Natalia Sevets-Ermolina

Coordinator, Reforum Space Budva

Natalia Sevets-Ermolina is a journalist, feminist, and LGBTQ+ activist.

She was born in Moldova, grew up in Ukraine, and studied at the Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow, Russia. She worked in Karelian media and published her own glossy magazine.

In 2015, Ms. Sevets-Ermolina created an independent space called Agriculture_club. This venue hosted lectures, discussions, and lectoriums that drew significant attention from the local Cossacks and provoked an assault by the law enforcement on the “Smart Friday” lectorium following a lecture on transgender individuals. She has been threatened and persecuted since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

In October 2022, the police charged Ms. Sevets-Ermolina with “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces” for the first time. Now, she has eight “discreditation” charges to her name.

Ms. Sevets-Ermolina was forced to flee Russia in November 2022. In April 2023, she was designated a “foreign agent” by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for supporting Ukraine.

Ms. Sevets-Ermolina has been a part of the Reforum Space network since the opening of Reforum Space Budva on September 24, 2023. Her areas of expertise include community building and facilitation of lateral communication within an organization.