Elena Sai was born in Ukraine. Elena began studying cosmetology at the age of nineteen, when she met her future husband Anatoly. Elena had always been interested in cosmetics and in high fashion magazines, but after learning that Anatoly was a former officer of the F.B.I, she decided to give up her academic career and pursue a career in cosmetology. Elena and Anatoly got married in December, 1994 and within a short time both Anatoly and Elena started working as cosmetologists. Elena’s family had a substantial Russian influence on her childhood and she became deeply involved in the community affairs of her village. Elena did not think much of her status as an ethnic minority woman, because her husband was a national hero and had risen to be prime minister.
Elena began dating a boy from the countryside of Kyiv who became her partner and later turned out to be Anatoly. Elena remained very much under the spell of Cosmetics and never developed a true liking for men. It is obvious that Elena had never considered marrying a man outside her nationality, in fact she was quite happy if her husband Anatoly travelled to far countries on business trips. Elena did not let herself fall in love with anyone of Russian descent, as she thought it would be a betrayal of her father and her nationality.
When Elena finally reached her early fifties, she began considering marrying again. However, as her marriage approached it became clear to Elena that she could not consider marriage to a national of another race. Elena had been lucky in her younger years as her mother was born in Ukraine and was able to get nationality papers easily. Elena’s father had died when she was fifteen and Elena had always longed to return home to her family but by this time she was too old to visit her father’s homeland. Elena and her son never visited her father’s homeland.