Yasha Shatalov, MA in Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, Class of 2023

Where do you work and what is your current position?
I am an Operations Manager at DHL Supply Chain. When you hear DHL, you probably think of the red and yellow delivery vans (Express). DHL Supply Chain is a sister company to DHL Express and is a leading player in the 3PL [third-party logistics] space. To put it simply, we run warehouses for a variety of companies in just about every industry and region you can think of. It is very likely that you interact with dozens of things every day that came through a warehouse we operate, without even knowing it.

Tell us how you got there.
Near the end of my time in the CSEEES program I came across a posting for an operations supervisor position at DHL. I thought it sounded interesting and something that fit well with the work experience I had previously. A combination of consistent performance and being open to new challenges goes a long way at DHL and has enabled me to move up within the organization.

How has your CSEEES MA helped you throughout your post-graduate life?
I think that the core skills that every CSEEES grad learns would be quite useful in a diverse range of career paths. The information synthesization and research skills I developed in the program have been a key factor in my success so far. To do my job well, I need to have a holistic understanding of how our operation and systems work. When something goes wrong, I need to understand everything that contributed to the problem to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Often this involves digging through records and piecing together information from multiple sources to create a coherent explanation. It turns out that spending dozens of hours painstakingly researching obscure topics related to Eastern Europe makes you pretty good at this kind of thing.

What was your focus or research interest when you studied at Ohio State?
I focused on contemporary Russian economics and politics. Specifically, I researched the impact of sanctions on Russia’s automobile industry.

If you are a traveler, what is one of your favorite trips you have taken?
Last October I spent three weeks in Europe. Looking back, it had an Austro-Hungarian Empire theme, although it wasn’t planned that way. I don’t have much background knowledge of the Balkans, but I saw enough to know that I need to go back and spend some more time there. Budapest was great as well.

What are your future plans?
I plan to stay with DHL Supply Chain long term. I never thought I would be working in logistics, but two years in I don’t think I could see my career in any other way. The combination of autonomy and responsibility isn’t something I think I could do without. I have made one move with the company so far and have had the chance to live in a place I probably never would have otherwise. I plan to keep taking these opportunities as they come and hopefully end up in a place with a mountain view. 

What inspires you? 
Going through the day-to-day monotony and coming out on the other side with the knowledge that the time and energy spent is moving me in the direction I want to be going.