Elena Brandt
- Elena Brandt grew up in Moscow and moved to Florida in 2018 with her husband.
- She got her PhD at Florida State University and now works as a startup founder.
- Brandt found the States' limited maternity leave and willingness to apologize surprising.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Elena Brandt, the Russian-born founder of Besample, about her move to the United States. It's been edited for length and clarity.
In 2017, I worked as a communications manager for Yandex, a tech company in Moscow, where I had lived since birth. I wasn't excited about the direction of Russia's political regime, so I applied for an O-1 visa to the U.S.