12.12.2025
The Energy Club forum “THE ENERGY OF WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP: Women Holding Ukraine’s Energy Frontline” was held with great success in Kyiv, presenting the unique experience of female leaders in the Ukrainian energy sector amidst the full-scale war.
The speeches of the speakers—executives and leading experts in the energy sector, financial and legal spheres, as well as representatives of government and international organizations—revealed not only cases of overcoming professional challenges during blackouts and solutions that allowed businesses to adapt, survive, and plan for development. They became an inspiration and motivation for the event participants, as they contained warm and sincere stories from personal experience, as well as advice for young women just starting their path in energy.
Iryna Beresnieva, General Director of Tolk Ukraine LLC, right at the beginning of the event, during the first panel, set the tone for a candid, trusting conversation and charged the audience with the energy of optimism, resilience, and humanity, and the confidence that everything is possible if you feel the internal soft power within yourself and enlist the support of the team.
“Do you feel it? What is it? — she addressed the audience. — It is energy. And it is incredible. It is powerful in its weakness, at first glance. It is flexible and fluid. And it also knows how to adapt to changes and take a punch. Because this is female energy.
Today there will be no loud statements or big presentations from me about the market, energy storage installations, or new products. Today will be something slightly different — it will be about the heart, about trust, about people, and about how we, women in energy, live through crises together with the team and consumers. And about the incredible soul of the female energy community.
For energetic girls, for ladies, for women, it is very important to manifest themselves and not forget who we are. And we are Ukrainians. Recently I read a very interesting thing. A forum in support of Ukraine was taking place in Geneva, and a behavioral economics consultant said: the whole world is studying the peculiarities of the Ukrainian mentality with interest today — which are ingenuity, determination, and resilience. That is, we, Ukrainians, have already become an example of how to take a punch, how not to give up, and how to find solutions where, it would seem, there are none. And we live in this constantly and don’t even notice our strength.”
Ms. Iryna recounted how, from the first days of the full-scale invasion until now, she and her team have been working literally between two fires: on one side — destroyed generation, war, market volatility; on the other — consumers who want simple things: electricity, predictability, and honest professional communication.
“When mass outages began, there was no ‘ideal scenario,’ and every adequate supplier faced one important question: how to maintain consumer trust when it is impossible to guarantee them power 24/7? At the same time, the Tolk Group team had strong motivation and an internal mindset: the consumer must not remain in the dark — neither physically nor informationally.
Therefore, several fundamental decisions were made:
Ms. Iryna shared how she combines work with humanity: “By position, I have to think about thousands of megawatt-hours, cash gaps, imbalances, risks, and strategies. But in reality, every day I also think about my capable Tolk subordinates. Since long ago, when this was called ‘being summoned to the carpet,’ we already had and still have mandatory ‘one-to-one’ meetings now. This is not about control, not about a ‘report on what you did.’ This is about the question: ‘How are you? How are you really?’ In order to understand what colleagues live by, feel their state, see where they are holding on with their last strength, and give them support in time: with a word, a decision, or simply presence.
When we talk about crisis management, it is very easy to lose people behind numbers and charts. And I am convinced: there is no sustainable business without a sustainable team. I cannot change the market, I cannot cancel the war, I cannot lower the electricity price with one decision. But I can make sure my team feels that I am with them not only when everything is good, but also when it is scary, shameful, difficult, or painful. And this, in my opinion, keeps the company in balance.”
“I believe that the future of energy depends not only on technologies, decentralization, or storage systems, not only on what systems we implement. It also depends on what kind of leaders we are. Even informal ones. On what people will make decisions, — emphasized Iryna Beresnieva. — Yes, technologies today are a condition of survival. Artificial intelligence, digitalization, energy storage systems, RES, smart grids have become part of our lives. Technologies can calculate, optimize, give a signal. But they are incapable of making an unpopular decision in time, taking responsibility when there is no ‘right’ option. Leaders do all this.
A female leader in energy is not about softness instead of decisiveness. It is about decisiveness that is born from the depths. About the ability to make difficult decisions but not lose humanity in the process. About strength that does not scream, but holds. A female leader in energy today is not about opposing men. It is about a different style. Not about ‘banging on the table,’ but about holding the course, not letting go of the team, and not betraying one’s values.”
Separately, Ms. Iryna emphasized unity in difficult times: “We are all tired. Sometimes we want to get angry — at the market, at the rules, at decisions, at circumstances, at the fact that we are constantly ‘not given clarity.’ But anger, rejection, and constant skepticism destroy us from the inside. In a time of war, we cannot afford to fight each other. We must be in unity, in mutual respect, and in the understanding that war is not the end, it is a reset and the beginning of something new and bright. And we are worth it. Because we are Ukrainians. We are strong. We are free. We are incredible.”
“I really want every girl, every lady in energy who is doubting today whether to stay in this sphere or enter it, to hear: your voice, your presence, your female energy are needed here. Not later, not someday — but right now, — added the General Director of Tolk Ukraine LLC in conclusion, — and I am sure that the future of our energy sector, like the future of the country, will be what we make it ourselves — with our decisions, our values, and our ability to preserve humanity even when it is very dark around. Thank you for holding the energy front, and not only it, on your fragile shoulders. And thank you for that incredible energy we create together.”
Iryna Beresnieva’s speech at the Energy Club forum became one of those speeches that stay with the audience for a long time. At a time when the energy sector lives between uncertainty, risks, and daily challenges of war, her words returned the main thing to the participants — an understanding of their own strength. Strength that is born not from loud statements, but from humanity, responsibility, and the readiness to hold one’s people close even in the dark.
