“I was in a really dark place and had no one to turn to, because at that moment there was no one around. When you have a large social circle, it’s surprising how few people you can actually count on in a real crisis — when things are truly at their worst,” Alice recalls.
Not family, not the people she talks to every day — that night, it was Mila who showed up.
This story is part of the Everybody Loves Somebody campaign about real people from Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia. And also about how being yourself is enough to be loved.
The vibe
Design and an engineer’s mindset — that’s what the two of them have in common, as they both put it. Mila is a graphic designer, while Alice works remotely for a New York office as a 3D jewelry modeler. She builds digital models that are later turned into finished pieces on a 3D printer.
They met through mutual friends, back when Mila was still finding her footing in the profession. “We just clicked right away. I liked her a lot, but it took time, of course, to build a deeper connection,” she says.
At their second meeting, Mila gave Alice roses: “She was really touched by it — totally didn’t see it coming.” That same evening, the two went to a karaoke bar, where Mila sang Alice a song she’d written herself: “It’s pop, and a bit of disco. The song is basically about Alice — her whole inner world.”
Writing a song for someone you’ve just met isn’t exactly a common gesture. Still, it wasn’t some spontaneous thing: “Honestly, once I got to know Alice and her character, I decided to write a song and present it to her,” Mila shares.
Together, they can turn even the most ordinary evening into an adventure. “We might just sit at home, crack open a bottle of wine, act silly, talk about everything under the sun, crack up laughing — to the point where neighbors call at 2 a.m. asking what all the noise is about,” Mila says.
She’s convinced it’s not about the place or the circumstances: “If you’re sad and you go to Vegas, you’ll end up being sad in Vegas. What matters is spending time with someone you actually want to spend it with.”
Activism as part of life
As time went on, their friendship grew stronger. At one point, Alice opened up to Mila and told her she’s a transgender woman.
“It felt completely natural, because our friendship has always been easy, no tension at all. So coming out to her was easy for me. There wasn’t some big story behind it — but I’m glad that even after coming out, we didn’t lose that connection,” Alice says.
Mila remembers it just as calmly: “I knew about trans people. I even shared different posts on Facebook and Instagram in support of them. I wanted people to be more informed. Alice is the first trans woman I’ve gotten to know. I took it really well, and it’s completely normal to me — if anything, I started supporting her even more, being there for her no matter what.”
Alice generally tries to be open about her life, so sooner or later she’ll bring up being transgender with pretty much anyone she gets to know.
“For me, it’s absolutely not an issue,” Mila says. “We see that attitudes in society are quite negative, but that mostly comes down to a lack of basic education.”
For Alice, activism isn’t just about making public statements — it’s woven into her everyday life. “I don’t really broadcast things about myself. My philosophy is this: I walk down the street, I’m part of society, I’m integrated into it — I don’t need every single person on the street to know I’m a trans woman,” she explains. “If I’m walking from point A to point B, and someone asks, I’ll say: yes, I’m a trans woman. That’s completely normal, and society needs to finally start accepting people as they are, instead of reacting with negativity or shock.”
For Alice, it’s rare to find someone who gets to know her, understands her, and loves her for who she is as a person — not through the lens of a single fact about her life.
And Mila turned out to be exactly that person.