Thank You/Aliona Bogdanova

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I remember the first article I edited seriously on Wikipedia was about marzipan; it’s my favorite treat.
From there, I started to write about my interests &mdash; vegetarianism, food, parenting, even Harry Potter. I like things that are natural, things that are organic. Next on my list of things to write about: baby formula.

That’s the thing about Wikipedia: you can write about the interests you have and you can invite others to help. And then you watch what you write grow.

A few years ago, when I was pregnant for the first time, I found myself at home, bored with nothing to do, so I found a hobby for myself &mdash; making soap. When you make soap eventually you end up making so much that you can’t find enough friends to give it to as a gift. So I started selling it.

Now that I have a business, I use Wikipedia as a research tool (it has so many useful links) and I share things that I learn from my business on Wikipedia, so that everyone can learn.

Even though these days I only find time to edit Wikipedia once in awhile, when I tell people that I have written articles for Wikipedia, people respect it.

I grew up in a family of teachers who value academic knowledge, so when I write in Wikipedia, I have the sense that I contribute to a thing that is greater than myself.

I love the idea that I can quietly make it better.

&mdash; Aliona Bogdanova

''Aliona Bogdanova operates a small online shop selling cosmetics and soap that is made from scratch. She currently lives in Moscow (where she was born) with her husband and two sons.''

Image Attribution: by Victor Grigas, under [//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported], from Wikimedia Commons.