The Imprint of A Clandestine Romance

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Seraphina was born in the Institute Otta on the Vasilievsky Island in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Her birth is shrouded in mystery of a clandestine love affair of her parents across borders and ideological divides. Due to certain consequences stemming from her birth circumstances she had to stay in the USSR with her father, whilst her mother of aristocratic émigré circles together with Seraphina's twin brother had to return to Paris, France. Her father, being in sensitive government operations, would not raise Seraphina himself and placed her with a foster family of Russian-Ukrainian descent. Thus, Seraphina's childhood was spent between Saint Petersburg, - Leningrad back then, - and a village in the Western Ukraine: Reshutsk. 

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'Two In One' or One of Each

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Having ancestral, cultural, professional and political worlds of her parents combined in her, Seraphina nonetheless always felt the invisible divide. Her education and work experiences are a reminder and a reflection of this.

 

When Seraphina turned 7 years old she was faced with a pressing choice to be placed either in a school with a focus on the French language or be sent to a boarding school where she would master Chinese and English. Not knowing the real reasons behind such a division, she felt compelled to choose the French Language school for it was located just 2 minutes-walk from where her foster family lived. But it turned out that the French language never grew on her. Instead, already a teenager, Seraphina started an English language course, dreaming of becoming one day an international affairs reporter, travelling the world and sharing cultural and social news.

 

A year before finishing school, Seraphina set her eyes on the field of journalism and joined the preparatory course at the Journalism Faculty of the Saint Petersburg State University. But once again the internal division took hold and when presented with a task to write a short essay about a worker from one of the Leningrad factories, Seraphina halted and could not bring herself to do so. Unconsciously faithful to her mother’s roots and ancestry, she quit the course and had to re-plan her educational future.

 

Her second choice fell on the Faculty of English Language and Literature at the State University where she tried to enter three times – twice to the day studies and once to the evening studies. But fate intervened and she was advised by a fellow applicant to try an innovative yet private Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL). Seraphina took the risk and was accepted after passing all the exams.

 

​As a result, she obtained her first academic degree - Bachelor of Arts in English Language and English and American Literature.

 

Soon after, Seraphina left Russia and headed for Finland. Whilst having a degree in such a classical field as linguistics, she was also drawn to the professional sphere of management and directing and wished to develop skills needed for it. Having an international imprint on her, Seraphina applied to study in the international class at the Haaga Helia Institute in Helsinki and in four years, after completing all courses, she conducted a research and wrote her thesis dedicated to travelling preferences of elite clientele of Norvista Travel Agency in Saint Petersburg, Russia. To do so she returned to Russia for three months and worked at one of the most elegant and upscale luxury hotels of Saint Petersburg – Astoria Hotel (now owned by Rocco Forte).

 

After presenting her thesis she received her second academic degree - Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Management.​​​​

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In addition to the degree in linguistics, Seraphina studied as separate short courses screenwriting with Aaron Sorkin at the MasterClass, 'Introduction into Classical Music’ at Yale University, 'Psychology of Self-actualisation and Creative Identification' at Tomsk University, and 'Literary Wardrobe' - symbolism of clothes and fashion items in literature, at Moscow State University.

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An Aristocratic Tapestry

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Seraphina’s career path is an intricate tapestry that mirrors her mother’s aristocratic background and associated with it themes paired with aspects of her father’s professional life such as independence, problem solving, innovation and leadership.

 

Her first proper job in London, where she had moved with her husband, was connected to antique jewellery. Seraphina worked as an Assistant to three Jewellery Dealers located on Bond Street. Her responsibilities brought her to the famous auction houses such as Christies, Bonhams, and Sothebys, allowing to deal with extraordinary pieces of jewellery created by Faberge, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels among others.

 

Keeping with the same theme, Seraphina continued her career as a Marketing and PR Manager in a non-profit membership based organisation under the patronage of HRH King Charles III – the Embroiderers Guild which was located in the world famous royal palace – The Hampton Court.

 

Her next career move and a thread that was woven into the intricate tapestry of her work experience was a start-up company ‘Rising Star’ founded by an enigmatic young entrepreneur of Icelandic-Lebanese descent. Seraphina’s job as Marketing Director of a luxury travel magazine ‘Exclusive Traveller’ in Russian, and a professional publication ‘Oil and Gas Investor’ in English, had a perfect combination of such elements as innovating, internationalism, entrepreneurial spirit, independent thinking, luxury, journalism, design, and travel. This, perhaps, was one of the jobs that successfully bridged the divide in her parents’ life styles and aspirations.

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Alternative Paths​

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After a start-up experience Seraphina ventured into an alternative career path. Having moved to Moscow, she joined the Board of Directors of a cigar and luxury life style magazine ‘Hecho A Mano’, purchasing 10% of its shares. The magazine was initially founded by Arsen Gasparyan, a former Armenian diplomat and a Senior Advisor to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Acting as Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Seraphina represented the magazine at Moscow and international official social and cultural events, and participated in creating and putting together editorial for each issue.  

 

Having gained some experience in a traditional publishing sphere Seraphina, on her return to London in 2006, launched her own publication – 'Avantoure: Life is a Game', - one of the first digital only lifestyle magazines, that utilised the latest developments in digital publishing, such as inclusion of rich media into the layout of the publication, and selling digital subscriptions. The theme of the magazine itself was a nod to Seraphina's experience with the start-up company 'Rising Star'.  In the course of producing Avantoure, Seraphina worked with freelance journalists and artists in New York, Moscow, London, and Rome mirroring her multinational background and identity.

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Encoded Love Stories​

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Being born out of the Cold War clandestine romance of her parents meant that Seraphina encapsulated in her an untold story of their secret love, as well as the covering up of it and subsequently the mystery of her background which she was not consciously aware of. The secrets held within Seraphina’s subconscious were asking to be let out. They found light of day by chance and were transformed into several romantic mysteries, containing encoded stories, hidden truths, and thrilling elements.

 

In 2010, while in New York, Seraphina met a man of Scottish ancestral background who befriended her at one of the networking events dedicated to digitalisation of book publishing. Some months later, on a Christmas Eve of 2010, they decided to team up to write a book from the first persons perspectives of the two narrators – a man and a woman. The collaboration, though a short lived one, led Seraphina to finishing and publishing her first book in English which she called ‘My Trickster’ (2011). The book contained several fractured narratives which were presented in the form of the first person narrating episodes.

 

Not happy with the book, Seraphina attempted to re-write it from a single female narrator’s perspective. This resulted in the second version of the original publication which she called ‘A Tricky Game’ (2012). Both books contained mystery and thriller elements and were written in English.

 

In December 2013, Seraphina moved to Geneva, Switzerland, hoping to make it her home. In continuation of the theme of hidden love stories, she was right away inspired to write a romantic mystery, taking selected themes from her previous two books. This time her chosen language for the book was Russian. She yet again was drawn to writing from the perspective of the two narrators – a woman and a man. Within the course of a year – 2014 – she finished two books – Головоломка (Puzzled) and Задача с неизвестными (The Unknowns), adding to the series, in 2015, a third book - Загадка Восточного Экспресса (The Orient Express Mystery).  All three books feature a young French aristocrat, Luke Allen, and a female journalist of French-Russian descent – Lina Brig, and are full of symbolism, coded messages, and coincidental events.

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Secrets and Hidden Truths

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Born into a world of secrets and divided loyalties, herself being a ‘disappeared’ child with changed identity, Seraphina naturally felt inclined to similar real life historical and fictional events. With the time, the inclination grew into actions translated into literal detective investigations and solving of historical mysteries.

 

In 2021, Seraphina started working on a series of non-fiction essays under the title 'Menabilly, My Love...' In essence, a literary detective investigation focused on analysing and decoding of the text of the psychological thriller 'Rebecca' by Daphne du Maurier. Having a special lens of her own background allowing for a different vision, Seraphina was able see that the story 'Rebecca' is, in fact, an encoded record of tragic events associated with Jonathan Rashleigh's family and his Cornwall estate Menabilly. 

 

In the autumn of 2023, Seraphina was prompted to look into the Romanovs disappearance case. At first, she was reluctant to approach the subject, as she felt that the officially fabricated storyline was somehow an unpleasant reminder of her own real life experience. Now, a year and a half later she is glad she had started this investigation as her determination to find out the truth led her to astounding results which she reveals as she goes in her published on Medium platform articles under the common title ‘The In-Famous Romanovs’.

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Living Between Worlds

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Due to her parents’ origins, her own birth circumstances, and her ancestry, Seraphina has a truly international outlook, moving with ease between cultures, countries, and creative mediums. Although she has visited and lived in many cities of the world, including London, New York, Moscow, Dubai, Geneva, Berlin, her all-time favourite remains London – a ‘melting pot’ of creativity, individualism and quirkiness, and a home of the world famous fictional spy James Bond and MI6, the UK intelligence service. The latter two perfectly personifying her own father and his connection to sensitive government operations of the USSR.

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