Olga Outside the Caf

Photo SELINA LIU

Writer: Mia Xing

My friendship with Olga grew over the Havergal cafeteria’s entrée bar. During my first year at HC, I gave her timid “thank you”s as she handed me my food. The next year, our only conversation was when I came to dinner from gym, and she asked me if I always turned so red after workouts. In Grade 11, we finally bonded over a shared love for teasing my roommate, and I congratulated myself ten times internally, because I always thought Olga was too cool to be my friend.

There is a duality in Olga that fascinates me. At Havergal, Olga maintains the cleanliness of the cafeteria and sets up for special events. Outside of Havergal, she runs her own health and wellness business, and has a weekend job at a restaurant. On social media, she puts out inspirational content on fitness and personal well-being.

Olga is badass with a softer side. She also tells girls to eat vegetables: “Sometimes I’ll throw them on the plates. I’ll be like, just try one.” Olga loves to clean. “I got so excited the other day because I bought this little vacuum from Walmart.”

Olga likes working out to the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman. And of course Olga would like The Greatest Showman--a story of empowerment and transformation. She has been “big on self-development” since her 20s. She learns about time management and self-confidence from tapes, books, podcasts and YouTube, and believes that inspirational influencers make people feel less alone. And when Olga sat down to speak to me, she spoke the way I imagine one of her “influencers” would: she lifted her eyebrows during certain phrases, and made assertive hand gestures.

Sixteen-year-old Olga felt her life change when she saw a copy of Muscle and Fitness magazine at the supermarket. She recalls seeing the people on the cover,“He was a bodybuilder, she was a fitness chick.” So she joined a gym near her home on the Danforth. She even had pictures of female bodybuilders in her locker and got made fun of by the boys, but she didn’t care. At eighteen, she moved to California. She trained at a mixed martial arts school in Beverly Hills to compete in tournaments. She spent seven years in L.A.

A word Olga mentions a lot is “strong”. This love of strength can be traced back to her childhood. “I’ve always felt strong even though I was a scrawny little thing,” she says

When Olga talks about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the sport she specialized in, her eyes light up. She competed twice in the World Championships in Brazil, and was part of the first all-female card in history for mixed martial arts, in Evensville, IN, back in 2002. “So we were known as the pioneers of that sport.” She asked if I know what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is. “Isn’t Jiu-Jitsu Korean?” I ask. And despite my blatant mistake and her expertise on the subject, she still corrected me gently, “I think it’s Japanese.”

Olga feels she is too forgiving and not outspoken enough, and she doesn’t like this about herself. “Sometimes… not sometimes,” she said, “I just let a lot of things fly by and don’t say anything.” She lets people off the hook and always finds excuses for them, “or maybe  I’m just too compassionate.”

When I asked what Olga is most proud of, she cringed. “Oh gosh. Oh gosh,” she leaned back in her chair. It takes a moment for her to compose her answer and reconnect with her assertive aura. She takes pride in her relationship with her faith. She grew up as an Orthodox Christian, but for a while, she lost touch with her faith and had to rediscover it. “When I was in LA, I kind of ventured off from my faith.”

Olga’s time in LA was more than the freedom of being young in a big city and the sweet thrill of launching a career. It was a difficult time in her relationship with her parents. An immigrant from Greece, her mama stayed home to raise Olga and her four siblings. Her father wanted his kids to get good jobs in Canada--dentist, lawyer--something that paid well and would therefore lead to a happy life. When none of the children chose one of these careers, he was disappointed. Olga thinks that as a child, she must have been a troublemaker. “I did a lot of booboos growing up. A lot of booboos.” A moment later, this “troublemaker” stopped our conversation suddenly to point out a bunny sitting outside the caf window.

It was also in LA when Olga put on a lot of weight. “I… always felt I was fat when I was younger. Looking back… it’s all in your head, obviously,” she tapped her fingers on her temple. In L.A., she went up to 200 pounds because she didn’t know how to cook or eat healthily. After returning to Toronto, she followed a program and lost 20 pounds in three months. Today, she still struggles with cravings and occasional bad habits. She says it feels a little bizarre to work in an environment full of food, but she is getting better and better at finding the perfect balance.

Olga is one of those people who enjoy long Instagram captions. She writes them herself. Her captions are full of sincere sentences, adorned with emojis such as the praying hands and the flexing arm. But there are still many things about social media that bewilder and fascinate her. When she first signed up for Snapchat, she used to show me her photos using the filters: bunny ears, the classic flower crown... In these moments, she would lower her voice, pat my arm, or laugh with her shoulders raised like a little child getting shy.

At the end of our conversation, I asked Olga for advice for people who are struggling with self acceptance, she asked me what my struggle was. Sitting at one of the round tables when she answered my question, she leaned over the chair between us to get closer to me. To me, that gesture represents who Olga is as aptly as the advice she offered: always earnest. When she works at the cash at lunch, her instructions to you might sound brief or chilly. But if you pay attention like she does, you will find that she watches you attentively. When you talk to her, you are talking to someone who is empowered, and who is empowering you. Her inspirational personality is built not on worldly achievements or complete satisfaction with herself. It’s built on her need to learn more and to know better. “Not perfect, just better,” she said.