Finding Your Path When Life Has Other Plans

You know that saying about how life is what happens while you're busy making other plans? Well, my story is pretty much that saying on steroids.

I'm Korrine, and at 29, I've been a teenage fashion entrepreneur, a medical student in Ukraine, a war evacuee, and now a brand strategist. But let me start from the beginning.

The Early Years: When Plan A Isn't an Option

Picture a four-year-old girl arriving in the UK from Zimbabwe with big dreams of becoming a doctor. Fast forward to my teenage years, and I was that kid with great grades who still couldn't quite fit in. Anxiety, bullying, and a complicated immigration status as an asylum seeker meant that traditional paths were closed to me.

But here's the thing about closed doors – sometimes they force you to build your own entrance.

At 16, when no one would hire me, I started turning my friends' old jeans into studded hotpants. Yes, really. That DIY project turned into my first successful fashion brand. Not because I was some business genius, but because necessity truly is the mother of invention.

The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again)

By 19, I'd launched Korrine Sky Intimates, a lingerie brand born from seeing how the industry lacked representation. It blew up – we're talking magazine features, celebrity customers, viral drops. Classic success story, right?

Wrong.

Behind those glossy magazine pages was a mess of fulfillment delays, dropshipping disasters, and a founder (me) who was great at marketing but clueless about actually running a business. Twitter – oh, Twitter – dragged me by my singlets so hard that I still cringe thinking about it.

But here's what nobody tells you about public failure: sometimes it's the best teacher you'll ever have. It taught me humility, accountability, and that having a talent for marketing doesn't automatically make you a good business person.

The Plot Twist Nobody Saw Coming

Just when I thought I'd figured out my path (back to my original dream of medicine), life threw me the mother of all curveballs. I was in Ukraine, in medical school, engaged to a neurosurgeon, living what felt like a fairy tale – until Russia invaded.

The next few months were a blur of helping African students escape, speaking at the UN, raising $300,000 for evacuations, and somehow managing to keep it together while falling apart inside. Trauma, nightmares, flashbacks – the works. I don't remember much of that time, honestly. When people call it heroic, I just shrug. I was just being obedient to what God needed me to do in that moment.

The Depression Nobody Talks About

Here's the raw truth: I spent two years deeply depressed after leaving Ukraine. My dream of becoming a doctor felt like it was slipping away. Even when Cambridge offered me a place, the reality of having a new baby and no money meant I had to let that dream go too.

Rock bottom? It felt more like rock bottom's basement.

Finding My Way Back

Sometimes the hardest part of starting over is admitting that you need to. I had to do some serious soul searching. My self-esteem was shot, and I felt lost. But when I looked back at my journey – from those DIY hotpants to viral marketing campaigns – one thing kept showing up: my knack for branding and strategy.

So I took a bet on myself. Again.

That's how KS Creatives was born. Now I work with global brands, local businesses, and entrepreneurs, helping them tell their stories. But more importantly, I get to be the mentor I needed when I was that clueless 19-year-old with big dreams and zero business knowledge.

The Lesson Nobody Tells You

Here's what I've learned: Success isn't about avoiding failures or taking the "right" path. It's about being brave enough to start over, humble enough to learn from your mistakes, and resilient enough to keep going when life throws you curveballs.

Every morning, I wake up with two goals: be creative and do my best. That's it. No grand five-year plans (been there, done that, got interrupted by a war). Just showing up, using everything I've learned, and helping others avoid some of the pitfalls I fell into.

Because maybe that's what all those detours were about – not just finding my path, but being able to help others find theirs.

And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

Korrine Sky is the founder of KS Creatives, a brand strategy agency helping businesses tell authentic stories that connect. When she's not working with clients, you'll find her creating content, documenting life's adventures, and sharing unfiltered thoughts about marketing, entrepreneurship, motherhood, and everything in between across social media. Consider her your virtual business bestie who's been through it all and isn't afraid to tell it like it is.