KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Fashion designer Nataliya Meyer has owned Lucia’s Sarto Custom Sewing on the Country Club Plaza for the last 10 years after emigrating from Ukraine with her family 20 years ago.
Meyer said it’s hard to talk about Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine.
“The original language I talked to my mother to is Russian, and every time I do I feel guilty because this situation has created the war, and I just can’t," she said.
She has been an artist since she was a child in Ukraine. Her grandfather owned a book of ballet photos, and she dreamed of being a ballerina.
“I think the reason I wanted to be a ballerina is because of their costumes,” Meyer said.
Meyer said she’d sketch leotards, tights and ballet shoes.
“I think my grandfather would always say, ‘Oh, that’s beautiful,’” she said. “And I think when you get the reward, you start kind of working harder and harder.”
She received her education in Ukraine.
“I see things different than other people; I kind of rotate shapes in my head a little bit,” she said.
Many of her classmates and friends are still in Ukraine. Meyer tried to help some of her friends leave her home country amid the war, but she said some have returned because they have sons who could be mandated to serve in Ukraine's military.
In Kansas City, Meyer joined the board of Stand with Ukraine KC after seeing tragedies unfold back home and feeling the ripple effects.
“I purchased something from Ukraine, some petals for flowers somebody handmade that I was going to put on (something she was designing), and the girl canceled my order and she said, ‘Sorry, we’re at war,’” Meyer said.
Meyer described the recent attacks as “horrific,” which came just two days after the Independence Day of Ukraine.
She remembers the day Ukraine declared independence on Aug. 24, 1991; she was 8 years old.
“For the first time in our life, we voted and our voices were heard,” she said.
Meyer celebrated the day with Stand with Ukraine KC, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian relief in Ukraine and assists refugees in Kansas City.
“We’re getting socks for people, mattresses,” Meyer said of the nonprofit's efforts. “There were specific medical scissors that they couldn’t get there, so we sent them from here.”
Meyer said Kansas Citians can help the cause by donating, volunteering and talking about what’s going on in Ukraine.
KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
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