives better is the way I view

(31:45):
it.

You know I'm around a lot of people that are
either have transitioned out ofbig companies or see that on the
, or they are still inenterprise and they are
considering.
Considering that the move willoccur soon and defining success

(32:12):
for them is a pretty big journeyand you have to unlearn some
things, I think, about howthings operate Were there things
that you had to unlearn inmaking your transition?

I think so.
When I think about that, twothings come to mind you have to
be willing to roll up yoursleeves and do the dirty work.

I'm smirking at you.
Yeah, of course.

Okay, how's that a shift?
Well, you have to get down tothe details.
So if you've been operating atthis high level right and you're
transitioning into, let's say,a startup environment, you can't
expect things to just happen.
You have to dive into thedetails and do the work
yourselves and be willing tocoach and do all of that.

(33:12):
The other thing that comes tomind is you know the political
environment of big corporate.
It's one big thing I don't miss.
And sometimes in big corporateyou'll see people tend to hoard

(33:35):
resources you know whether thatis to create a moat or you know
something along those lines andI really feel like there's an
opportunity to achieve so muchmore if you share more.
It's not a small pie that Iwant.

(33:59):
I want a piece of a bigger pie.
You know, we can create so muchmore impact out in the world if
we help each other.

I agree.
I agree.
I'm going to come back to apoint on networking, but first
I'm going to do a quick stationID.
You are listening here to KPCR,lp 92.9 out of not as sunny Los
Gatos.
I usually give a weather reportand we also broadcast on sister

(34:33):
station KMRT, lp 101.9 out ofSanta Cruz, and we're happy to
have you here, even if it's alittle overcast today.
So, coming back to Anna To Anna, dare I try to say it, I'm
working on my.
If you weren't here at thebeginning of the show, krishna,
I'm working on my Russian, youdid it, you did it.

(34:54):
Sounds more like I'm trying toclear something out of my throat
.
I'll get it.
I will get it eventually.
But we talked about networkingand that is one of the things
that I consistently advisepeople on who are making their
transition, or younger careerpeople.
When you're in those bigorganizations, it is so easy to

(35:17):
be in that pattern.
You and I were both in headsdown, all about AWS, all about
my division, what we're doingand people fail to network in
their 20s and 30s that are inthose big companies because they
are so heads down committed tothe company and the job.
And then what I find is theyget to that mid-30s mark and

(35:38):
they start to make thesetransitions like you and I've
made, and they don't have anetwork to fall back on because
everybody's still busy at AWS,right, and so I encourage people
especially women, it seems likehave a harder time because
they're starting to raisefamilies and they're and they're
really trying to achieve andclimb and they don't prioritize

(36:01):
the value of meeting and knowingand being seen by other high
functioning people to help themraise the bar and to be there
when they're not where they arenow.
So, um did, did you do thatlike I?
I'm guilty, I'm totally guilty.
Uh, it's.
It's in hindsight that I havethat wisdom.

(36:22):
Were you the same?
And if so, what was it like toramp up your networking chops?
to be out there in the market ofyou, in the market of helping
people have an opportunity tosee Anna and all that Anna is
capable of doing.

Yeah, Tonya, thank you for that question.
I think sometimes we go throughtransitionary periods where,
you know, they make us seethings very differently.
It's called experience.
Yeah, and yes, it wasdefinitely when I transitioned
more into the entrepreneurialspace that I had become

(37:04):
intentional about it.
And you know, you see layoffshappen left and right these days
too, and you know I just thinkabout how important it was for
me at the time to feel thatsupport from some of my AWS
colleagues who did offer thehand, and for me I would love,

(37:28):
absolutely love, to extend thatsame gesture to anybody in my
network who needs that andbeyond that, for my
entrepreneurial journey.
What we think about a lotwithin our company is creating
partnerships where together, oneplus one equals three or equals

(37:51):
five.
So we are always out therelooking for, for partners,
looking for fresh ideas, and andI'm an extrovert, you know what
drives me is is the people,it's, it's the energy of those
around me, and I find that whenI surround myself with people
who are as growth-minded as I amand maybe are beyond the point

(38:18):
where I am, I feel much moreenergy and motivation and
hopefully that goes back andforth so that we create this
multiplier effect really.

And that multiplier effect I was going to
say it's harder to obtain inbig enterprise and you get it
because you get the synergy ofteams and you get the geography
impact and all those things, butit's different the multiplier
effect.
I took a call this morning fromsomebody who's doing his first
fractional assignment and it wasa 7.30 LinkedIn text.

(38:59):
Oh my God, how do I price thisRight?
And I'm so thrilled for himbecause he came out of, you know
, one of the really bigcompanies here on the peninsula,
I'm going to say six or sevenmonths ago, and he's been doing
some angel investing and he'sbeen hitting up all the networks
, not really eager to jump backin.

(39:19):
But now he's found a veryinteresting cybersecurity
company to be involved with andI felt so honored that he
reached out to me at 730 in themorning saying how does this
work?
What do I do you know?
And, and do you have you know?
Are there contracts that I do?
I need a lawyer.
No, you need chat, gpt.
That's what I said.

(39:40):
I said and if you have anythingChatGPT that you don't
understand, then you call meback.
But that multiplier effect iswe are all relying on each other
to get done what we need to getdone to move things through to
satisfy our lives to make usbetter people and that network

(40:02):
is so valuable people and thatnetwork is so valuable.
By the same token, when otherpeople that don't know me just
reach out to me on LinkedInbecause of my presence there and
they say, please introduce meto investors, and I'm like it
doesn't work that way.
You know that I mean becausethat is such an important
network to me and they're sovalued by me, I would never just

(40:25):
like do a pass through of oh,sam Smith reached out to me on
LinkedIn and so meet Sam Smith.
No, because I'm vouching forthe people that I introduce.
So it's also interesting to bein the position to coach people
when you turn down theirrequests, because these, these

(40:45):
networks are valuable to us.
You have to.
You have to.
I told this this man hadrecently moved here from out of
the country and I said you know,get involved with local groups
so that you are meeting thesepeople absolutely, and then then
make a connection.
But you have to do the work andgive before you make the ask.

Oh well, yeah, there's that, but I could you, I
could only slap him around toomuch, just so much yeah, but uh,
it is a privilege for both ofus, I think, to be in the bay
area.

This networking opportunity is so huge and um
and I I get to meet a lot ofpeople who are just here for a
few weeks and I tell them, takewhat you've learned about
interaction, about community,and wherever you're going back
to host an event, host a dinner,host a tap night you know beer,

(41:38):
hop us down the street that youand I have both been to to get
people together to create thatcommunity where you are.
So I think being with people isthe transition point.
I think you've always beenfocused on community, but when
your work focus isn't drawingyou into such a narrow path,

(42:01):
it's much easier to broaden out,like you've done in the last
few years.
So let's talk about I'msegueing, I'm trying to sing
into the music here, but alongthis journey in Austin, you had
two beautiful children.
I did.
You did Still have twobeautiful children.
I did you did Still have twobeautiful children.

(42:26):
How has that affected you, alsobeing a breadwinner and a boss
mama and I just made that wordup Is that even that ought to be
?

a website.

Boss, mama, affected your transitioning and
how you show up as a leader anda person who genuinely loves
doing the art of business.
So has having kids at homeimpacted how you do that?

(42:59):
How you do that?

Absolutely.

Okay.

I think it's taught me patience.

Yeah.

It's taught me empathy.
Yeah, it's made me slow downand appreciate little moments
more and pay attention to thetalent of individuals.
And how do you multiply thatand take that to the next level?

I love that.
Yeah, not everybody runs at thesame speed, not everybody
thinks at the same speed, and Ithink you would be more
sensitive to that, having andyou've got two children pretty
close in age, ten and six.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but they have given me so much
more Tonya.
I think They've taught me somuch about me.
Sometimes children are likelittle mirrors.

Good, and bad oh yeah.
But mirrors are good, theyserve a purpose.
Yes, right.

Yes, yeah, I recall a time when and this
little story is on my LinkedInsomewhere maybe about a year or
six months ago, all right, wewere driving in the car and we
were talking about superpowersand my kids were fighting in the
backseat about who was betterat math.
And then I turned around and Isaid hey, what's my superpower?

(44:25):
And they said super love.
Like without hesitation.
My son said super love and itjust stuck with me the entire
day.
That's how they see you.
But as I went about my work,about my day, I was like, yeah,
that is.

And I'm leaning into that.
I didn't know it, but I amleaning in Exactly.

And I'm going to.

Yeah, oh, but what a beautiful moment, exactly
and wholly authentic.
Right for them to reflect thatback to you.

Yeah, I love it.

I'm absolutely grateful for it.
I love it.
I've really been blessed with alot of.
When I was in enterprisecorporations I've been blessed
with more than I think, thenormal share of strong, powerful
women who were mothers and Ilooked at them and I did not
know how they did it.

You know because raising kids.

It's physical and time it and time-consuming work
.
So how they could do all theycould do and then sneak out at
3.30 to hit a soccer game andthen, be right back online later
to finish things up for a boardmeeting.
I was just so impressed withall of them.
Did you have to, or did youfind yourself deploying

(45:42):
strategies to be able to manageboth of those elements of your
life, because they both are highdemand?

Yeah, and there were definitely times where I
was terrible at that.
Oh, as I mentioned, go easy onyourself.
There were, you know, nightsand weekends and all the things.
But you know, when I thinkabout, what worked for me is is
prioritization and settingboundaries.
Oh and tell me more well.
I'm terrible at boundaries.
Anybody who knows me knows I'mterrible at boundaries probably

(46:11):
not as good at it as I should beeither, but, you know,
communicating some of that, youknow, to your teams, to your
leadership, but then also havingsome of those conversations
with your kids, at the end ofthe day, you know, is it really
important to you that I'm herefor this particular event?
And if they say yes, then damnit, I'm going to be there, I'm

(46:31):
going to find some way to bethere, and I think that some
people maybe feel that if youembrace that and you give the
individual the opportunity totake those moments for
themselves, somehow theperformance bar is lower.
No, who says it's got to belower, the performance bar is

(46:52):
still here.
But embracing that individualwith their whole self, their
life, because you know, likethings happen every day.
Things happen health and familyand all the things, and they
happen.
And and I think unless youallow that individual to live

(47:14):
their life and bring their wholeself to work, you you will
never get their best.
That's right at work.
That's never, you know, and Idon't need a computer.
If I wanted a computer, here wego.
We've got all these ML modelsthese days, so I think that's
the beauty of a diverse workenvironment you allow the

(47:41):
individual to be themselves andbring their best to work and
that's how you you also franklyget full, full buy-in and full
contribution and and, at the endof the day, what you get back
is so much more, including therelationship, including the
impact, including the innovation.

I agree with everything you said.
I'm going to add an angle to itbecause you've been focused on
the impact at work with whatyou've been talking about.
But I think and I'm not tryingto preach and I'm not trying to
influence anyone to be anythingthey're not but I think what you
bring home to the family whenyou work is also richer.

(48:24):
Very early in my career thechief HR officer at the company
and I were buds and she went outto have her baby and then came
back to work and she said I'm abetter mother when I'm working
because I want to be with mykids more.
I'm excited when I get homebecause I get to see them.
And her kids were still very,very, very young.

(48:49):
But she was anticipating whatshe brought to them and the
example that she set was, forher and for her family, dynamic,
something that she lookedforward to for her kids seeing
balancing priorities.
The family is not the onlything in your life.

(49:09):
You know that mommy has otherthings that are important to her
and we're going to both honoreach other's needs.
So I think you bring a lot toyour family when you're able to
balance that effort 100%.

Yeah, and I think that goes both ways for my son
and my daughter.
Yeah, you know, I want mydaughter to look at me as an
example.
Yes, but I also want my son tolook at me and understand what
it's like to be a woman and youknow, as he thinks about, you
know the women in his life and Idon't want to think about that

(49:47):
because he's still my baby, butyou know, one day he's going to.

But you're raising an adult.
You're not trying to just keephim at six years old for forever
.
Is he six?
He's ten, he's ten.
Thank you when you called himyour baby, but he is your baby.

He's forever my baby.
I tell him that every day.

He's still your baby and he will be when he's 40
.
But I think, anticipating therole model that you are for them
and for them, seeing youstruggle, frankly, I mean, I
think and here I am putting toomuch of my own opinion on the
air, but I think when we raiseour children in a fragile way

(50:27):
and they think that everythingis supposed to be perfect
because we have such a sanitized, do you remember the Truman
Show, that movie that Jim Carreydid 25 years ago?
No, it was about this perfectcommunity, almost Stepford
Wives-like.
It was this perfect community,almost Stepford Wives-like.
It was this perfect community,but it wasn't real.

(50:47):
It was being filmed.
It was this microcosm ofsociety, the reason I paid so
much attention to it.
When I lived in Tennessee, oneof my favorite little beach
towns was Seaside, all theselittle painted cottages.
All the same, the Truman Showwas shot at Seaside because it
is this picturesque, made forpostcards kind of little town.
But the Truman Show was on airfor the rest of the world.

(51:08):
The people who lived theredidn't know it.
So it was this fake andeverything was beautiful and
everyone had huge meals fordinner every night that mom had
cooked.
Yeah, this was 20 years ago, soit was very much tempered
toward traditional genderdynamics.
Good, I spit that out, but itwas fascinating to see to think

(51:35):
about things that aren't realand we have to show our kids
what's real and a lot of myfriends and I love them.
So you know I'm talking to you,you out there listening kids
what's real and a lot of myfriends and I love them.
So you know I'm talking to you,you out there listening.
But you know they just wantthings to be so good for their
families.
They don't want their familiesto see struggle.
But I think kids, to your veryinitial point, are much more

(51:56):
resilient than we maybesometimes give them credit for
and much more flexible andthey're willing to see the
adventure in things.
So I'm sure that, like thismove wasn't trauma for your
family, it was.
What do we get to do next?

Yes, and I've already seen them grow so much
from that.

It's only been three months, three months, I
mean, I've got this look ofshock on my face for those that
are listening.
Three months and you alreadysee it.
Yes, yes shock on my face forthose that are listening three
months and you already see it.
Yes, yes, more confidence.
Yeah, all the things um.
So how do you characterize thewisdom from motherhood that has

(52:36):
made you um better in yourprofessional life?

oh my gosh, I don't even know how to
characterize this, something yousaid earlier makes me recognize
.

You know, you said you were more patient and
you said you were able to lookat people in my words, people
with different skill sets ordifferent capacities and think
in a different way, moreheart-centered way different
capacities, and think in adifferent way, more
heart-centered way, about how tofocus their gifts and talents.
Right, and I think maybe thatwas your answer, for how has the

(53:14):
wisdom, has the experience ofmotherhood taught you to see
working with people differently?

Yes, it's a lot of that definitely recognizing
people for who they are, butthen also giving myself grace
sometimes.
You know, we often put so muchpressure on ourselves, so much
pressure I wouldn't knowanything about that.

But but you are, you are chill, you are um.
You're not a high-strungindividual, that's not your
nature so well, I think I thinkyou have quiet high expectations
of yourself, right and um, andof those around me and of and

(54:01):
those.
I'm glad you said that that'sabsolutely 100% and living into
that with all the pressures thatyou have, and then setting
expectations in a new modelBecause this is a new paradigm
for you and it's a new paradigmfor a lot of us where there are

(54:22):
clear boundaries andexpectations.
In enterprise, there's thathierarchy, there's the you know
revenue of divisions make onemore important than the other.
Those kinds of things aremodels for how we measure our
response to requests.
So so I think it would beinteresting how do you, now that

(54:47):
you've shifted toentrepreneurship, how do you,
how do you measure how yourespond to requests, because
there's a lot of hungry birdsthat are reaching for us.
So how do you?
How do you?
How do you prioritize?
And I want to tie it back tomotherhood how has being a
mother taught you to prioritizein your, in your professional

(55:10):
life differently?

Yeah.
So I think part of it isunderstanding your ultimate
calling oh beautiful, take itback to purpose.
Well, yes.
And then also your strengths,yeah.
And then thinking about beingresourceful.
You know, where do I, as anindividual, add value?

(55:35):
Where are those areas that arenot my strengths, or maybe I
just frankly don't want to gothere?
And how do I partner withsomebody who does shine that
area and that is exactly whatthey want and need, so that that

(55:57):
is ultimately?
You know that I think that hasserved me well, both in my
career and in motherhood.
I definitely tried to do it all.
In the early days when my sonwas very, very young, I put so
much pressure on myself and thiswhole time I had this amazing
partner sitting next to me.
All I had to do was ask forsome help.

Now, let's not say Igor's amazing, he's
probably listening.

Maybe, maybe, yeah probably is yeah so, but
seriously, like this goes forboth the professional life and
for personal life, you don'thave to do this alone.

Oh, bingo, bingo.
And your partners aren't justthe ones that you're in
relationship with and live undera single roof with right your
partners in all of this are sobroad and diverse, but I think
it's making the ask.
That is the hard thing forpeople like us.

We don't reach out enough.

Well, I'm not going to go too far, but I was
always the boss, I was alwaysdoing for other people.
I was always helping otherpeople.
Being helped is hard I strugglewith personally, you know,
because I've got all the answersright.
And so, coming into thesebroader communities where we are

(57:24):
a matrix of people helping eachother, like the call I took
this morning at 7 30 aboutpricing on fractional work um,
it's, um, it's, it's a shift tobe, to be helped, right, it's a
gift, it's a gift, all it's agift, all right.
Now you're preaching.
So two words a gift and it'spreaching.
I love it.

(57:44):
So you've got so muchexperience and so much wisdom
from it.
For people who are listening,who see this in their trajectory
, who see either a physical movefrom Austin to the Bay Area as
an example, or the career shiftmove, because it is a big shift
from big enterprise to anentrepreneurial thing.

(58:07):
What's your advice for peoplewho are anticipating and wanting
to think more about thatjourney?

I think, first of all, give yourself grace, slow
down, take the time to thinkdeeply about your purpose, where
you're going, why you're goingthere, what it should feel like.
What you want it to feel likenot the should actually let me

(58:40):
take that back.
What you want it to feel likeNot the should actually.
Let me take that back.
What you want it to feel like,set the shoulds aside and when
you find that big thing and youfeel the pull towards it, just
lean in, find the courage.
You don't have to know the howYou'll figure it out along the
way.
You don't have to have a planand, by the way, you're allowed

(59:00):
to change your mind in theprocess.
Bingo.

I'm going to be a little more harsh.
You're allowed to change yourmind, but whatever you're doing
will change.
I think it's always been theadage that change is the only
constant.
You know that change is theonly constant, but I, what my
forecast for the future in theworld of work is, is that we're

(59:29):
going to be under constantrevision and we, and each of us,
has to work on resilience andadaptability, not in a bad way,
but in a what do I get to do?

What is coming for me next and and it.

These don't have to be radical pivots.
I think when you get accustomedto living a life of reinvention
which is what RESET is allabout then those changes aren't
quite so scary, because you havea direction that you're already
working toward, that you areinterested in, that's at your
core, and I think that's theopportunity for people.

(01:00:07):
100%, yeah, couldn't agree more.
Thank you.
This has been so enjoyable.
We could go on another hour andthe station manager might let
us, but I'm not going to do that.
So, thank you.
If people would like to get intouch with you or want to follow
you as you make your journeyhere in the Bay Area and in

(01:00:31):
different segments of yourcareer, how would you like for
them to try to get in touch withyou?

Anna Krasnykh (01:00:35):
You're welcome to find me on LinkedIn or
Instagram.
Nakrasnyk is my name, thank you.
And then, yeah, feel free tocheck out techandwebcom.
That is our main agency, wherewe do all kinds of wonderful,
wonderful work for our customers.

Tonya J. Long (01:00:49):
Techandweb.
Of course, that would behighlighted on your LinkedIn
profile.
Yes, ma'am, I am going to spellyour last name for people.
Anna is clear, butK-R-A-S-N-Y-K-H.
K-r-a-s-n-y-k-h.
See, you got it.
I am learning too.
So this is wonderful.
Thank you for being here.

(01:01:09):
Thank you, it's been an honor.
Wonderful Thank you.
Thank you.
We are here on KPCRLP 92.9 FM instill overcast Los Gatos, and
also broadcasting from SisterStation KMRT LP 101.9 FM, Santa
Cruz.
Just as a note for the peoplewho are listening, this is a

(01:01:37):
community station.
We are funded by our listenersand we're doing good work
putting on programs like this,getting Anna voice heard and
other people's voices heard,giving creatives and artists a
chance to have their work seenand heard, and then community
things like the Wine Walk that'scoming up next weekend.
These things are all funded byour listeners and if you feel so
compelled, just go to thekpcrorg website and you'll find

(01:02:02):
several little support buttonsscattered around the website for
you to become part of the teamthat helps us get these messages
and the talent out to ourcommunities.
So thank you again.
This has been Tonya Long withAnna Christneff Christneff, I
know I'm getting worse.
It's like my RV backing.

Anna Krasnykh (01:02:23):
It gets worse, the more I do it.

Tonya J. Long (01:02:25):
So it has been wonderful to be here.
Thank you everyone.
It has been a great day and wewill see you next week.
Thanks for joining us on RESET.
You've been listening to ourshow from KPCR, lp 92.9 FM in
Los Gatos and KMRT, lp 101.9 FMin Santa Cruz.

(01:02:49):
Remember, transformation is ajourney, not a destination.
So until next time, keepexploring what's possible.
I'm Tonya Long and this is home.
This is RESET.

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Tonya J. Long

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}From Russia with Love: Anna Krasnykh on Purpose and Perseverance