How Rozalia Russian rose to the top

THE gloss of her success belies the truth about “style mama” Rozalia Russian: her early years nearly torn apart by war, the career she shunned and an unrelenting work ethic that won’t quit.

Rozalia Russian: “We weren’t given a golden handshake.” (Pic: Cameron Grayson for Stellar)

ROZALIA Russian posts photos every day, from family happy snaps to fashion photo shoots, every image a postcard to perfection.

The 30-year-old brand ambassador, or “style mama” as she’s been called, is married to nightclub king Nick Russian, who owned and ran Melbourne’s celebrity nightspot Eve for a decade, and together they star at gala openings and glamour nights on the city’s social calendar.

Yet Russian’s success isn’t simple. Hers is a tale of resilience and toughness, values she is determined to instil in her children. Her hard-headed approach is borne of family hardship. Perceptions of ease and beauty are crafted blessings, she says, that are products of hard work and dangerous journeys.

At three, Russian hunkered in the gloom of Tashkent, now the capital of Uzbekistan, with her older brother Stanislav and mother Jelena. She recalls making snow angels at her grandparents’ farm. Her mother tells a darker story of starving during her pregnancy with Russian, of shivering in queues for rations, and of being forced to choose between feeding herself or Stanislav.

Russian’s is a tale of resilience and toughness, values she is determined to instil in her children. (Pic: Cameron Grayson for Stellar)

One day, Stanislav ran home from school. He had hidden when rebels had rushed the school’s gates to cut off the ears of children.

Russian’s father was an electrical engineer in the Russian army, and his training made him appealing as a skilled worker to Australia. The family crammed their possessions into two suitcases. Under the pretence of a holiday, they flew to Moscow for permanent visas from the Australian Embassy.

The family settled in Melbourne, to be joined by grandparents and cousins. Russian grew up with stability, bike riding and ballet. She was talented and accepted by The Australian Ballet School at 16. Yet she didn’t want to do ballet. “My mother was very disappointed, coming from a Russian background,” she says. “But I produced two grandkids for her, so I’m back in the good books.”

Russian’s social-media career began with poor-quality Instagram selfies, of herself and girlfriends. Followers began asking about her skirt or shoes. After a while, so did brands and retailers, who asked her to pose in their stock.

Russian on not wanting to pursue ballet: “My mother was very disappointed, coming from a Russian background.” (Pic: Cameron Grayson for Stellar)

A pursuit became a career about four years ago. Now Russian has 233,000 followers and contracts with jewellery, clothes and drinks brands as well as a shopping centre. She is tertiary educated in marketing and advertising and prides herself on grasping her clients’ goals. Her reach is easily measured — one post generated $50,000 worth of sales.

“It’s not enough to just post a pretty photo,” she says. “You have to pick a long-term plan and strategy. That’s where I’ve been very lucky to sign on with a few different brands, where I am able to start and finish a campaign and really work with them on a long-term goal, not just one picture.”

She gets her style sense from her mother. “She’d always make an effort in the morning to look her best,” Russian says. “She always said to me, ‘Don’t wait for a special day to wear your beautiful pieces; wear beautiful pieces every day.’ I think that’s the European way of life. They don’t wear thongs down the street, they don’t wear tracksuits. Every day they dress up like they are going somewhere fabulous.”

“I think that’s the European way of life. They don’t wear thongs down the street, they don’t wear tracksuits.” (Pic: Cameron Grayson for Stellar)

That said, her husband jokes that she has no sense at all for men’s fashion. If she dislikes what he puts on, he assumes that it looks good. “I’m sure he doesn’t like the stuff that I’m wearing either,” she says good-naturedly. “He likes me at home in my tracksuit pants.”

The couple met 11 years ago at his nightclub, Eve. She was 19 and about to leave when he introduced himself, then proceeded to chat with her friend. He offered her a job at the nightclub, which she “retired” from a couple of weeks later, when they got together.

Nick’s father grew up in a housing commission home after his family emigrated to Australia from Italy. The couple’s next venture is a new hospitality venue in Melbourne’s CBD, to open next year, which is set to be bigger and more varied than Eve.

Rozalia Russian features in this issue of Stellar magazine.

“We weren’t given a golden handshake,” Russian says of their tough family backgrounds. “One thing Nick has been taught by his dad, which he has passed on to me, is that no-one is going to throw the bag of gold over your fence. We have that work ethic drilled into us.”

Nick taught her to cook, skills passed along by his Italian grandmother. Russian does most of the cooking at home, and balances her work with raising Willow, four, and Kingston, 16 months.

One of her biggest strengths, she believes, is the tightness of her wider families. Motherhood has taught her patience and an appreciation for smaller things.

Russian has delayed launching a shoe brand to spend more time with her children. She’s sparing in posting photos of her kids, partly to protect them, but for other reasons, too. If Russian likes her public profile, she values her private life, too.