Dina Iureva’s story is one of bold choices and fearless reinvention. Born in the remote Siberian town of Chita, close to the Chinese border, Dina always felt destined for a life beyond her small hometown. Her love for languages and desire to explore the world fueled her journey from teaching English in China to opening a language school in Moscow, and finally settling on the sunny island of Mallorca. Along the way, she built businesses, embraced new cultures, and continually reshaped her life. Today, as she builds a career in social media marketing, Dina reflects on the challenges and triumphs of her global adventure and her quest to find a place to call home.
Where were you born and where did you study?
I was born in a small town in Siberia in Russia close to China, called Chita. I studied to be an English teacher, and I always liked the English language. I always wanted to travel the world, and I still do. I want to see as many countries as I can. When I was a child, I wanted to escape from my small hometown, because I felt I was a little more open-minded than the people who lived there. That’s why I studied languages – to learn about foreign cultures, and to read foreign books. Later, watching movies in English helped me to grow personally.
In 2014, I moved to China to work as an English teacher there. It opened a lot of opportunities for me. When I was 22, I opened my first business – I didn’t like the idea of working for somebody else. If you spend 80 percent of your time working it should be something that you like doing. If you don’t like your job, you suffer. You wake up every morning and think: “I don’t want to go to work”. So, I was trying to find something that would help me to become self-sufficient. I had different businesses; I sold them and then I’d start something new. Then in China I met an investor.
What sort of businesses did you have?
My first business was a store selling bikinis and underwear for women. I was living in Vladivostok with my ex-husband. And business was going very well, but my personal life was a failure: I got divorced and had to move back to Chita. There I opened another store which was similar and also went well. Then I opened a language school and then I sold it. Later I was managing 5 AirBnBs. Then we were hit by the economic crisis of 2014 in Russia. People panicked; currency rates went high. Businesses were struggling. And somebody told me that it might be a good time for me to go to China, because English teachers were in demand over there. So that’s what I did. In China I met an investor who was looking to open an English school. And since I had the knowledge and the experience, that’s what I decided to do.
What difficulties did you face in China?
The Asian mentality is so different from the European mentality. I have Chinese roots: my great-grandfather was Chinese, and I also learned Chinese at school. It wasn’t my first time in China. But one thing is traveling to a country and another thing is to live there.
And that’s why you decided to move…
I finished my contract there as an English teacher and moved to Moscow, where I opened an English school with my partner. It was a big shift in my life: my life is divided into before and after I opened the school in Moscow.
How long were you in Moscow?
I think it was 5 years. And then I started to reinvent myself again. If I don’t like something, U change it. I didn’t like living in Moscow, I didn’t like living in Siberia, I didn’t like living in China. When I started to travel and see the world, I realized that I should keep going and that I should find a place that I could call home. And once I came to Mallorca, it was 2019. I kept meeting beautiful people who were always smiling, they were so nice and polite. They were happy and they were drinking wine. And I thought: oh my God, I want to live here, this is perfect. Then I went back to Moscow and started to think how I might sell my language school and move to Spain
What is your business now?
At the beginning of 2024, I started to work on my social media channels. I had experience in marketing, including social media marketing and advertising. And once my account started to grow people started asking me to do social media for them. So, then I was offered a big project for a Swedish real estate company and that’s what I’m doing now.
What plans do you have?
As a part-time hobby, I make shampoos and face creams, so my dream is to open a laboratory and produce natural and vegan cosmetics for women.
After a few years here in Mallorca, how do you feel?
When you move to another country, you lose your roots, and you don’t have roots in the new place. I’ve been living here for 3.5 years now and I’m still the foreigner here and everybody knows that I’m a foreigner. I don’t know if it will change some day and I become local here, because I have different facial features, light skin, and I speak with an accent. Emotionally inside I feel like a foreigner, though I’m trying very hard not to be. It’s difficult. But it’s a struggle.
Text by Anastasia Barysheva
