TEAM MEMBERS
FOUNDERS & RETOUCHERS
Serhii Kostohryz
CEO of Rest&Touch Comp. / Dnipro, UA
Hello everyone, my name is Serhii, and I suppose I should start with something along the lines of «a founder and leader, whose personal success story was made through courage, strategic thinking, and entrepreneurial spirit»… Sure, there’s a bit of that in all of us, but these are just pretty words that don’t really tell who we are.
My story began when I entered the university on a scholarship, and my parents gave me the money intended for the first year of study as a kind of bonus for my efforts. And I couldn’t think of anything better than to buy a camera. That’s how I got more acquainted with photography and retouching, and over time, I realized that I could earn money from it by combining this activity with my studies.
I learned the basics and turned to my classmate, who was already working at a very well-known photo retouching service. I asked him to discuss my candidacy for a retoucher position and introduce us. But, alas, they didn’t hire me, citing that they had enough workers and the recruitment was closed for now. Initially, I was upset, but years later, I am grateful to them for this rejection! Because it was this that pushed me to create something of my own, perhaps not unique in its kind but definitely with its own features and, most importantly, of higher quality and with a truly individual approach.
Alexey Slovikovskyi
COO of Rest&Touch Comp. / Dnipro, UA
Alexey is my close friend and co-founder of the company, with whom we started this journey. He’s the same classmate I approached at the university to learn more about retouching. Since then, we’ve become good friends and are moving towards our goal together! It was his father who introduced him to retouching and restoration 20 years ago, although it’s hard to call that «retouching» in the same sense. The tasks and their solutions were quite different back then.
Alexey’s rich experience and unique creative vision allow him to develop our company. He is constantly striving for innovation to offer our clients the most advanced and beautiful results. Most importantly, he has the ability to inspire, educate, and manage our team, which allows us to exceed expectations and deliver truly amazing results in the shortest possible time! If it weren’t for his ability to pass on knowledge to others, our business would have failed, or there would be a completely different, chaotic level of retouching among all members of our team.
Andrey Aldoshyn
CCO of Rest&Touch Comp. / Dnipro, UA
Meet Andrey, an expert in operational management and strategic planning. Although he wasn’t with us from the very beginning, he was always needed, we just didn’t realize it! Now he ensures the efficient functioning of our team, guaranteeing the quality and timeliness of project execution. So, if there’s any force majeure, know that it’s all him. Okay, I’m kidding! His leadership, systematic approach, and vast experience help us achieve maximum operational efficiency.
But by the way, Andrey is also not someone we just hired, he’s my neighbor in the residential complex where I currently live. Our team grew with us, and we didn’t just aim to hire people. We wanted everyone we work with to be united both by the idea and by responsibility to each other. This allows us to back up and control each other! The team consists of people who, despite all the systematization and responsibility, make our business light and flexible, something our competitors lack!
Aleksandra Zaslavec
Retoucher — London, GB
Alexandra is a great retoucher who handles her tasks beautifully. We met at the lovely 128 cafés in Kyiv, where she was working on a project, and I was impressed by how meticulously she was choosing a cloud for a wedding photo. I was surprised because, seemingly, it’s a simple task, but she wanted it to be perfect. You have to agree that attention to detail is wonderful! We’ve known each other for almost three years now, and we’ve been working together all this time. Sasha currently lives in the UK, having found a more peaceful place due to the war in our country.
Anastasiia Kochura
Retoucher — Dnipro, UA
Anastasiia was working in a completely different field five years ago. But at one point she said, «I want to change everything» and she decided to learn retouching. Since then, she has smoothly integrated into our team, and now we value her greatly and won’t let her go anywhere! Thanks to her artistic education, Anastasia has a good understanding of working with color and light. This helps us make interesting color solutions for demanding clients!
Katya Stepchenko
Retoucher — Dnipro, UA
Katya, our classmate, was always quiet and unnoticeable, so she didn’t stand out for anything special at the university. But we just didn’t know about her creative nature. Unlike others, she was involved in theater and also found herself retouching. The theater has turned into a hobby, although it still holds an honorable second place in her heart. Perhaps these qualities help her quickly adapt to diverse work. She is a very versatile person and, therefore, irreplaceable on the team.
Valentyn Starykovskyi
Retoucher — Kyiv, UA
I’ve been working with Valentyn practically from the very beginning, which is already more than 6 years. He quickly understands what to do and how to do it, and the fact that, looking at a photo, he knows what the final result should be greatly simplifies communication. That’s what it means to work with someone for years! At the same time, Valentyn, like everyone on our team, is improving his skills. Over the past six years, Valentyn has learned a lot, which allows us to handle the most complex orders.
Katerina Sushchaia
Retoucher — Warsaw, PL
Katerina came into my life already in the professional sphere. During my student years, I organized photography contests where retouchers were paired with photographers. Alexey noticed back then how delicately she approached the editing process, as she consulted a lot with the photographer on how to best do certain things. Over time, when we thought about hiring staff, Katya was one of the first candidates. I would characterize her as goal-oriented and persistent, which allows her to perform sometimes extremely difficult tasks. She lives in Poland and works from there, but since she is originally from our home country, our communication is excellent. We appreciate and love her efforts, and I hope you will too!
Olya Hrudieva
Retoucher — Atlanta, USA
Olya is a bright example that borders in our world are just conventions. Alexey met her in an online game and spent hours in her company discussing games and their interests, but I had no idea that she was also a retoucher and quite a good one. After receiving a few tips from Alexey, she became a real professional in her field. Olya herself is originally from Ukraine but moved to Belarus due to personal circumstances. Now, after studying and working with us, she has moved to the USA and works from there, helping us find common ground with clients.
One more thing...
This is a slider for those who were interested and who have read up to this point. So we can share something secret. These are just photos from the last 10 years of our lives, which show all the members of our team, both together and separately.
We will definitely update this slider every year!
