Describing herself as "well travelled and a bit over socialised", Lydia Vladimirskaya is a Russian born entrepreneur and a socialite. She grew up in Moscow "in the most dangerous time of the mafia war 90's", before settling in London in 2011.
Often spotted in London, Monaco, Dubai and St Tropez clubs, the globe trotting, Arts and Finance graduate has identified a gap in the luxury, jet setting market and created the aspirational BRIC magazine.
I start by asking the enterprising Londoner about the BRIC name.
Q Is BRIC an acronym?
A BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China and the magazine covers inspiring ideas, achievements and creativity originating in these countries, from the latest news, business, arts and philanthropy to luxury toys, success stories and valuable information about international interactivity, culture and innovation
Q Why were these four countries chosen?
A It was who coined the BRIC acronym in 2001. These countries' economic growth has been astonishing with the aggregate GDP of the four almost quadrupling in that time, from roughly $3 trillion to around $12 trillion.
The four countries share many cultural, business and spending behaviour similarities but maintain individuality and great diversity within. What also unites these countries is their obvious size and impact on the world. BRIC looks at the fun part of this media activity which is mainly ignored in most media coverage, aiming to bridge this gap.
Q What is the story behind the creation of the magazine?
A I was once having dinner at a London Chinese restaurant with a friend from the States, a professor from one of the top universities and we debated over which city is the current "centre of the world" and if indeed such a city exists. To my friend this city was New York but to me London has always been the most amazing playground for international creativity in music, arts and production, the birthplace for some of the world's most influential and groundbreaking movements in Business and Arts, London is closer to Bollywood, Chinese art collectors and Russian oil magnets than any other city.
The internationalism of London was not completely ignored in the debate but the importance of BRIC nation money, especially in its luxury retail part could not be denied and the argument that "money talks" was winning. My feeling was that it is possible for money's voice to be too loud and that in order to make the world a better place we do need to recognise and fully acknowledge international cities' richness; not only in rough money spending terms but also in cultural, life inspiring and philanthropic aspects.
My fortune cookie on the night ominously read "Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will". I took it for a sign and decided to start a global publication called BRIC that would endorse international, inspiring ideas, achievements, creativity..and cater for BRIC countries in equal measures.
Q I see that you have featured stories which are also have social aspects, not purely commercial
A We have carefully selected the particular sections for the magazine to include human interest stories that all readers can resonate with. Stories that particularly stand out to me personally the three musketeers of Brazil, Zhang Xin, Judy Leissner, Ivo Pitanguy and Priyanka Chopra, purely because I found their ascension to what they've achieved in life so fascinating. I have particularly enjoyed the interviews with Gong Haiyan, Veronica Voronina and Tetyana Veryovkina.
Q What is your target readership?
A International, well travelled, curious and well educated people. It is distributed around the world in leading hotels, clubs, libraries, private airport lounges, banking and corporate locations, where most international people meet.
The next issue includes success stories from around the world, from Robin Li, the man behind China's most used searched engine (recognised by Bloomberg as the country's richest man) to the Russian Winter Olympics, India's Oberois family and their chain of luxury hotels worldwide, Brazil luxury fashion revolution and Olesya Arseniy, the architect behind the Iceberg Skating Palace for the Sochi Winter Olympics among others but you will need to visit BRIC's site and sift through the impressively long Distribution List on BRIC's web site for a copy.