Sofiia-Bohdana has been a USF activist since August 2024. She was born, raised, and graduated from high school in Dolyna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, and has been living in Ternopil for the past 4 years, as she entered the Western Ukrainian University in 2021 to study Tourism. In 2020, she joined the newly created Youth Council in her hometown, where her civic work began. In December 2021, she became one of the co-founders of the Hyzhka Youth Center in her hometown, and later began working there as a project manager and GESI-consultant. At the age of 19, she won her first grant for $5,000 and later implemented her first grant, which aimed to counteract gender discrimination and stereotypes about women in the community. In 2023, she became acquainted with the USF during the Freedom Fire forum held in Ternopil, where her journey of learning about libertarian values began. Later, in the same year, she joined the team of volunteers at the NGO Ternopil Youth Center, where she still volunteers today. In June 2024, she became a youth worker, and in August of the same year, she joined the NGO Ukrainian Students for Freedom as an activist. “For me, ‘Freedom’ is a right that, unfortunately, has to be fought for, that is not given to you for free. It is an opportunity to realize one’s potential and dreams. It is an opportunity to be creative and to bring benefit and contribution to the development of civil society”.

Freedom means responsibility, which is why most people are afraid of it.
George Bernard Shaw