Lily Ermak is an influencer and content creator with a large international audience on social media. Her content is focused on beauty, lifestyle, personal experiences and topics that make people think.
She is married and a mother of two. Her older son is 16, and she also has a young daughter. Her son is already very independent and extremely goal-oriented. He is an excellent student and has built his own YouTube channel, which is already monetized. Watching him personality develops and seeing his independence and ambition is something she is very proud of as a mother.
She is always been ambitious and very goal-oriented herself. Even when she was younger, she has a strong desire to achieve more and create something of her own. She has always been disciplined in her lifestyle and has never been interested in simply going with the flow. Over the years, she has become much more confident in who she is and in expressing her opinions.
Although people often see her primarily through her appearance and social media presence, she is actually a very curious and deep thinking person. She has a very active mind and find it difficult to simply switch off. She is constantly reading, learning, researching or becoming interested in something new. Her interests range from history and physics to psychology, human behavior and completely unexpected subjects. She genuinely enjoys learning and exploring ideas that are outside her usual field.
Beauty has always been an important part of her life and her work, but she does believe that appearance is the most important thing about a woman. She believes a woman can be beautiful and feminine while also being intelligent, curious, and ambitious and constantly evolving.
She is also fascinated by other women— their individuality, strength, stories and the different ways they choose to live their lives. She admires women who continue to develop, reinvent themselves and pursue new goals at any age.
Her relationship with beauty and her own appearance has also changed with age. She does not believe that getting older means becoming less interesting, less feminine or less confident. For her, every stage of life can be an opportunity to discover something new about yourself and become a different version of who you are.
She is not fitness professional or a fitness influencer. She occasionally goes to the gym, but fitness is not the central focus of her life or her content. Her interest in health and beauty is much broader — it is about self-care, feeling good in one’s body and understanding the connection between one’s physical and mental state.
Women Fitness President Ms. Namita Nayyar catches up with Lily Ermak an exceptionally talented influencer and content creator with a large international audience on social media. Here she talks about her social media presence, and her success story.
Namita Nayyar:
Your social media presence is visually stunning, but you’ve mentioned you are a deep thinker who loves history, physics, and psychology. What are the biggest misconception people have about you when they only see your polished photos and videos?
Lily Ermak:
I think people have very different first impressions of me, and that is natural, because a person only sees the part of me that I show through visual content. I have a very diverse audience. There are people who see me as soft, kind, smart and deep, and there are also those who, on the contrary, see only the external side and conclude that I am superficial, frivolous, or simply trying to validate myself through my appearance. Probably this is the biggest misconception: to think that if a person pays a lot of attention to their appearance, aesthetics and beautiful visuals, there is nothing else behind that image. For me, creating content is a full-time job and a form of creativity.
Behind one photo or a short video there can be a huge amount of work: an idea, a concept, preparation, shooting, lighting, styling, editing, finding new formats, analyzing what works, constantly learning and, of course, a huge amount of time and energy. I love beauty, I love aesthetics and I love working with my appearance, but that does not mean that my appearance defines me as a person. Probably one of the most interesting things about social media is that people often create an image of someone in their minds based on just a few seconds of their life. And I think that is exactly why first impressions can be so misleading. I can look like a very visual and carefree girl, while at the same time my mind can be occupied with completely different things.
Namita Nayyar:
You describe yourself as having an “active mind” that finds it hard to switch off. What does a typical internal monologue look like for you? Are you often thinking about the macro (like the universe) or the micro (like your daily routine)?
Lily Ermak:
I really think about big things much more often than small things. I am interested not so much in everyday life itself, but in what is behind it: why everything is the way it is, why we do what we do, how human consciousness is formed, why people make certain decisions, and whether there is some kind of meaning behind everything that happens. I have a very active mind, so it can be difficult for me to simply turn my thoughts off.
If there is a question that really catches my attention, I can keep thinking about it for a long time, looking for information, reading, watching lectures and trying to understand it more deeply. As for everyday things, I think I am very lucky with my husband. He handles the part of life related to everyday matters, organization and practical things very well, and because of that I have the space to remain myself, to think, explore, create and do the things that genuinely interest me.
Namita Nayyar:
You are fascinated by other women—their stories and their strength. Who is a woman, either historical or contemporary, that you are currently fascinated by, and why?
Lily Ermak:
One of the women I truly admire is Angelina Jolie. I admire how much she has done for people who have found themselves in difficult circumstances, especially children. She adopted children from different countries and has spent many years involved in humanitarian work. But I do not admire only famous women. There are so many women from my own country, as well as women all over the world, who take children from orphanages, children who have lost their parents or found themselves in difficult circumstances, into their families.
For me, these women are real heroines, because one thing is to help financially or make a donation, and something completely different is to open the door of your home to another child and say, “Now you are part of my family.” To give them your time, love, care, patience and your life simply because you understand that this child needs it. I think there is something very special about this kind of love, and these are the women who truly inspire me. To me, they are heroines, perhaps even more so than many famous women who are usually talked about in interviews.
Full Interview is Continued on Next Page
This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar, President of womenfitness.net, and should not be reproduced, copied, or hosted in part or in full anywhere without express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2026 Women Fitness
Namita Nayyar:
You’ve stated that beauty is important to you, but you don’t believe it is the most important thing about a woman. How do you balance the aesthetic part of your career with your desire to be seen as a serious, intellectual person?
Lily Ermak:
Yes, beauty is important to me. I love aesthetics, beautiful clothes, beautiful visuals and the visual side of life in general. But I have never considered beauty to be my main quality, and I definitely do not want it to be the only thing people see in me. Perhaps that is exactly why recently it has not been enough for me to simply show myself and beautiful aesthetics. At some point, I became interested in showing what is happening inside my head as well.
Over the last year, I have started sharing much more of my thoughts, observations and reflections with my audience. For now, I do this in my native language. I want there to be a person behind the beautiful image as well, with her own thoughts, questions and interest in history, psychology, physics and the way the world works. So I do not see these two sides as opposites. For me, beauty is what you see on the outside, while thoughts are what is inside, and I am interested in showing both.
Namita Nayyar:
Your relationship with your appearance has changed with age. You see aging as an “opportunity to discover a new version of yourself.” Can you walk us through a specific moment where you felt that shift in perspective?
Lily Ermak:
With age, I have come to understand myself much better — my desires, my boundaries and what I really want to spend my life on. I think the turning point for me happened around the age of 32 or 33. At some point, my perception of myself and my life completely changed. Before that, I could tolerate disrespect, close my eyes to many things and quite often take the position of a victim, suffering but not always trying to understand why exactly these things were happening to me.
Now I understand that so much of the way we perceive the world is formed in childhood. We leave our parents’ family with certain ideas about ourselves, other people, what is normal and what is not, and then we gradually learn how to live independently. And I think our failures and painful moments in life can also be part of this learning process. Of course, not everyone sees them as lessons, but at some point I started asking myself questions: Why did I end up in this situation? Why did I behave this way? Why did I allow someone to treat me this way? I started having a very deep internal dialogue with myself, and gradually, the answers came. I began to understand my own patterns, see certain cycles of events and, most importantly, understand that I could change them myself.
So now I see my life completely differently. I have changed so much since I was 20, and even since I was 30, and I like observing this process. I think I am becoming a better version of myself. At the same time, I will not pretend that I am completely unafraid of aging. If we are talking specifically about losing youth and changes in appearance, it still scares me a little, and I honestly admit that. That is probably why I am positive about cosmetic procedures and plastic surgery, but I believe they should be approached reasonably, with moderation and respect for yourself. For me, accepting age does not necessarily mean giving up the desire to look good. It is more about becoming more yourself with every passing year.
Namita Nayyar:
You reject the idea that getting older makes a woman less interesting. What is the most empowering lesson you have learned in your thirties and forties that you wish you had known in your twenties?
Lily Ermak:
Probably the main lesson I have learned over the last few years, and one I wish I had known at 20, is that you should not wait for life to change on its own. You need to learn to understand yourself and take responsibility for your own happiness. At 20, I thought that many things simply needed to be waited out, endured, and eventually everything would somehow change. And sometimes I would see even a small failure or difficult situation as something enormous, almost impossible to overcome, as if I had encountered some force that I simply would not be able to handle.
Now I understand that there are practically no unsolvable situations. There may not be an easy solution, it may take time, it may be painful, it may turn out that you need to completely change direction, but there is always a way out. There can always be other paths that you simply cannot see yet. And I realized that life itself does not become different — we change when we begin to honestly look at ourselves, admit our mistakes and make decisions.
That is probably why I am much calmer about difficulties now. I already know from my own experience that if today something seems enormous and impossible to overcome, that does not mean that it really is. Sometimes you simply need to stop, look at the situation from another perspective and find another path. If I could say something to myself at 20, I would say: do not be afraid of difficulties. You are stronger than you think, and there is a way out even when you cannot see it yet.
Namita Nayyar:
As someone who uses beauty products professionally, what is your “non-negotiable” step in your skincare routine? What is the most recent skincare discovery (ingredient or product) that has genuinely excited you?
Lily Ermak:
For me, the most important thing in skincare now is hydration. Interestingly, ten years ago I practically did not take care of my skin at all. I started actively taking care of my skin at home about five years ago, after I turned 30. Now I have a much more systematic approach: cleansing, regular hydration, at-home and professional peels. I try to do a home peel about once a week. Among ingredients, I especially like vitamin C and peptides. I like adding peptides to my regular skincare routine — for example, adding a drop of a peptide product to my cream and using them regularly. One of my recent discoveries is retinol. I started using it relatively recently, and I really like how my skin looks after it. It becomes smoother, more cared for and fresher. But if I had to choose one absolutely essential step in my skincare routine, it would still be hydration.
Namita Nayyar:
Your hair is a signature part of your look. What is your philosophy on hair care—is it about products, treatments, or diet? What is a mistake you used to make with your hair that you have since corrected?
Lily Ermak:
My philosophy for hair care is quite simple: I try to minimize damage to my hair and constantly maintain its condition. For many years I have used only sulfate-free shampoos, and I do not wash my hair too often. My hair is naturally not very oily, so this is easy for me. At the same time, hair care is practically a separate ritual for me. I regularly use masks, serums, oils and products for shine. It is important to me not only how my hair looks, but also what condition it is in. Another thing I have been doing for many years is practically never drying my hair with a hairdryer — I let it dry naturally. I sometimes use a straightener, but I try not to overuse hot styling tools.
Namita Nayyar:
You are not a fitness influencer, but you value self-care. What does your holistic approach to “feeling good in your body” look like on a typical week?
Lily Ermak:
I used to be practically obsessed with working out. I had quite an athletic figure, although gaining muscle mass has always been difficult for me because I am naturally very slim. Now I do not exercise as actively as I used to. I have had back problems since I was young, and with age I have become more sensitive to heavy weights. So now I may go to the gym about once a week, mainly to maintain my shape rather than for any serious fitness goals. At the same time, I have never been someone who constantly restricts food because of my figure. I generally eat everything I want.
The only thing is that I do not consume dairy products and choose plant-based alternatives. For me, feeling good is not only about exercise. Sleep, rest, movement and simply being able to stay active throughout the day are important to me. When I feel good, I have an enormous amount of energy. I constantly want to do something, work, film, go somewhere, and take care of my own things. I really cannot sit around doing nothing for very long. I think my approach has simply changed with age. Before, it was important for me to train my body as much as possible, while now it is much more important for me to listen to it and support myself without extremes.
Namita Nayyar:
Watching your 16-year-old son develop his own successful, monetized YouTube channel must be surreal. As a creator yourself, how do you navigate the dynamic of being a mentor versus letting him make his own mistakes?
Lily Ermak:
My son was independent from a very young age. He always knew how to occupy himself. He had his own interests, he could spend hours building huge LEGO sets from the age of three, and he never really asked me to play with him or come up with activities for him. I simply saw this independence and tried not to suppress it. I never dragged him to clubs or activities just because it was something he was supposed to do. It was important to me that the initiative came from him. If a child genuinely wants something, I am always ready to support them. For example, he only started doing sports when he came to it himself, around sixth grade. Before that, I did not force him.
He even chose his school himself at a certain point. He wanted to move to a stronger school with a Cambridge focus, prepared for the entrance requirements himself and achieved that result himself. I was there, but I did not sit over him or do it for him. And the YouTube story was actually funny — his father and I did not even know that he had a channel. He did everything himself and did not tell anyone anything. Only after about a year, when he already had subscribers and had received monetization, did he tell us that he had been developing his channel all that time. Even now, he does not want me to publicly say exactly what his channel is. He wants his audience to be his own and wants to achieve everything he wants himself, and I really respect that. My role now is very different from what it was when he was little. I am no longer so much raising him as being there when he needs advice or direction.
For example, I can help him figure out things related to university applications, but the final decisions remain his. At the same time, I understand that when I became a mother I was very young. I became pregnant at 19 and gave birth at 20. I did not know or understand many things and, of course, I made mistakes. I think this is a natural part of growing up — you learn not only how to raise a child, but you also become an adult yourself alongside them.
And probably the most important thing is that I have always believed in him. Now I see his character and understand that he will build his own life. All I have to do is not get in the way of him becoming the person he wants to be. By the way, I am currently preparing my first original product about the principles of raising an independent and successful child. I do not want to reveal the details yet, but the foundation is my personal philosophy: not to live a child’s life for them, but to create conditions in which they can find their own path.
Namita Nayyar:
You are clearly ambitious, and your son is extremely goal-oriented. Do you think ambition is innate, or is it something that can be “caught” from a parent? How have you intentionally nurtured that in your children?
Lily Ermak:
I think some basic foundation is indeed something a child is born with. All children are different. Each has their own character, temperament, inclinations and abilities. But what happens to these qualities afterward depends very strongly on the environment in which the child grows up. Children are influenced by their parents, their example, the atmosphere in the family and the principles they are taught. And, of course, childhood experiences are also extremely important. Sometimes even our own childhood traumas can influence the kind of person we become. I have thought about this a lot as an adult and gradually worked through my own childhood patterns.
That is why I now consciously try not to repeat some of the mistakes my parents made. I think the desire to achieve something cannot simply be put into a child through words. First and foremost, children look at their parents, so the strongest way to pass something on to them is to show it through your own example. At the same time, it is very important to me to talk a lot with a child, give them the right to choose and allow them to make their own decisions — not simply telling them what is right, but asking: What do you think? Why do you want this? What do you think would happen if you chose another option? I think this is how a person gradually develops the ability to think independently, make decisions and not be afraid to take responsibility for their choices.
Namita Nayyar:
You have a teenager and a young daughter. How does your approach to parenting differ between them, and how do you hope to guide your daughter as she grows up in a world dominated by social media?
Lily Ermak:
My children are completely different, and I think this shows very well why it is impossible to raise all children according to the same template. My son is a Capricorn. He was very calm and independent from childhood. He always had his own interests and understood quite early what he wanted to do. My daughter is an Aries, and she is completely different. She is simply a hurricane. She cannot sit still at all. She is very active, emotional and creative, a real little tiger. She has no idea yet what she wants to do because she likes everything. She likes gymnastics, swimming, music and singing.
We have tried different activities, but so far she only lasts for one class, and I am completely fine with that. I think right now she simply needs to have the opportunity to enjoy being a child. I do not want to rush her or try to decide at four years old what she will become or what she should be doing. Let her try different things, change interests, play and explore. When she is older, I think she will choose for herself what really interests her. And I think it is very important to see the individuality of the child. Even if children grow up in the same family, they can be completely different. My son is also creative, but he has a more pronounced mathematical way of thinking. My daughter is much more emotional and creative, so the approach to them should be different as well. As for social media, I am not afraid of it at all. On the contrary, I think it is a very interesting and powerful tool.
If one day my daughter wants to be public, create content or work in social media, I will only support her. Of course, I will talk to her a lot about safety, how the world works, personal boundaries and what can and cannot be done online. I already talk to her about these things now, although she does not understand everything yet. And it is very important to me to build a strong inner foundation in her from childhood. I always tell her that she is beautiful, wonderful, smart and special, and I will definitely teach her that other people’s opinions should not determine her self-worth.
She should not compare herself to others because every person is an individual. I want her to know that she does not have to become like someone else in order to be valuable — she is already unique. And I definitely will not limit her simply because I am afraid of social media or the modern world. I have never been a parent who forbids everything. I gave my son freedom and trusted him, and I want to do the same with my daughter. I will simply be there, explain things and help her learn to make her own decisions. I think my role as a mother is not to put as many restrictions around a child as possible, but to give them enough knowledge, confidence and inner strength so that one day they can navigate this world on their own.
Namita Nayyar:
You have always been disciplined and uninterested in “going with the flow.” What is the root of this intense drive? Was there a specific event in your childhood or early life that sparked this desire to “create something of your own”?
Lily Ermak:
I think I was a creative person from childhood. I always wanted to come up with things and do things my own way. For example, I had ordinary clothes, but I found it boring to simply wear them. I could sew rhinestones or beads onto my jeans, decorate something, change something. I always wanted to add something of my own. Probably even my early desire to experiment with my appearance was part of this. I became interested in makeup, perfume and clothes quite early.
My mother and grandmother were very strict and forbade me from doing many things. I remember secretly lining my eyes with a pencil or using perfume. One time I even put lipstick on my lips, and my grandmother scolded me very badly. Now I understand that this was quite painful for me. I simply wanted to be a girl and experiment with my appearance, but it was treated as something wrong. And perhaps these restrictions created a very strong feeling in me that I wanted to decide for myself who I was and how I expressed myself. I was actually quite rebellious as a teenager. I had a difficult teenage period and often did everything against what I was told. But at the same time, I always had some inner drive. I wanted to achieve something and create something of my own. Even at school I participated in beauty contests. Later, after I was married, I participated in the Miss Photo Model 2012 contest.
I wanted to have a modeling career. I liked the idea of the runway, but my height did not allow me to go in that direction, so I chose to work as a photo model. And I remember that even when I had no popularity at all, I wrote to photographers and magazines myself, looked for opportunities, made arrangements and sent my photos. I did not wait for someone to come and offer me a career. I tried to find my own path myself. Then Instagram appeared, and I saw that some people were already building huge audiences there, and I literally thought, “Why can’t I? Why am I worse than anyone else?” And I started doing the same thing. Every day I came up with something, wrote to public pages, sent photos, participated in SFS and looked for ways to grow.
In my first year of running Instagram, I already had around 100,000 followers. Of course, things continued to develop — professional shoots appeared new opportunities and a new audience. But the beginning was exactly like that. I decided that I wanted this and simply started doing it. And I think that is the main answer to what drives me. It was never enough for me to simply observe. I wanted to create. I wanted to try, change, invent, do things my own way and see what would happen.
Discipline probably came later, when I realized that desire alone is not enough. If you really want something, you have to take at least a small step toward it every day. Interestingly, my desire for knowledge also came to me later. At school I did not understand many things because I started school very early and simply could not understand some things because of my age. I even had failing grades in physics. And now I love physics and can spend hours reading and trying to understand difficult things on my own.
And sometimes I think that maybe I could have been a straight-A student if everything had come at the right time. Some interests and abilities simply develop not when school expects them to, but when you come to them yourself. So I think my ambition was always inside me. With age, I simply learned how to direct it, discipline it and turn it into real action.
Namita Nayyar:
Confidence has grown for you over the years. Is there a specific “mental trick” or habit you use to stay confident in your opinions, especially when facing criticism online?
Lily Ermak:
Honestly, I do not deal with hate at all because it does not affect me in any way. In fact, it mostly amuses me. I think hate is a good sign. If you trigger someone, it means you create an emotion, make them feel something or think about something, and is that really a bad thing? And I always remember one simple thing: another person’s reaction is primarily about that person, not about me. Everyone sees something in another person through the lens of their own experience and their own problems. So I do not waste energy on it. I love people in general, even my haters.
Namita Nayyar:
Your reading list is eclectic (history, physics, and psychology). What is a book or a concept you’ve read recently that completely shifted the way you view your life or your work?
Lily Ermak:
One of the concepts that have had a very strong influence on me is connected to the ideas of Carl Jung and the subject of human consciousness in general. I really connect with the idea that thought is material. I do not mean this literally, as if simply imagining something will make it appear, but rather that our thoughts shape our perception of reality.
If a person constantly thinks negatively, they begin to see more negativity around them. We notice what our attention is focused on, and gradually we create a certain picture of the world ourselves. What particularly resonates with me in Jung’s ideas is the idea that people have unconscious beliefs and patterns that are formed in childhood and can influence our decisions, reactions and relationships with other people even when we are not aware of them. And I am very interested in this possibility of exploring our own consciousness, seeing our internal beliefs and, through changing our thinking, changing our perception and, along with it, our actions and our lives.
Namita Nayyar:
As a creator, you are constantly evolving. What is a skill or subject you are currently trying to learn that your audience would be surprised to know about?
Lily Ermak:
I have been interested in the history of humanity for a long time — the lives of historical figures, different versions of the same events, which can differ depending on who tells the story. I am interested not so much in memorizing facts as in understanding the mechanics of knowledge: what do we really know about the past, and what is simply the most convincing reconstruction? I do not like trusting a single source because history is almost always written by winners, contemporaries with their own biases, or later generations with their own agenda. So I try to compare different versions, look for contradictions and ask the question: how do we actually know this? This is probably the main lesson for me.
History teaches not only facts, but critical thinking. Recently, I have become especially fascinated by physics, or more precisely, by trying to understand what reality actually is at the most fundamental level. The questions that do not leave me alone are: why does the universe exist at all? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is matter if we break it down as far as possible, to quarks, fields, and perhaps something even more fundamental?
How much does our perception of space and time actually correspond to what exists in reality? I listen to a lot of scientific podcasts and lectures on these topics, but honestly, the more I learn, the more strongly I feel how little humanity actually understands about its own existence. I am attracted not so much by the answer as by the process itself — how one good question opens up a dozen new ones. There is something almost philosophical about it. At the frontier of science, it starts to become difficult to distinguish science from metaphysics. And the third thing is artificial intelligence.
I follow how quickly this technology is developing and where it could lead humanity, and it gives me mixed feelings — excitement and anxiety at the same time. What will happen if machine intelligence becomes significantly greater than human intelligence? What will happen to society, to the very concept of the human mind, to our place in the world if we stop being the most intelligent species on the planet? On the one hand, it could open incredible possibilities in medicine, science and in understanding the same physical reality I mentioned above.
On the other hand, it could create risks on a scale that we cannot even comprehend yet, because we have no historical precedent to compare it with. Perhaps this is exactly what fascinates me. We are living in a moment when we are shaping what could determine the future of our species, and we are doing it largely without knowing what lies ahead.
Namita Nayyar:
Looking ahead five or ten years, what does “success” look like for the new version of Liliia? Is it a physical place, a specific project, or a state of mind?
Lily Ermak:
For me, success in five to ten years means creating something truly my own and meaningful. I want to continue developing, creating projects that have meaning both for me and for other people, and bringing some kind of value. And for me, it will be a great success to become more interesting to myself.
Namita Nayyar:
If you were to give a commencement speech to young women based on your journey, what would be the single most important piece of advice you would give them about life, ambition, or confidence?
Lily Ermak:
Do not try to live someone else’s life according to someone else’s script. Be open to finding yourself. It is very easy when you are young to start orienting yourself around the opinions of your parents, partner, friends or society, but it is up to you to decide who you want to become and what kind of life you want to create for yourself.
Do not be afraid of mistakes, and do not be afraid to change direction. You do not have to know immediately who you want to be or what you want from life. Learn to understand yourself. When you know yourself, your desires and what you believe in, other people’s opinions stop controlling your life.
Lily Ermak Social Media Presence
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilyermak/
This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar, President of womenfitness.net, and should not be reproduced, copied, or hosted in part or in full anywhere without express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2026 Women Fitness