WE Convention 2025: Valentina Lipskaia, Founder, Dzeny "What started out as a personal mission tremendously grew into something bigger than one-to-one therapy and today Dzeny gives people around the world access to timely support anytime, anywhere."

This article is featured in our special WE Convention 2025 supplement, a collaborative publication by the WE Council and Entrepreneur Middle East.

Valentina Lipskaia had already landed herself a stable —and as she herself puts it, "solid" — corporate job as a top manager in the oil and gas industry when she was hit with the realization that mental health at workplaces was being significantly brushed under the carpet. "The risk was obvious: Giving up stability and choosing a field where nothing was guaranteed," she recalls.

Lipskaia, who is a Clinical Psychologist, Gestalt Therapist, and ICF-Certified Coach, thus spent years helping people in their most vulnerable moments. That path eventually led her towards founding Dzeny, a 24/7 mental health support app created together with clinical psychologists. "What started out as a personal mission tremendously grew into something bigger than one-to-one therapy and today Dzeny gives people around the world access to timely support anytime, anywhere."

With an MBA in Psychological Guidance and Counselling and a professorship in Business Psychology and Coaching, Lipsakaia thus combined her clinical insight with entrepreneurial vision. In designing Dzeny, she says she ensured that the platform would "leave no one alone with their struggles and suffering."

"In other words, it's like having support in your pocket day and night," she says. "Apart from that, it also offers companies a huge upgrade in their social package for the employees, basically a way to look after the well-being of their team, whether that is burnout, sick leave or anxiety, and eventually skyrocket their profit. And again, for me, that feels like a natural extension of what success means today. Looking after your mental health as much as you do your physical health. Don't chase more but build something that makes life a little steadier and kinder for others."

When asked to share advice to other women considering a similar leap of faith in their careers, Lipskaia reminds them to be more mindful of their monetary spending styles. "For me it's very straightforward: save early and keep a proper cushion," she shares. "Spend on things that truly matter, like health, learning, and time with family. If it's a big purchase, I wait a little and see if I still want it. I pay attention to the promises I make as well, because every "yes" takes as much time as money. And yes, I try to be generous where I can, because it keeps everything else in balance."

CAREER "What I am most proud of, though, is not a title or an award, but those small, deeply human moments — like when a client tells me they've slept peacefully for the first time in years, or when a father or a mother shares they can finally enjoy dinner with their children without fear."

MONEY "If I'm being honest, the hardest monetary decision was learning to invest in myself. I used to buy things for everyone else without a thought, even expensive watches for my family, but I would never spend it on myself! Learning to put money into my own health, training and experiences felt almost selfish in the beginning, but it changed the way I live and work. It taught me that the way we treat ourselves financially goes hand in hand with valuing ourselves in every other part of life."

LIFE "In life, I think making the best out of it comes down to the little things that you can actually stick to. For me it is switching off the phone for ten/twenty minutes, enjoying my favourite drink kefir or taking a walk with my husband. And I also never allow work to take away my time with my children. And when I feel frustrated, I just name it and let it go rather than turning it against myself or those around me. The advice I would give is basically simple: Give yourself time to rest, keep your body moving, talk to people you trust and listen to yourself before you get lost in all the noise around you. And that is exactly why Dzeny is there — to give you a daily check-in tool, a safe space where they can track your emotions and receive practices that really help prevent burnout before it actually happens."

SUCCESS "At first I thought success was about getting more and more, more titles, more recognition. Now I see it quite differently. For me, success is about helping people while also protecting my health,my family, as well as my freedom. And this belief is what has shaped Dzeny too."