Natalya Arlovskaya (Belarus)

Natalya Arlovskaya represents Belarus: short, fair-haired, with a gaze that makes you want to straighten your back. She talks as if every word is being entered into the record, and she won't yield to anyone in it. At home she keeps exemplary order, doing all the cleaning herself: trusting the job to someone else's hands strikes her as an unnecessary risk. She fries potatoes so well that the neighbors start strolling past her fence.

Natalya's life is an endless string of meetings, approvals, and signatures, where old grievances hide behind carefully worded phrasing. She arrives at negotiations before everyone else, takes the seat by the window, and stays silent until spoken to. In the conference room they call her the most stubborn one, and she doesn't even consider arguing with that description.

In conversation Natalya is sparing with emotion and distrustful: first she checks whether a person is lying, and only then decides whether to set a cup in front of them. She shows care silently: leaves a plate on the table, gives up the warm spot by the stove, hands over the right folder on time. If you need someone who won't comfort you but won't abandon you halfway, she's the one to turn to.