About Big Dreams
Built on passion, driven by purpose.
Big Dreams Children’s Foundation was founded with a simple goal: to help children in need live healthier, safer, and more hopeful lives.
What began as a shared commitment has grown into a global effort supporting children through education, medical care, and essential resources — all powered by a dedicated, volunteer-driven team.
Helping children dream bigger every day
Ksenia Smetanenko
President
Ksenia was born in Moscow, Russia, and is a former Olympic figure skater. She lost her mother to breast cancer at a young age, and shortly thereafter a close relative was left disabled following a car accident. These formative experiences shaped her deep awareness of the challenges faced by orphans and children with disabilities.
After years of organizing fundraisers for a variety of causes, Ksenia is now devoted to advancing her philanthropic mission through Big Dreams Children’s Foundation.
Lena McMahan
Chief Executive Officer
Lena McMahan was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine. As a teenager, Lena moved to Germany with her family. Upon graduating from high school, Lena decided to pursue her college education in the US. In 2003, she graduated with high honors from Iona College in New York, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance. After a brief career in the hedge fund industry, Lena found success as an entrepreneur, founding a modeling agency and events management company in Dubai, UAE. She managed the company until family obligations led her to return to the US two years later.
Once back in the US, Lena met Ksenia and found that they had a shared vision: to leave a legacy of positive influence on children worldwide through financial, educational, medical and developmental support.
Tatiana Shakhray
Board Member
Tatiana Shakhray was born in Krasilov, Ukraine in 1980 and now resides in Kaliningrad, Russia with her husband and two kids. She is a professional interpreter and teacher in English and French. Currently, Tatiana works as a regional sales manager for an international company manufacturing drinking water equipment. Tatiana joined Big Dreams Children’s Foundation in 2011 because of her passion to help children in need.
Angela Pogosian
Board Member
Angela Pogosian was born in Russia and moved to the US in 1997, where she graduated from Iona College in 2003. As an accountant, she has specialized in expatriate taxes for the past 12 years. Angela currently lives in Connecticut. She joined Big Dreams Foundation in order to help children who live in orphanages that cannot afford the medical and housing costs required to sustain a stable upbringing.
Elina Conley
Board Member
As a scientist and engineer, Elina spends her days finding solutions to technological problems to enable scientific research. Elina joined BDCF to help improve the human condition for disadvantaged children across the world. In addition to BDCF, Elina has been involved with Campanella Educational Center and Children's Choir for over a decade.
Elina is originally from Odessa, Ukraine, was educated in Israel and currently resides in Chicago.
Marina Vasilyeva
Board Member
Marina Vasilyeva was born and raised in Russia, has an Accounting Degree from Economics Technical College and graduated from Cheboksary State University with a Degree in Economics. She works as an Accountant as well as coaches girls Gymnastics at the Darien YMCA in Connecticut. It is her true passion to coach kids and she selflessly dedicates herself to ensuring that kids in low income families receive life saving medical care.
Svetlana Kozlova
Board Member
Svetlana was born in USSR in 1977 and came to United States when she was 15 years old. She graduated from Wayne State University with Bachelor of Fine Arts with concentration in graphic design. She currently resides in South Florida with her daughter Aleksandra. Svetlana loves helping others. She has been involved with Big Dreams Children’s Foundation since 2015 as a donor and volunteer before joining the board of directors in 2021.
Viktoriia Terentieva
Program Lead
Viktoriia has joined our team in 2018 and will be leading programs for orphans with disabilities at one of the Ukraine’s orphanages in the Odessa region. Viktoriia has a lot of experience working with special needs children as she is an aunt to a child with cerebral palsy and is very passionate about helping children with disabilities reach their full potential.
Nicholas S. Pappas
Technology, Marketing & Fundraising
Nicholas joined Big Dreams in 2012 to promote the support and well being of orphaned children. He believes in giving back and providing a genuine service to others. As an entrepreneur, this standard continues to be instrumental in the success of both his clients and within his own companies. Nicholas currently provides Big Dreams with technology, marketing, and fundraising assistance. The goal is to build a network of advocates and supporters which will enable Big Dreams to help these children mature into independent, thriving individuals. “I feel blessed to promote an organization where 100% of donations and efforts are directly applied to children in need.”
Yelena Lamm
Creative Director
Yelena is an artist and graphic designer. A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, she moved to the U.S. in 1995 with her family and currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA. She joined the Big Dreams team in 2015 to provide design services for online and printed materials. Yelena's design experiences include branding for non-profit adoption agencies, Adopt-A-Child International, Inc. and REEAA (Russian Eastern European Adoption Agency, Inc.), as well as Yevgeny Girel Orphans Foundation, Inc. Currently, she is an art director for Lammily LLC, an innovative startup company which creates realistically-proportioned fashion dolls and accessories to promote positive body image for young kids. “Knowing that my work helps a great cause always makes me happy.”
Tatyana Hixon
Finance & Operations
Tatyana was born in Latvia and came to the US in middle school. She grew up in Brooklyn and holds a BBA, summa cum laude, in Accounting, from the Zicklin School of Business of Macaulay University at Baruch College. Tatyana has spent her career to date in the construction and real estate sector delivering audit and accounting services at an international public accounting firm . She is an avid nature photographer with a love of the ocean and traveling. She lives in Connecticut with her family. Being around kids is always fascinating and inspiring. All children are a gift and are to be cherished and nourished. Meeting Lena McMahan proved to be infectious. Her love and care for the well-being of all the kids the foundation has helped and hopes to help in the future is amazing.
Natalie Gonchar
Community Outreach
Driven by a deep passion for helping others, Natalie is a graduate school student pursuing a Master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. She is an award-winning children’s book author and freelance journalist. She has been with Big Dreams since 2013, first as a volunteer, then a Junior Board member, then a Junior Board President. After enrolling in a master’s program at the university she transitioned into Our Team. All the knowledge and experience she has gained over the years now help her handle community outreach.
As a youth-serving organization we felt the need to have a team of young leaders helping us in as many ways as possible, bringing a fresh perspective, reinforcing our mission and values, tapping into new networks, and providing a voice on behalf of the population being served by our organization. Anyone between 14 and 21 years of age who has already volunteered for us 100+ hours can apply.
Victoria Gonchar
Chair
Victoria has been dedicated to community service since a very young age, starting as a volunteer and later joining the Junior Board. In 2025 she was elected Chair of the Junior Board continuing her mission to make a lasting difference in children’s lives. Victoria is a certified human rights consultant and certified anti human trafficking consultant with the US Institute of Diplomacy and Human Rights. She is a proud recipient of two President’s Volunteer Service Awards and US Congressional Award.
Kailey (Sasha) McMahan
Vice Chair
Sasha has been a longtime supporter of all of Big Dreams’ missions and decided to take the lead and create new initiatives to change children’s lives. Her goal is to make a big and long lasting impact.
Ashton Hillman
Member
Ashton has volunteered for Big Dreams for several years before joining the junior board. He is helping plan and set up fundraising events in Dallas, TX.
Emma Shakhnazaryan
Member
Emma is passionate about giving kids the opportunities they need to grow and succeed. She is excited to support Big Dreams in creating change for children everywhere and hopes to create a positive difference in many people’s lives.
Kristina Kohut
Member
Motivated by her Ukrainian heritage and a belief in every child's right to love and opportunity, Kristina connects children affected by the Ukraine crisis with resources for healing and education, empowering them to rebuild their lives.
Alana Stuart
Member
Alana inspired from her trip to an orphanage in Honduras , Nuevo Paraíso, where she volunteered at the local clinic and spent time with the residents of the orphanage, aimes to establish a bright and successful future for the clinic.
Jasper Graf Beissel von Gymnich
Member
Jasper is a student at Staples High School in Westport, CT, who enjoys sports, travel, and foreign languages. He believes that conflict should never rob anyone of their right to learn. His focus is on supporting educational programs for students in war zones and war-torn regions working to ensure that even in the hardest circumstances, students may have access to the opportunities they need to build a future.
