Yelena Osin
This On The Verge is a little different this week. The Create.Repeat team went to NYC and interviewed random strangers in the park. This woman, Yelena was sitting at a bench and had a sign that read “FREE ADVICE,” instantly we were intrigued. Read on for the details of how Yelena went from working in Tech to offering free advice at a park.
Yelena Osin, 31, advice giver.
(Showing a sketch on her iphone) This is something I made maybe in the middle of Covid. I drew this out and I couldn't imagine how to set this up by myself and I didn’t want to involve anybody, so I just kept thinking about how to do it. So I finally went to the Chinese discount store and bought this table and this little chair today and made these posters last night and I am like, ‘I am a psycho and I am going to do this.’
Why advice? Are you a psychiatrist or something?
(Laughs) No, I am not. That is why I wrote unlicensed advice because I don’t want anyone to get the wrong expectations. I just feel like everytime I am able to talk to people I can just see through them and into them and give them exactly the information that they need and I just felt like a waste to just feel this and sit around. I have this energy inside that just feels like I want to be talking to people and help them get out of their own way.
Have you always been that way?
Yes, but I only do it with friends or family members. But I just feel like if I had a line of like 300 people then I could just like get some work done. I have like this really intense energy, I am almost bored and I want person after person after person. I want people here and I want them to sit down and I want to fucking help them.
Why do you feel the need to connect with them?
I just feel like I have information to tell them, like I am able to look at them and help them. It’s risky because I am questioning myself, “am I going to say the right thing?” but there is no way to prepare myself for this, it is literally impromptu, like you don't know who is going to sit across from you. Like I had a homeless man who was struggling from AIDS and he is like talking to me and I can tell that I like deeply moved this man. And you know everyone starts in a funny way, everyone is kind of playful, which I appreciate. But then you talk to them and it’s like they don’t want to leave. This guy sat on the bench and didn't want to move. Everyone comes up to me playfully but then leaves deeply moved.
The very first woman I talked to she teared up and I gave her a hug and it’s just really cool.
What do you feel like is the common theme between these strangers?
No one is actually ever honest about what is going on because they probably don't realize it. But the questions that they ask are very surface level, ‘should I date this guy,’ ‘should I move back home,’ or ‘should I work for myself or work for other people.’ The homeless gentlemen had other issues but the advice I gave him was basically just like - he is obviously very intelligent and very capable and very skilled but there must be a lesson that life is trying to teach him that he just refuses to learn, which is why she is just keeping him down so hard. She wants him to learn this lesson and you can tell by the look on his face that he was like ‘fuck there is something that I need to either start doing or stop doing, but I am refusing to do it.’
He knows internally.
Of course, everyone knows. So people will ask these questions but I try to get below that question to really understand what is happening. I am not going to engage with the actual question they are asking me.
What is your profession?
So I work in the tech industry, or I did, today was my last day. So I actually resigned and I actually resigned a year in advance. So I have been doing marketing for emerging tech for the last 14 years and I just love talking to people and giving them advice and I am just not going to go back to school and get a psychology degree or something like that. So I am not sure how else to express this energy. So it’s this! This is what I am doing until I figure out what is next.
Are you going to come here every single day?
I am here and then I am going back to Lisbon next week on Tuesday because that is where I live, but the job that I left is here, which is why I am in New York.
Are you going to do this in Lisbon?
No, I think I am just going to do this everyday for the next week and see how it feels and see how it goes and figure it out from there.
I think this is so profound, I think it is such a great idea. All of us are desperate to connect and I love talking to strangers about real shit.
Exactly. That is the fun stuff, all the small talk is just blah.
Have you had this guttural instinct to give advice since you were little?
Yeah, I always have. My moms friends would like to call her and ask what Yelena thinks. Since I was little, like 14 years old.
Does it just come to you?
I don't know, I try not to force anything. I try to be like a vessel for the universe. If I am sitting here and I am bored, I just ask the universe to send me whoever would need this. And in the meantime, I am just picturing a pink aura around me and everyone so it feels like love and a safe space.
We were watching the last guy that was sitting with you and his expression was so endearing, he seemed so touched.
Yeah, it really got through to him. I am laughing the whole time - I am having so much fun, I feel like a kid in a candy store. Just taking one person and breaking them down. Also I get the easy job just sitting here. These people have to get up and go do the work. They are doing the hard work.
Do you feel like you are hyper smart?
That’s very kind of you. That’s definitely what people have said about me before. My CEO sent an email out to everyone today that was like it’s Yelena’s last day, make sure you get her information and he wrote this whole email about the qualities I brought to the organization and the first thing he wrote was ‘her no bs attitude.’
What do you feel like you are on the verge of?
I don’t know, I had a caterpillar follow me like four times, four days in a row. So I am feeling like transformation is probably more appropriate. But literally a caterpillar. I was staying with my mom last week in Florida, and I was sitting outside on her patio, and the first day the caterpillar was in the chair so I picked a little branch and I moved it back into the grass. The second day I was sitting in that chair and he appeared on my leg out of nowhere. The third day, I was actually filming a video for her and it fell on my arm and freaked me out. And then the fourth day I was sitting outside and he fell down out of nowhere onto my chest. And it was the same caterpillar because he had this crazy pattern and I was like what the fuck is going on. Unless he is convinced he's a butterfly already, then why is he jumping off the roof and landing on me.
Is there a bit of advice that you would just tell everyone?
I think everyone knows the answer. I think that is the thing that I constantly find. People already know what they are supposed to do. Which is why at first I called it “advice you don’t need,” but then I thought that might be confusing, so I went with “need advice.” But yeah, you don’t need advice, I am just there to bring it out for you, but you already fucking know the answer. You are arguing with it, you are denying it, you are scared of it, but the answer is within you. You know the truth, it is already inside of you. You don’t actually need me.