VUGA Media Group President & Co-founder Victoria Unikel is excited by the globalization of her entertainment and tech companies.
Victoria Unikel started her media empire just a few years ago with several publications and a television channel dedicated to fashion. Today, her businesses have expanded into not one but two television channels available on all major streaming platforms (Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku TV), and last month, she also launched iOS apps for each of these channels. At the same time, VUGA Media Group reaches over 15 million unique monthly users across more than 90 publication sites. 24Fashion TVTM grew into a platform with millions of views, a place for emerging designers and top fashion masters. Gossip Stone TV is still only growing but already has reality and interview shows with A-list Hollywood celebrities and artists. Along with entertainment, she also co-founded Edison Aerospace, a tech company, and even co-authored several patents.
“I fell in love with each of my companies, each and every project and idea,” says Unikel. “Sometimes my husband calls me The Terminator because I am a workaholic, but for me it is a major adrenalin high! Making more and more money in business is just like leveling up in a video game. When we had just a few thousand visitors, I was dreaming about a million in a few years, maybe. A couple of months later we already had a million, and after a brief celebration, I set a new target – five million! It’s not that I can’t enjoy my successes; rather, I’m talking about the thrill of competing at the highest levels. I intend to get a lot further than I am right now. This is just the pre-workout stretch before hitting the gym hard!”
Being in entertainment her entire life, Victoria Unikel has already had a successful career as an actress in movies and TV shows in Europe and the US. At the same time, she was a singer and performer in her own show in Germany, where she also produced fashion events for her clothing line during Fashion Pop Up and other venues. This experience helped her in the fast-growing businesses she is running today, bringing together her lifetime of experience into a creative business that is now going global.
What is your short-term goal for VUGA Media Group?
To go global, of course! We run American companies, but we also live in a time where everyone and everything in the world is interconnected. I wanted to connect with businesses around the world as well to grow my companies. We already covered the whole world, but now we are physically in the United Arab Emirates as well, with a partnership with Business Media Group, a Dubai company. I have huge plans for Europe and the MENA region!
Do you have business plans for Monaco or EU in general?
Of course! But this is in the future. Now I have a good feeling about Dubai as a business and cultural boom town. Where else could I be? Of course, I choose the best options for all my projects! My husband Gene Avakyan, with whom we co-founded all our businesses, is also a talented inventor. He infected me with the inventor’s bug, or maybe it is just a side of me I never knew about before. Together with him, we created an aviation company where my role was very small at first. But now we filed a patent idea of my own, so I can proudly say that I am an inventor as well. I’ve always been compared to the famous actress Hedy Lamarr for our similar looks, but very few people know about her life’s story and how many inventions she is credited with, so now I can be compared to her as an inventor as well!
Do you ever rest?
Why?… But seriously, if you adore what you do, you don’t feel that you are “working” at all. You just feel alive. I meditate every day using my own secret techniques, so if this counts as “rest” then, yes, I rest every day! My motto is “life is too short to be boring”, so let’s roll!
Credits:
Photographer and Stylist: Sasha Blaim
Make Up: Oksana Drobysheva
Photoshoot Producer: Airy Gold