I've been where you are.

Olha Mykhno is from Sumy, Ukraine — a city just 18 miles from the Russian border. On February 25, 2022, one day after the invasion began, she made the decision to leave with nothing but her young daughter by her side. No savings. No suitcase. Just the need to survive.

When the war started, I saw how Russian military tanks cross the city and the streets. I will never forget how it was when tanks look at you and you look at them.

— Olha Mykhno, founder of LegalCertify

Before escaping, they spent five days sheltering in basements as air raid sirens wailed overhead. On the fifth day, Olha made the decision to leave — with nothing. She had to leave the family dog behind. They traveled through Germany, where strangers became lifelines. Back in the United States, a friend and a community of people who had never met Olha raised money and secured plane tickets. She and her daughter flew to America through Mexico and arrived in Charlotte in April 2022, where a host family in Weddington took them in.

Olha started over from nothing. She relied on food assistance centers to feed her daughter. Friends donated clothes so they had something to wear. Every step forward was earned, not given.

We spent five days during the alarms. We slept in basements. We know when you don't have enough food. You don't have clothes. That's why I enjoy every day here.

— Olha Mykhno, founder of LegalCertify

That experience is why LegalCertify exists — and why the people who come to Olha for help know they're understood. She doesn't just sympathize with what immigrants go through. She has lived it.

Olha’s professional journey in U.S. immigration services began in 2019, when she started working remotely for an immigration attorney based in New York. That foundation gave her deep, practical knowledge of the immigration system — the forms, the processes, the timelines, and the human weight behind every case.

She has since been partially accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice through its Recognition & Accreditation Program, allowing her to provide immigration case support and document assistance directly to clients.

In Charlotte, Olha has volunteered thousands of hours serving local immigrant communities. Every year, she leads an effort that sends Ukrainian children to summer camp at the YMCA in the mountains of North Carolina — giving kids who have been through more than most adults a chance to just be kids.

The Mission

So no one navigates it alone

LegalCertify was founded in the spirit of service — born from Olha’s own experience as a Ukrainian immigrant who was forced to rebuild from nothing.

But the mission extends beyond the Ukrainian community. LegalCertify exists to bring professional immigration document support, certified translation, and case assistance to anyone who needs it — especially those who cannot afford the cost of a traditional immigration attorney.

Olha has lived the uncertainty, the paperwork, the waiting, and the worry. She built LegalCertify so that no one has to navigate it alone.