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On this episode of The Jeff Crilley Show, Jeff sits down with Tamara Velsher, President of Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce in the USA (UCC), to discuss her journey from immigrating to the United States in the early 2000s to building a multicultural business community in North Texas. Tamara shares the personal weight of having family members on the front lines in Ukraine and the daily anxiety that comes with staying connected during wartime....
Show Notes
When the headlines fade, the need for unity doesn’t. As the war in Ukraine continues, communities here in North Texas are finding meaningful ways to stand together.
In this episode, Jeff Crilley sits down with Tamara Velsher, President and CEO of the U.S. Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce. After moving to the U.S. in the early 2000s, Tamara saw how different nationalities often lived and worked in isolation.
She founded the Chamber to bring cultures together, support business growth, and create a stronger, more connected multicultural community.
She founded the Chamber to bring cultures together, support business growth, and create a stronger, more connected multicultural community.
In this conversation, we discuss:
• What it’s like having family members on the front lines in Ukraine
• Why she launched the U.S. Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce
• The power of multicultural networking and business support
• The first-ever Ukrainian Festival in Texas and what attendees can expect
• What it’s like having family members on the front lines in Ukraine
• Why she launched the U.S. Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce
• The power of multicultural networking and business support
• The first-ever Ukrainian Festival in Texas and what attendees can expect
Learn more about the Chamber, become a member, or support the upcoming festival at: https://www.uccusa.org
This is a powerful conversation about resilience, culture, and strength through unity.
Creators and Guests
What is The Jeff Crilley Show?
Jeff Crilley is a former news reporter, who spent more than 25 years in newsrooms across the country. He’s an Emmy Award winning journalist, who decided to make the jump from news in 2008, when he founded his own PR Firm, Real News Public Relations.
Today, the firm has more than 100 clients, and Jeff continues to tell the stories of interesting people he meets along the way.
These are those stories.
Coming up next on The Jeff Crilley Show, you're gonna meet the founder and president of the u US Ukraine Chamber of Commerce. She's in the studio. She's gonna tell us her amazing journey just ahead. Many are predicting that the worst is yet to come, which is unfortunate, said one person here. Until now, they've enjoyed the reputation of being the nation's icebox. Watched a burglar in his home this morning by webcam. As a journalist of over twenty five years, stories are what make my world turn. Reporting live from The Dallas News, I'm Jeff Crilley, Fox four news. But in 2008, I took the jump from my familiar life and started a PR firm from my home. We're talking about anyone with a camcorder like the one I'm using becomes a television network. We started slowly growing the company, and we now have over a 100 clients. And we've branched into the world of live digital broadcasting. I now own eight different TV studios and have a huge team, and the stories that I now get to share are sometimes the most important of my life. Life has a funny way of coming around full circle. This is The Jeff Crilley Show. Well, we all remember when, Russia invaded Ukraine a few years ago, and there were flags all over the place. You couldn't go anywhere in Dallas Fort Worth without seeing a Ukrainian flag. Tamara Velsher is in the studio. She is the CEO president of the US Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you, Jeff, so much for inviting me here. Well, you came to The US in the early two thousands. And what made you think about starting a chamber? When I came here to the DFW area, I saw and I felt it so that all nationalities, they're isolated. Mhmm. And everyone doing their own things and it's good, but we live in multicultural society. Right? Sure. And we need to know the differences between all those nationalities Yes. And we are from all those different people. And I felt it and even back then I thought it's not right. People need to communicate, they to exchange their cultures. They need to showcase their nationalities. Yes. And you still have family back in Ukraine? Yes. I have my family there and two of my relatives there in front line. What's that like? It's a stress every day. It's terrifying feeling, like, every moment. I afraid to pick up the phone. If I see my phone calling from Ukraine, I afraid to pick it up. Yeah. I'm so sorry. Well, let's talk about the chamber because you have a big event coming up. Let's go ahead and put this on the screen. April 18 in McKinney. Tell us about this festival. This is so exciting news because, we will have first ever Ukrainian festival in Texas. And it's, amazing news, and we're so excited and we can't wait to see everyone at those special event. Absolutely. Well, tell us about I mean, a big part of the culture is food. So tell us what they can expect if they attend this festival. We will have all different food vendors, specifically Ukrainian vendors and those delicious food people need to try because I'm sure not everyone, you know, had the chance Yes. To try Ukrainian food. Well, you mentioned red soup and borscht. Yes. Yes. Of course. Yeah. And it's a UNESCO recognized meal Mhmm. Ukrainian meal. It's borsch called borsch, red soup made from beets Mhmm. And it's delicious and it's totally Ukrainian. Outstanding. I wanna talk about the benefits membership. We've got some video from one of your recent meetings. So when people come, like, why don't you describe what you're seeing right now? Right now, it's a fourth year years of war in Ukraine, and we needed, to let people know that, war is still there. And we just gather together, for support, for pray, and show Ukrainian people that people don't forget about them Yes. And we unite for support. So what are the benefits of membership? We are offering all unique things to our customers. We do grand openings and we organize in all different events for our members and we supporting them through that time that they're with us. And one thing that very exclusive for everyone, We give discounts to all professionals that they can name it. They have discounts for all those business other businesses. Well, you mentioned the ribbon cutting, so we've got a video that we're gonna put on the screen. Let's go ahead and and play this video. Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, welcome to a grand opening Jeff. Well, thank you everyone for for coming out today to help us celebrate this grand opening. We really appreciate it. We we're so excited to be a part of this community and all the countries and regions and personalities represented here. We look forward to seeing you again. We hope you enjoy the store. We thank you so much. I love it. It has to be great networking. Like, if somebody joins, they're gonna meet so many amazing people, including some people who might end up becoming their client. Yes. And what's the uniqueness about us, we're multicultural. Mhmm. Everyone is welcome, yeah, to Absolutely. Our What's one of your favorite memories? You've been doing this for two years. What's one of your favorite memories since you started this? Actually oh my goodness. You know what? I love them all. They're all unique. Right? And we are working in different ways with everyone. That's why they're all special for me. Yes. Yeah. And I love them all. Okay. So tell us what what your immediate need is. Do you need more members? Do you need more sponsors? What's your immediate need? Yes. Of course, you know, we need members Mhmm. And with all different nationalities to show unity to society, to show support, and to show that together we can strong. But, yes, of course, especially now when we have our first Ukrainian festival, we need sponsors. Absolutely. Yes. Well, thank you. You've been an amazing guest. We're gonna end with your website so everybody can get in touch with her and join up as either a member or a sponsor or both. Thank you so much for coming on the show Tamara. Yeah. Thank you so much and God bless you. You bet. That's it for now. We'll see you next time.