For a while, it seemed Miroslava Duma could do no wrong. The entrepreneur sat at the helm of some of fashion’s most influential companies and was lauded for her contemporary take on culture, art, and fashion. In 2018, however, the tide turned against the Russian businesswoman when she was accused of making a series of racially insensitive, transphobic, and homophobic comments. After a relatively quiet 2019, she hit the headlines again in early December when she revealed she’d been diagnosed with cancer earlier that year and given only seven months to live. Now believed to be in recovery, Duma appears to be enjoying a renewed zeal for life and has spoken about the new perspective her condition has given her. Learn more with these 10 fascinating facts.
1. She’s a serial entrepreneur
After gaining recognition as a Project Director at Harper’s Bazaar, Duma decided to pursue freelancing. Having worked for several years on the Russian editions of magazines such as Vogue, Tatler, Forbes Woman, and Glamour, she founded her own company, Buro 24/7, in 2011 – a website dedicated to art, architecture, cinema, fashion, music, and style. Six years later, the company acquired a controlling interest in the fashion magazine System; that same year, Duma launched the investment and technology firm Future Tech Lab (FTL).
2. She’s a major investor
In addition to her main assets of Buro24/7 and Future Tech Lab, Duma has built up an extensive portfolio of investments. To date, her most notable investments have included Reformation, Dropel Fabrics, RewardStyle, and Finery. Evidently a woman who likes to stay busy, she also serves on the board of Diamond Foundry in San Francisco and is a mentor at New York Fashion Tech Labs.
3. She was given 7 months to live
According to an Instagram post by Duma in early December, she was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer in early 2019. According to the prognosis, she had only seven months to live. ‘Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with a rare lung disease and given seven months to live,’ she wrote. ‘It was incredibly scary then, but looking back, I realize that the past few months of recovery have been some of the happiest months of my entire life. I stopped running the rat race. I realized how much I love life, how beautiful our world is, and how much I want to stay here with the people I love.’ Duma, who didn’t elaborate on what her specific diagnosis was or what her new prognosis is, then went on to note that an unfortunate mistake made by her attorney had contributed to her diagnosis, although again, she left us hanging about what that mistake was.
4. She’s been accused of racism
In 2018, Duma came under fire after sharing a message sent to her by designer Ulyana Sergeenko to her Instagram story. The message read “To my ni**as in Paris”, a reference to the song of the same name by Kanye West and Jay-Z. As a result of the ensuing media storm, Duma was removed from her position on the board of The Tot, a children’s company she co-founded with Nasiba Adilova in 2015, and dropped from Buro 24/7.
5. She caused outrage in the LGBTQ community
The controversy of 2018 wasn’t the only time Duma had made a blunder with her choice of words. Within a few hours of her posting her divisive Instagram comment, a video surfaced of Duma in 2012 at a lecture titled “Fashion in the Internet Era” in Moscow hosted by the BrainON Intellectual Club. When a journalist quizzed her on her thoughts about blogger Bryanboy’s style and transgender model Andreja Pejic modeling swimsuits, Duma replied that she thought the pair were “strange” and should be “regulated” in case they caused the wrong kind of influence on young boys. “Seeing that video was really shocking,” Bryanboy told Elle after the video emerged.
“I have incredible respect for Mira. She’s someone I look up to. What she’s done in this industry is admirable. So, to see her speaking in front of young people and espousing homophobic and transphobic views? It’s appalling. It’s wrong.”
6. She issued an apology
Shortly after the storm broke over her transphobic and racist comment, Duma issued an apology. “I sincerely apologize for my regrettable Instagram story that went out. The phrase referenced is from a Kanye West and Jay Z song by the same title. The word is utterly offensive, and I regret promoting it and am deeply sorry. I unequivocally detest racism or discrimination of any kind and respect people of all backgrounds. My organizations and I are committed to our core values of inclusion, diversity, and respect.” She later went on to issue a similarly contrite statement of apology in reference to the video from 2012, saying that she had since “grown” as a person and that the comments from earlier that decade were not representative of who she is today.
7. Don’t call her a socialite
Despite being a regular on the international fashion circuit, Duma has always laughed off the idea of her being some party-loving “It girl.” “For me, yes, the socialite label did bother me as it couldn’t be further from the truth,” she told BoF. “You’ll never see me drinking or dancing at fashion parties… After all the shows, presentations, meetings, and business dinners [during fashion week], I’m straight back to the hotel tucking my kids into bed.”
8. She’s a serial philanthropist
In addition to her title as an “influencer”, Duma can also proudly declare herself a committed philanthropist. She is a board member of Natalia Vodianova’s Naked Heart Foundation, was part of the host committee for the 2017 Stanford Philanthropy Innovation Summit, and is the founder of Peace Planet – a foundation providing medical aid and relief to children in need.
9. She’s an in-demand public speaker
Duma is highly sought-after as a keynote speaker due to her international renown. In addition to appearing on panels at the Financial Times Business of Luxury, DLD conference in Munich, Vogue Fashion Festival in London, and New York Academy of Sciences: The Change Fashion Challenge, she organized and moderated a panel on the “New Era of Commerce and Trade” at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
10. She has three children
Duma and her fellow Russian entrepreneur, Aleksey Mikheev, joyfully share a marriage blessed with three wonderful children.
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