Christina's Journey From Kharkiv to Oxford's Cleaning Services

I'm Christina. If you'd told my younger self—the one in Kharkiv who wanted to study law—that I'd end up running a domestic cleaning service in Oxford, I wouldn't have believed it. It didn't go in a straight line.

I grew up in the 90s in Kharkiv. Soviet times were still in the air; things were changing but slowly. My mother taught Russian at the university. People looked up to her. Then, as politics shifted, that same job started to get sideways looks. At our table we spoke Ukrainian and Russian both; the tensions were there, but she gave me something lasting—respect for different languages and cultures.

I went to university set on law. Then I got pulled in another direction: hospitality. I loved it. A good meal, a tidy room, a place that felt cared for—that mattered to me. I didn't know it would become my job.

On 24 February 2022 everything changed. The invasion. Kharkiv was hit hard. I had to leave. I came to Oxford with almost nothing.

That hospitality itch didn't go away. I needed work; I also wanted to do something that meant something. So I started Christina's Cleaners. The team is from Oxford and nearby—people with stories a bit like mine. We clean homes. We also try to do it in a way that builds trust and actually helps the people doing the work.

These days we're not just "a cleaning company." Clients get a consistent team, a clear standard, and the knowledge that they're supporting something built on fair treatment and real care. Our house cleaning in Oxford and the surrounding area is what we do—from Kharkiv to here, law student to hospitality to this, it's been a lot. But we're here, and we're still at it, one home at a time.