Career
She was originally educated as an engineer in Electroacoustics and Ultrasound at Odessa Polytechnic Institute. Influenced by the dramatic social changes in the Soviet Union, Prytula quit her engineering career and became an independent journalist. She began her journalism career as a correspondent of UNIAR news agency, later working as a stringer for Reuters in Crimea, correspondent for Interfax-Ukraine news agency in Kiev and Crimea.
In 2000, Prytula began work as one of the founders of Ukrayinska Pravda.
Prytula has also been a mistress of married Gongadze. She never stated it publicly but repeatedly mentioned her deep personal ties to him after his death.
Prytula returned to Ukraine in 2004 after her fellowship year at Stanford, where she was a Lyle and Corrine Nelson International Journalism Fellow, studying Internet-based communications and new media technologies. Soon after her return, Ukraine witnessed the Orange Revolution during which Prytula"s site played a pivotal role in providing timely information to the public in an atmosphere of upheaval and press restrictions.
In the 2000s (decade), Olena Prytula complemented Ukrayinska Pravda with news sites dedicated to economy, lifestyle, local news and tabloid, creating an integrated Internet-media group.
Russian-speaking Prytula insists that her news sites" home pages should remain in Ukrainian language, although translated Russian version is also provided. Earlier available English-translated version is discontinued and put offline.