‘The most important thing is to make him proud’
Yuliia Tyshevych takes over as USA Luge’s Marketing Manager
LAKE PLACID — As USA Luge’s new Marketing Manager Yuliia Tyshevych sat at her desk inside the organization’s office Tuesday, everything was neat and orderly.
It’s an unusual sight for the USA Luge office. The former marketing manager, Dmitry Feld, who died on Jan. 10, wasn’t known for having the most tidy workspace in his more than 30 years of working with the organization.
While Feld is no longer there and there’s now a clean desk where he once sat — at least before the USA Luge office underwent construction in 2019 — his impact still resonates through the building.
For Tyshevych, a Ukraine native and Lake Placid resident, he was a father, a brother or a friend to all people.
“Anything I had ever a question (about) or needed help with anything and I called him for help, he had a solution to everything,” she said. “I never felt like, ‘What is he going to think?’ or ‘He’s going to say no.’ I always knew he was going to help and he always had a solution. I don’t know how, but he’d always have a solution.”
The position had been left vacant by the organization since January, until Tyshevych was hired. She admitted that she’s a little nervous about replacing Feld. She said she has “some big shoes to fill.”
“Because he did a lot for me, for my family, for my friends, for everyone in town and a lot of people are trying to do whatever they can to make him proud,” Tyshevych said. “For me, it’s an honor and the most important thing is to make him proud.”
Tyshevych first met Feld when she moved to Lake Placid on a J-1 visa in 2016. While she eventually made this village her permanent home, it wasn’t until the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 that the two became really close. She helped Feld during his many fundraisers and aid drives for their shared home country.
“We worked on humanitarian missions together and packed humanitarian aid and sent it to Ukraine,” she said. “We did fundraisers together and stuff like that and interviews to try and let our community know about what is really going on in Ukraine.”
Tyshevych became a part of the core group of local immigrants that were frequently called upon by Feld to help with humanitarian efforts. He returned the favor when she volunteered for the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games.
Tyshevych was an attache, a support staff member, for the Ukranian team during the FISU Games. She translated for them and showed them around. Even though Feld wasn’t officially volunteering during the FISU Games, he did what he typically would do and helped out anyway.
“We helped them get set up with their things at the Shipman Youth Center when Dmitry was over there. He did a lot of things with them too,” she said.
During her time working with Feld, he got her hooked on the sport of luge.
“We would pack humanitarian aid at his house and he would tell us about this trip and that trip or World Cup and World Championships,” she said.
When the FIL Luge World Cup came to Lake Placid in December 2023, Feld gave Tyshevych and her family tickets to the event.
“I went there with my mom and my cousin and we watched the World Cup,” she said. “We were there for three days from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and just watched the whole thing. He introduced us to the Ukrainian national luge team and I became friends with them, we’re still in touch.”
From that point on, she said she began to watch and follow every single World Cup. Her passion for the sports, along with her background in marketing, helped her earn the role as the marketing manager.
When she first came to Lake Placid in 2016, she worked at The Haus on Main Street. She first started as a housekeeper and eventually climbed the ladder to be the hotel’s general manager.
She was responsible for overseeing all hotel activities, finances and marketing. She also oversaw a hotel-wide renovation project through completion while staying within budget. In June, she began to develop a bit of passion for marketing.
“I was curious about marketing so I did take a couple of courses having no idea that I’d be taking this job,” she said.
In the role with USA Luge, she’ll manage the existing partnerships and sponsorships for the organization as well as plan and execute marketing events, fundraisers, USA Luge recruitment events — such as the White Castle Slider Search — and assist with the creation of digital content.
Tyshevych officially started working for USA Luge last week.