Liudmyla Kuchma
Людмила Кучма
Kuchma in 2000
First Lady of Ukraine
In office 19 July 1994 – 23 January 2005
President	Leonid Kuchma
Preceded by	Antonina Kravchuk
Succeeded by	Kateryna Yushchenko
Personal details
Born	Lyudmila Nikolayevna Talalayeva (1940-06-19) 19 June 1940 (age 83) Votkinsk, Udmurt ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Udmurtia, Russia)
Spouse	Leonid Kuchma ​ (m. 1967)​
Relations	Gennady Fyodorovich Tumanov (stepfather; 1918–1989)
Children	Olena Pinchuk
Occupation	Former design engineer
Awards	Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Order of Princess Olga First Class

Liudmyla Mykolaivna Kuchma^[a] (née Talalaieva^[b]; born 19 June 1940) is the wife of second Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and a former First Lady of Ukraine.^[1] She had previously worked as a design engineer.

Early life and education

Liudmyla Kuchma was born in Udmurtia, and studied at a music school located in the house-museum of Pyotr Tchaikovsky . She graduated from mechanical college.^{[citation needed]}

Career

For thirty years, she worked as an engineer in the design office of a production association in Dnepropetrovsk.

Personal life

In 1967, she married Leonid Kuchma, the late president of Ukraine from 1994 to 2005. Her daughter Olena was born in 1970.^[2]

Honors

In 1998, Kuchma was awarded the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas.^[3] and Order of Princess Olga First Class (2010).^[4] Since 1996, she has been Honorary President of the National Fund for Social Protection of Mother and Child.^{[citation needed]}

Since 12 May 2004, she has been Special Ambassador of UNESCO to help young talents.^[5]