From Russia to Lebanon: How guide Lb built a digital empire

Anastasia Pakhomovskaya, better known as Guide Lb on Instagram, first came to Lebanon in 2018 on a vacation with her partner at the time and got a taste of something she liked. He wanted to show her where he studied and following that trip she decided to move here. Having visited over fifty countries, Lebanon made her heart beat faster. She felt comfortable, as if she were home. “Living here is easy”, she admitted, “everything is close and convenient. You can drive up to Broumana in twenty minutes and take a walk in nature”.

In Lebanon, Guide Lb has become the most prominent content creator in her field of expertise, coveted by restaurants, resorts and getaways alike to review their businesses should they require promotional efforts or if a new brand opens its doors. Her endorsement carries weight in the industry.

She attributes her success to “genuinely loving what you do, don’t be in it just to prove something or to be invited to all sorts of places. In loving your craft, you will put your soul into it”. Discipline is another key ingredient. It must be organized and worked on consistently.

“The fun fact is that I started it as a hobby never expecting it to become something so big, or for me to become famous”, says Pakhomovskaya,

I’m always honest with my reviews, I mention when there is something not in line with my taste.

Tawlet Ammiq: The post that changed everything

Tawlet Ammiq was the post that sparked a lot of conversation. Many people didn’t have the faintest idea something like that marvel, a restaurant overlooking a soothing view of the Beqaa Ammiq valley, existed in Lebanon. People rarely explored beyond their neighborhoods, and when Covid halted travel, Guide Lb made her mark by highlighting local gems.

Her growing prominence coincided with a deeper immersion in Lebanese culture, which she has found refreshingly different from Russia. Guide Lb remarks that the weather, the culture, the people, the food, the lifestyle, are all distinct. Lebanese people are more outgoing, social, friendlier, more hospitable. Russians are generally more reserved, therein lies the main distinction. “In Russia we’re straightforwa

rd, we say exactly what we mean which may be misconstrued in Lebanon as rude. Here, people aren’t direct to avoid hurting feelings”, says Pakhomovskaya. 

Having moved in 2019, she has adapted and become social. “I started smiling more than before. We Russians don’t show emotions even if we’re very warm and kind underneath”. It has changed her and she’s assimilated some of the Lebanese traits while staying grounded in her roots and visiting Russia often. She’s very calm and reserved in real life, which may come as a surprise to her cult following on Instagram. 

A background that paved the way

Holding a bachelor’s degree in media and communications, she has interned in a newspaper writing articles. She had the aspiration of becoming a journalist, which explains her lengthy reviews nowadays. Afterwards, she felt she needed to go in a different direction and got a master’s degree in brand management from a university in Berlin, where she interned with a marketing agency then worked as a social media manager. Wanting to apply her knowledge, she started experimenting with Instagram upon her arrival to Lebanon, testing out sponsored ads and the like.

She never had a strategy, and when it started picking up, gaining more exposure on her page, she took it seriously and increased consistency. Timing played a substantial part. Five years ago, there weren’t many people writing their reviews and sharing experiences in different locations around Lebanon. From Tyre, to Nabatieh then Beqaa, her exploits were something novel. As she was relaying this piece of information, she got excited to travel around the country again, having focused her efforts lately around Beirut. “That’s the beauty of Lebanon. Such a small country, still, six years later, I’m finding new spots to explore”.

Building Vibez: A new venture

Today, she is most excited about another passion project, Vibez. Wanting to expand, this new application is a directory of events and promotions on places to visit. Built a year ago, she attests that she is passionate about turning it into Lebanon’s go-to platform for outings. “Every time you say ‘a vibe” you will think of my new platform Vibez, that’s why this particular name was chosen. I’m enjoying working on it because I’m interested in tech”.

Through sharing everything on social media, she feels that people know her very well. 

Nonetheless, she believes that her personality may be misconstrued as very social and outgoing whereas she would choose bundling up with a good book over attending a glitzy party with friends any day of the week.

In fact, she had to go through an arduous process to reach this level of social ease. She had to force herself to partake in these scary and uncomfortable situations, threw herself in them, suffered for a while, until they lost their paralyzing impact on her. 

An incident struck a chord

In the beginning of her career, she attended an event in Lebanon. She encountered a known figure and shared her anxiety for being there, to which he responded: “Then you shouldn’t work in this field if you are scared of events”.  At first, she got angry and found the comment harsh, then she realized there might be some truth to it and that she should work on this weakness if she wanted to succeed. She worked through it, reaching a level of accomplishment few achieve.

The truth, a unique mix has created the feeling that she is on the right path. A sense of happiness translates to alignment with a life’s purpose. An inside feeling of peace, belonging, appreciating the opportunities and a realization that this account has changed her life. She feels lucky to have met a lot of interesting and incredible people, to have participated in big campaigns and exquisite events.

When all is said and done, not caring about people’s opinion is a major factor in her success. She didn’t know anyone in Lebanon, therefore didn’t care about the judgement they were going to inevitably pass when she put her content out for everyone to see. Maybe some people are held back by the concern of “what will my friends say about me, they are going to make fun of me”. No one’s going to laugh at you when you’re a success story. It may be hard at the beginning, but you must push through the mockery if you’re passionate about and believe in what you’re doing. Your success will eventually silence the critics. “Go for it”, she says. “You shouldn’t care what people think”.