‘People often look at us because we’re a bi-racial couple’

Maxim Staricov's first job in Ireland was selling mobile phone SIM cards on Moore Street. After nearly seven years working in London, the Moldovan salesman needed a change from the bustle and noise of the English capital.

"London is a meat grinder, you really need to be on the ball there. I didn't want to be in Moldova but I'd had enough of England. In my mind, I was coming to Ireland on a temporary basis."

Staricov first left Moldova when he was 20. Growing up in a Russian-speaking family in the capital city of Chisinau, he sometimes felt unwelcome in his home country. “The memories of my childhood are definitely positive but I remember in the 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed suddenly the politics changed and people became more nationalistic. It was like we were immigrants, we weren’t welcome.”

Staricov began developing an interest in sales techniques in his late teens and would visit offices around the city selling stationery supplies. However, he quickly realised that opportunities for professional development were limited in the country known as "the poorest state in Europe". In 1999, he arrived in London with £400 in his pocket ready to begin the next exciting chapter of his life.

Even in Ireland I still think ‘Will they drop a bomb?’

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Staricov found a job as a kitchen porter in Covent Garden and began English classes in a school on Tottenham Court Road. “When you don’t speak English and you’re young, a kitchen porter is the only job you can do. London was tough and every expensive. Cash in hand jobs, it wasn’t really the dream.”

After a stint travelling and studying English in the US, Staricov returned to Moldova. He began working with a law firm which helped Moldovans find work on farms in Northern Ireland. In 2004 he travelled to Ireland for the first time to visit a poultry factory connected to his firm.

Travelling

“I remember travelling on a bus and seeing the fields. The grass was not just green; it was bright green, dark green and yellow. That’s Ireland.”

His work with the law firm came to an end following the expansion of the EU into eastern Europe. Suddenly workers from Poland, Lithuania and Latvia were available for work and Irish farmers had no interest in finding visas for Moldovans. Staricov returned to London and over the next seven years and worked in a variety of jobs including security, retail and selling luxury, gold-plated gadgets to celebrities.

By late 2012, he was standing in central Dublin using his carefully developed sales skills to convince passers-by to purchase SIM cards. “Moore Street is how you know the real Dublin. If you stay where the tourists are you’ll never get to know what the people are about. But Moore Street is real.”

Staricov also enrolled at Dublin Business School to do a diploma in marketing, advertising and public relations. “I always felt that education was something I wanted to get under my belt. I had enough life experience but not enough education.”

Staricov progressed up through the SIM card company and began driving around Ireland setting up new sales locations. However, he was unhappy with the lack of job security and asked that his employer supply a contract. A few hours later he was fired.

“I said it was unfair and they were abusing our rights. If I was fresh off the boat I would probably stay quiet and smile but I live in Europe and had been here long enough to know you cannot treat people like this.”

Staricov spent a month searching for work before finally visiting the social welfare office. “I was in the country less than six months but they understood my circumstances. I told them I was applying for other jobs and they treated me like a human being.”

It's a beautiful story, especially with both of us being foreigners

It was during this search for a job that Staricov first met Patricia. He was walking along the quays in Dublin when he saw two women walk into a hotel on Bachelors Walk.

“I remember walking and then I saw this ray of light. That’s how I saw my wife. Believe it or not, it’s a true story. You have to trust your senses.”

Staricov discovered they were attending salsa lessons. After feigning interest in the dancing, he asked Patricia for her number. Three months later he asked her to marry him.

"It's a beautiful story, especially with both of us being foreigners. She's from the Democratic Republic of Congo and has been here over 10 years with her family."

In September 2013, Staricov secured an interview with Google who offered him a job working in sales with their Russian customers. He later moved to a job at the Indeed tech company, which provides an online platform for jobseekers around the world.

In 2014, Staricov and Patricia, who works for HSBC, were married in a traditional Congolese ceremony in Phoenix Park. The following year they had a "white wedding" in Kildare which was attended by friends and family from Moldova. In May 2016, their daughter Annabelle was born.

Great responsibility

“Welcoming her into this world is a great joy but also a great responsibility. It’s an experience that will change your life. No we’re expecting our second baby in September.”

Earlier this year Staricov’s mother moved to Ireland to be closer to her only child and grandchild. The couple also began attending a church in central Dublin where “everyone is welcome”.

“When I grew up we didn’t have a church but now, as an adult, I love going to church. People often look at us because we’re a bi-racial couple but in St Mark’s Church you see loads of different nationalities. You see Brazilians, Africans, eastern Europeans and Irish, I love it.”

With his mother, wife and daughter all in Ireland, he says it feels logical to call this small island home. “I didn’t have this as my plan, it just happened. Ireland began as a temporary place for six-12 months but now it’s my home. If this isn’t home, I don’t know what else you could call it.”