Hi all. I'm usually a lurker, but... Anna's video was recommended to me by Youtube a while ago and straightaway I wondered why this Russian woman (I'm a native speaker, I recognised the accent immediately) with an immense amount of fillers was pretending to be living her life among the high class and the wealthy. She so clearly had no idea what she was on about. I've only just found out about her seminars or whatever she is flogging - now it makes sense. She is the Robert Kiyosaki of the instagram age.
Anyway. Information. The fact that she lies about her life made me wonder. I've found a few things but forgive me if some/all of this is already known to you - I've not read all the threads in depth.
- Someone asked about finding Anna's book. I noticed that it no longer exists on Amazon. I could not find it on Google but I could very easily find it on Bing (you know, the search engine no one ever uses). I won't give the link but it was literally the first search result I got when searching for the book name and author and "pdf".
- I was curious about her childhood (mostly because she lies about it). A few people speculated about her surname. She would've arrived in Sweden when she was 4-5 years old in 1991 (the date is on Anna's mother's CV on one of the websites where she advertises her legal services). Assuming her mother than married someone called Raty, Anna could have easily adopted her stepfather's name informally, and later changed her name by deed poll (just by an application to the government to change her name legally). This is exactly what I did (not in Sweden, but another 'developed country' and it was not remotely problematic). When a woman takes her minor child out of the country for permanent residence, she needs the father to give approval - so Anna's father, if he was alive, would've have had to give the permission but he did not have to legally "disown" his child for her to informally use her stepfather's name. Also, this was the 1990s. Paperwork was easier back then, with significantly less to no computerisation.
- Her mother has a Russian language YouTube channel where she gives broad guidance on legal matters in relation to immigration and life in Sweden. In the intro she said that she's been living in Sweden for around 30 years. Anna is 34, I believe. I feel uncomfortable posting the link to the channel but it's easy to find under her mother's name. Interestingly, the very first video was on marriage-related immigration and problems that this can create (e.g. domestic abuse of the foreign spouse, etc). The second video is also on related matters. It is obviously a topic close to her heart and she gives really sensible advice. I wondered if she was one of the first streams of the so-called mail order brides and immigrated on a spouse visa, but the timing seems a bit too early. So I doubt it, personally but it's a question mark.
- I looked to see if I can find information on her mother, and apart from a vast amount of work-related material for the Russian immigrant community in Sweden, there wasn't really anything. I did manage to find information about a woman who I think is her. It is a story written in 1998 when she (Anna's mother) was participating in an early Russian-language forum of sorts, and the story is by the guy who was also a participant and they were virtual friends and she helped him out with something. He mentions her in this story and he writes about her own bio that she used on the forum at the time, but he said he's chosen to remove geographic identification because she'd left the forum. I am going to copy the relevant paragraph in Russian and my translation below. Note, the first name she goes by now is definitely not Russian but I guessed she adapted it from the Russian Irina (often shortened to Ira informally), and that seems to have been a correct guess.
"Я – Ира. Когда-то 28 марта родилась в Таллине. Когда-то, в начале 70-х, пошла в школу. Когда-то ее закончила. Когда-то поступила в Питере в университет на геофак. Когда-то там училась, но не доучилась. Это было когда-то.
А потом! Где только не жила: Питер, Москва, Киев, Хельсинки. Кем только не работала: моделью, лаборантом, секретарем, диктором, редактором, переводчиком, менеджером.
А сейчас: уже 8 лет живу в .... Очень люблю этот город. Работала в различных фирмах. Конторскую работу чередую, или совмещаю с переводами со N - кого и английского.
Чем занимаюсь в свободное время? Его бывает так мало! Несколько раз в неделю посещаю спортзал: плаваю, аэробика. Катаюсь на велосипеде и роликах. И если есть снег – на лыжах.
Очень люблю музыку, особенно оперу и джаз. А еще очень нравится танцевать!
Кем могла стать – не стала. Кем бы хотела быть – тоже не была: дизайнером. Кем никогда не хотела быть – боюсь, что буду: писателем. Но кем была всегда – профессиональным читателем!
Что еще могу сказать о себе? Очень общительна. Ценю веселых, интересных и умных собеседников. Обожаю котов.
О чем мечтаю? Свободно разговаривать на французском.
Вот и все.
О самой Ирине я уже писал в моей серии ''РУНЕТНЫЕ ВОЙНЫ'', которую в апреле 1998 года опубликовало ''Новое Русское Слово'' в пяти газетах. Там я набросал шутливый портрет виртуальной секс-бомбы под ее Сетевым ником - Ира К. Ира К. в моей апрельской публикации и есть Ирина Рятю. "
My translation:
"I am Ira. Some time on 28 March I was born in Tallin. Some time, at the start of the 70s, I went to school. At some time I graduated. I was accepted to a university in St Petersburg to the faculty of geography. I studied there but didn't finish/graduate. It was some time ago.
And then! I lived in: St Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Helsinki. I had so many jobs: model, lab assistant, secretary, announcer, editor, translator, manager.
And now: For the last 8 years I live in...[redacted by author of the article]. I like this city very much. Worked in various companies. I vary office work, and combine it with, translations from [redacted] and English.
What do I do in my free time? I have so little of it! A few times a week I go to the gym: swimming, aerobics. Ride my bike and rollerskate. If there is snow, I ski.
I very much like music, especially opera and jazz. And I really like to dance!
I did not become what I could have become [note: in the 'work' or 'occupational' context here]. I also did not become what I wanted to become: a designer. What I never wanted to become but am afraid will be - a writer. But I have always been a professional reader!
What else I can say about me? I am very social. I value lively, interesting and intelligent people to talk to. I adore cats.
What do I dream about? Being fluent in French.
That's it.
[Author's narrative continues] About Irina I wrote in my series "Russian internet wars" which was published in April 1998 [a Russian language newspaper in New York] New Russian Speech in five newspapers. There, I outlined a humorous portrait of this virtual sex-bomb who used username "Ira K.". Ira K. in my April article is Irina Roty."
Whilst the author had redacted geographic location, the overall story is about a Princess and the photos at the bottom of the page are clearly of Princess Madeleine of Sweden. The whole story is a bit confusing because it seems like a kind of inside joke between the members of that long-gone internet forum.
Link to the page with the text above:
http://lebed.com/1998/art785.htm
It has a photo that the author says was of this Ira K. aka Irina Roty, and she looks like Anna's mother to me.
View attachment 427091
- If this is indeed her, then the fact that she was using a username of "Ira K." in 1998 after living in Sweden for many years, suggests to me that maybe whoever Roty was, didn't come on the scene until later.
Phew, that's it. Sorry for the wall of text.
More ressources below 
