From Survival to Building a Global Brand: Igor Fostenko’s Story Behind The Way

 

From Survival to Building a Global Brand: Igor Fostenko’s Story Behind The Way

Before Enjoy The Wood became a brand recognized by customers around the world, its co-founder, Igor Fostenko, lived through a reality that few people around him could see — or understand.

As a teenager in Ukraine, Igor experienced poverty, loss, homelessness, and addiction. For years, his life was not about long-term plans or business ambitions. It was about finding food, staying safe, and making it through another night.

Today, he is a husband, father, entrepreneur, and the co-founder of Enjoy The Wood. This August, he is bringing his personal story to an international audience through his memoir, The Way from Street Kid to Millionaire.

The book is officially available in the United States as of August 4, 2026.

But this is not a story about overnight success. It is a story about choices, faith, people who offered support at the right moment, and the difficult work of building a new life step by step.

A Childhood Shaped by Poverty and Loss

Igor grew up in a family that lived far below the poverty line. His father left early, and his mother carried the responsibility of caring for Igor, his sister, and their ill grandmother.

Small things that many children take for granted often felt out of reach.

“When children at school ran to the candy display, my sister and I would stand aside, knowing sweets were a luxury our family simply could not afford.”

Poverty was not only financial. It shaped how others treated him. At school, Igor faced humiliation, bullying, and the message — spoken directly and indirectly — that he would never become anyone.

“The social stigma was so strong that everything around me seemed to program one message into my mind: you will become nobody.”

Then his mother passed away.

The loss changed everything.

Years Spent on the Streets

After his mother’s death, Igor’s life became increasingly unstable. What began as a desperate attempt to be noticed and find a way back to his family eventually led to years without a home.

He lived around train stations, underground passages, and metro stations in Kyiv. The future was not a question he could afford to think about. Each day came down to more immediate concerns: where to sleep, where to find food, and how to stay safe.

That experience remains with him.

Even today, after building a family and a successful company, Igor says he is often drawn not to polished tourist destinations but to the parts of a city that reveal how people truly live.

“Wherever I go, I am often drawn not to tourist landmarks, but to the neighborhoods people try not to notice. Perhaps it is an inner need to see real life — with all of its challenges and contradictions.”

His past is not something he uses to create a dramatic image. It is part of how he sees people, hardship, responsibility, and success.

One Person Can Change the Direction of a Life

A turning point came when Igor met a mentor at a shelter — a man who became far more than a caregiver.

He believed in Igor when Igor had little reason to believe in himself. After Igor’s biological father lost parental rights, this mentor became his guardian. He helped Igor return to school, continue his education, and begin building a life outside the world he had known on the streets.

“That was the turning point that helped me change my life. Usually, we need someone who will help us and show us the right direction. We also need to change our environment completely.”

The past did not disappear overnight. Old habits, trauma, and the people around him continued to pull him back.

But gradually, a different life began to take shape.

Igor finished school, worked in an auto repair shop, built new relationships, and learned that responsibility, discipline, and care could be a foundation rather than a burden. Later, faith became another important part of his path, helping him reconsider his past and understand his future differently.

“Step by step, I began building a new reality. I realized that happiness does not depend on material wealth alone.”

Building a Life — and a Business — With Purpose

At 21, Igor got married. Financial stability did not arrive immediately. There were still difficult years, uncertainty, and pressure.

But there was also a new understanding of what mattered: work, honesty, trust, family, and the willingness to keep moving forward.

Those values became part of the foundation behind Enjoy The Wood.

What started as a family business has grown into a global design brand, known for handcrafted wooden décor that encourages people to make their homes more personal and meaningful. For Igor, building the company was never only about business growth. It was also about creating something lasting, working with people he trusts, and proving that a difficult beginning does not have to define the rest of a life.

The phrase “Never give up” became one of his personal principles.

The Story Behind The Way

In The Way from Street Kid to Millionaire, Igor shares the parts of his life that are often left out of conventional success stories.

The book is not a formula for becoming wealthy. It does not promise a quick route from hardship to achievement. Instead, it is a candid memoir about grief, shame, addiction, faith, responsibility, failure, and the long process of rebuilding yourself.

It is also a reflection on the choices that shape us — especially when life seems to offer no good options.

The book may resonate with readers who are:

• searching for direction after a difficult period in life;
  
  
• rebuilding after loss, addiction, or personal failure;
  
  
• trying to understand how to move forward without losing their values;
  
  
• building a business or career while navigating uncertainty;
  
  
• looking for a story that is honest about the cost of transformation.
  
  

“I believe that when seemingly impossible difficulties appear in your life, you may remember the story of a boy who once lived on the streets, faced his circumstances, overcame himself, and kept moving forward.”

An International Release

For Igor, the U.S. release of The Way from Street Kid to Millionaire is more than a publishing milestone.

It is an opportunity to share a deeply personal story with readers beyond Ukraine — and to remind people that survival is not the end of the story. Sometimes it is only the beginning.

The Way from Street Kid to Millionaire is now available in the United States.

The book is available on Amazon: Buy The Way from Street Kid to Millionaire