Veronika Moiseyeva, general director of the Imageland public relations firm, made the most important decisions of her life when her husband was away from home.


The idea to set up Imageland came to her in 1989, when her husband, Sergei, was on a three-month business trip in Siberia and Moiseyeva, 28, was taking care of their nine-month-old daughter.


"I understood if I did not start working again, that would be the end of me as a professional and, maybe, as a woman," Moiseyeva said.


She called a friend at Sointel, a trading and manufacturing firm whose director agreed to give her starting capital of 50,000 rubles ($78,000, according to the official exchange rate in 1989) to rent an office, hire personnel and pay them their first wages. In return, Siontel received 10 percent of the new company's shares.


"When my husband came back, everything was already working," she said.


Since then, the firm has grown from five to 100 employees. Sergei joined Imageland as financial director in 1990.


"My advantage in business is that I am a woman," said Moiseyeva. "All my clients are men and I can convince them that they are very smart to have made the decision to work with us.


"Another thing is that women are more attentive to details. Men either forget about them or do not want to finish petty things."


Last winter, Imageland and U.S. greeting card maker American Greetings collaborated on the International Friendship Card, which was set up on the Red Square and signed by celebrities and passers-by in support of peace. And last spring, Imageland provided public relations services for the American Teledyne Inc. fair in Moscow, where American firms showed off products for defense industry conversion.


Another of Imageland's clients, the Volna concern from Bashkortostan, became the major sponsor for a concert in support of those who defended the Ostankino television tower during the battle for the parliament in early October.


When any business in Russia reaches a certain level of profitability, racketeers inevitably pay a visit. This also happened to Imageland, and again Moiseyeva's husband was away.


Moiseyeva simply closed down the office for 10 days while she found someone with the right connections to solve the problem. She would not go into detail.


"My motto in business is enjoy your work, but have a private life," she said.


"I have a rule of solving two or three serious problems a day. My other rule is to be at home by half past six and to devote the week-ends to my daughter."


The last decision Moiseyeva made, when her husband was away in the United States, was to purchase of a piece of land outside Moscow, where she has started building a dacha.