When War Left Him Without a Home, Mentorship Helped Him Start Again

When the first missiles fell on Ukraine in February 2022, Andrii Shovkovyi and his girlfriend were on what was supposed to be a five-day trip to Portugal. The trip never ended.

“We thought we were just getting away for a vacation,” he said. “Instead, we found ourselves unable to return home safely. Ukraine is still our country, still our home, but life there now means air-raid sirens through the night, drones overhead, and sudden strikes in the cities we love.”

For months, they drifted across Europe: Lisbon, a quiet Italian village, a short stint in Poland. They were piecing together a life while war consumed their home. He finished his bachelor’s degree online, took an internship with a Ukrainian nonprofit, and later landed remote work with a venture capital fund.

Even while building this patchwork of stability, his thoughts often returned to Ukraine. “What gives me strength is knowing the courage of the people of Ukraine — many of them my friends and relatives — who are enduring the war each day or serving on the front lines,” he said.

But even with those footholds and that sense of connection, there was no clear path forward.

So he chose a leap: graduate study in the United States. After completing a one-year master’s program at the University of South Carolina, he moved to New York City, where he took a contract position at a market research company. A year later, the company downsized, and he was again adrift, this time in one of the toughest job markets for early-career professionals.

“It felt like starting from zero again,” he said. “And for immigrants, that zero is even lower.”

A Chance Encounter With a Lifeline
Scrolling LinkedIn one evening, he noticed a volunteer who had listed City Tutors, a New York–based nonprofit that connects first-generation students, immigrants, and career changers with mentors across industries. Curious, he clicked. Days later, he was enrolled in the program.

That decision reshaped his search. Over the past year, he worked with five different mentors through City Tutors’ one-on-one program and attended networking events that connected him to hiring managers, recruiters, and peers.

What he found, he said, was not just advice but solidarity.

The Power of Five
His first mentor, Maria Senichkina (hims & hers), helped him sharpen his job applications and reminded him that his strategies were sound. “It was more of a confidence booster than anything else,” he said.

Elvira Musso guided him through the emotional hurdles of rejection, particularly the unique setbacks immigrants face, such as being disqualified from a role because a Ukrainian company could not provide the exact paperwork a U.S. employer demanded.

Danielle Grisales (Pincus) introduced him to the world of headhunters, expanding his search beyond job boards.

With Saranga Arora (Flatiron Health), the work went deeper. She rebuilt his résumé for consulting roles, reframed his professional achievements, and connected him to her Bain & Company network. “That résumé got me in the door at Bain and BCG,” he said.

Most recently, Victoria Snowden, a recruiter at Goldman Sachs, encouraged him to add phone calls to his outreach. With her keen sense for people and ability to spot strengths, she boosted his confidence and helped him approach his search with greater boldness. She even secured him an interview through her firm.

Finding Belonging in a City of Strivers
The mentorships were matched by City Tutors’ professional events, where he shook hands with hiring managers and met peers who shared his struggles. At one event with a financial services firm, he connected with a professional who later invited him for coffee, offering insights that shaped his interview prep.

“New York is full of ambition, but it can feel isolating,” he said. “These events remind you you’re not alone.”

A New Beginning
This summer, after months of interviews and near-misses, Andrii finally received the news he had been waiting for: an offer from Royal Caribbean for a Senior Analyst role in its Commercial Strategy team, starting this September.

“The support and guidance from mentors I’ve met through City Tutors were truly invaluable in helping me get here,” he wrote in a note to the program’s director.

The message ended on a lighter note. After attending a Mets game organized by the nonprofit, he added: “It was one of the most relaxing and fun weekends I’ve had in a long time. The weather couldn’t have been better for baseball.”

For a young immigrant who has been forced to start over more than once, the offer represents more than a job. It is stability, dignity, and the promise of building a future in the country he now calls home — while never forgetting the people of Ukraine, whose courage continues to inspire him every day.