Tanya Kotelnykova

Founder, Executive Director

Tanya Kotelnykova is the President and Executive Director of Brave Generation. Having lived through two wars—the Donbas occupation in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022—she’s deeply committed to supporting the youth of her home country affected by conflict. Tanya is a student in Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies at Yale University and holds an M.A. in Human Rights from Columbia University. She earned her B.A. in Law from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and her research focuses on Russian academic propaganda in occupied Ukrainian territories, the right to self-determination, and 21st-century secession. After fleeing her hometown of Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, in 2014, and again in 2022 due to war, Tanya received Columbia’s Scholarship for Displaced Students and quickly became an academic leader, earning multiple distinctions and fellowships. Recognizing the barriers facing Ukrainian students, she founded MentorUkraine, connecting U.S. students with Ukrainian peers to support university applications. The program has expanded to over a dozen universities, helping mentees secure nearly $5.1 million in scholarships. Building on this success, Tanya co-founded Brave Generation to empower youth to rebuild their lives, pursue education, and prepare to lead Ukraine’s post-war recovery.