business recovery

Hello,

In case I am someone you’ve never heard of — my name is Andrey, and here’s my story.

I was born in Siberia, studied metals and alloys engineering in Moscow, and left Russia in 2013. Later, I settled in Shanghai, China, where I started my own jewelry brand from scratch in 2016 with no capital or investors. After a few years of committed work, I gained recognition, got featured in major fashion press, and had already celebrities among clients. By 2022, I felt at the peak of my career, with my brand represented by top retailers locally, and I was planning to launch a second line together with the new collection. 

Then the COVID-19 lockdown happened in Shanghai. If you might think - lockdowns were everywhere - please google why it was different there. Even though I’m still trying to forget those two months locked in an apartment, with no regular access to food or even drinking water, I can say with confidence that it was the most traumatic experience I’ve ever had. I didn’t realize at the time how deeply it affected me, shaking my core values of freedom and human dignity. As soon as it was over, I made the hard but quick decision to leave a place I no longer trusted, even though it held seven years of my life. I was not the only one to move out and I wish I could go homeland and have a break like most of my expat friends did, but even this wasn’t an option. Because Russia started the war in Ukraine just few months earlier, and I reacted by launching a capsule collection for charity to help refugees. Now I see it ironic as I couldn’t know by then that soon I’ll find myself in a position very close to it. I moved to Thailand, where I found peace of mind for a while, knowing that I had enough savings to start over. 

When I left China, I kept most of my jewelry stock with retailers, hoping sales would eventually return to normal. But they didn’t. People were so stressed that I didn’t make a single sale in seven months, compared to the regular monthly sales I had before the lockdown. I had plans to restart and expand my brand, aiming to reach a wider audience, and I was preparing everything, including a website relaunch. I believed my stock was safe, as it represented most of my savings and the source of income I had carefully built over several years.

Then I went back to Shanghai, only to find out that a client I trusted had taken most of it to commission and vanished, despite the contract. After two months of chasing them with no response, I was devastated. I knew this was about to change my life putting me on the edge of survival, as I was left with nothing, stuck in a place where I wasn’t properly settled in a completely new environment.

Despite everything, I managed to start a lawsuit — something I had never done before — and eventually won, even though it required two trips back to Shanghai and attending the court. That was stressful in itself, as it was my first time back after the 2022 lockdown, which I would have preferred to avoid. After a few months of waiting for the judgment to take effect, and seeing no progress, I learned that the person who scammed me had been sentenced to 13 years in jail for another crime which they committed before. This means my chances of getting a refund are even smaller, though I’m sure karma has already done its job. Honestly, I wish I didn’t know about it at all. 

For almost a year, I’ve been doing my best to deal with this, managing feelings of shame and guilt as well as blaming myself for not getting insurance and so on at the same time doing whatever jobs I could find. I obviously took it very personally because what I do isn’t just about money — it’s a huge part of my life, something I love doing and most important - it’s the way I learned to communicate with this world. I want to say a special thank you to those who placed orders during this time — you helped me keep going until now. However, I had to suspend the custom services and put all the production on hold, since few months now, which also become hardest for me.

Still, the prolonged stress took its toll. I’ve lost significant weight. At some point, I found myself frozen, isolating from people, trying to regain any sense of basic security that had been almost completely destroyed. This eventually led to severe depression, and I discovered that what I was experiencing were stages of CPTSD, which has since been confirmed with therapist. 

I haven’t been active on social media lately. I couldn’t even bring myself to post on my birthday last week. There are days when I don’t recognize myself — it feels like my life was stolen, and I’m stuck in a bad dream. I can’t overstate the support I’ve received from my close friends. You are truly my family, and I’m so grateful for your love. I apologize for any delays in responding or for my lack of communication. I’m doing my best each day, hoping that each one brings me closer to getting back on my track.

Please check my website - andreyyarden.com , see some of the comments people have made on my work I attach here, and if you think I deserve it, you’re just one click away from supporting me by any amount you feel comfortable with. 

My minimal goal is to cover:

- legal costs

- paperwork 

- course of therapy    

The ultimate goal in addition to above - is to recover the losses to rebuild my stock so I can continue to work with it and stick to my former development plan. That’s my biggest wish.

I also wish I never had to write this message, and I hesitated to make it public, but today I feel like I’ve got nothing to lose by being sincere and admitting that I can’t do this alone. I’m leaving it to the universe. If I can, I would love to thank you later by offering something special in return — whether it’s a discount, a gift, or something else - I want to be creative about it. I’ll see how the things go here and will post updates.

Now, thank you for taking the time to read this and for any support you can give.