Max Kushner, financier, Kate Kushner, founder, NYM Yoga

Max: My family moved from Belarus in the early 1990s, when I was 14. You could probably call it a learning experience, or at least a character-building one; while we were far from wealthy in the old country, after we moved, we had absolutely nothing.

Kate: I was born in Moscow and moved to the States at age 11. My parents didn’t fully prepare me for the fact that I was going to be spending my life in a completely different country — to me, it seemed like we just packed some stuff and flew off somewhere. It took me an entire year to realize that we weren’t moving back.

Max: Settling in Connecticut was quite a shock. Growing up, I always believed America was full of concrete and skyscrapers, and there I was in suburbia, surrounded by lawns and private houses.

Kate: There was a period where I tried to forget that I was Russian, probably because I was a little bit embarrassed about it. But it’s a hard thing to forget, especially when you live in Brooklyn. Eventually, I came back to my roots and never really Americanized.

Max: We met through mutual friends, when we were both living in New York. Eventually we moved in together and got married. All this time, I was keeping an eye on Russia. I had been here in 1997, before the crisis, and absolutely loved it.

Kate: In the two years we lived together, the topic came up every now and then. I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it, and neither were my parents. But eventually, I decided to give it a shot. We moved to Moscow in 2004.

Max: There were many things that attracted me about Russia. The country was very much evolving — and still is. It’s much easier to effect changes here, so you can work hard and immediately see the results. You can play your own little tiny role, add your wave to the big ocean, and I find that very exciting.

Kate: Our first year, I was always saying that I wanted to go back. Now I want to stay. This place definitely grows on you after a while.

Max: I consider myself a fusion of Moscow and New York. It’s impossible to say I belong to either one, and I’m equally comfortable in both.

Kate: In my beliefs and values, I’m definitely Russian, and I don’t think that’s going to change no matter where we live. It’s hard to say which country we’re going to choose, but if it winds up being Russia, that’ll be fine with me.