Max Klymenko
Ukrainian internet personality
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maksym "Max" Klymenko (English: /klɪˈmɛn.koʊ/; Ukrainian: Максим «Макс» Клименко [ˈmaksim kɫeˈmɛnkɔ]; born 27 July 1995) is a Ukrainian internet personality and educator, recording short videos for TikTok and YouTube, regarding career, business, brands and public issues. His most popular series, titled Career Ladder, focuses on him attempting to guess careers of people met on the street under two minutes, while standing with them on a ladder. As of July 2026, Klymenko has 9.7 million followers on TikTok, and about 4.27 million subscribers on YouTube. He is based in London, England.
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27 July 1995
Max Klymenko | |
|---|---|
Макс Клименко | |
Klymenko in 2025 | |
| Born | Maksym Klymenko 27 July 1995 Mykolaiv, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Entertainer |
| Years active | 2018–present |
| Known for | Career Ladder |
| TikTok information | |
| Page | |
| Followers | 9.7 million |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Subscribers | 4.35 million |
| Views | 5.5 billion views |
| Last updated: 29 July 2026 | |
| Website | www |
Early life and education
Maksym "Max" Klymenko[1] was born on 27 July 1995,[2][3] in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.[4][5] He has four degrees, in law, economics, business, and sociology, including from the University of Southampton, London School of Economics, and Warwick Business School.[4][6][7] He formerly worked as a lawyer and a consultant.[6]
Career
Max Klymenko began his social media creative career by writing a blog about artificial intelligence, later also starting a podcast. In 2018, he started a YouTube channel, where he originally published videos about books and AI. He also founded an educational channel on TikTok.[6] Klymenko has created videos about careers, business, brands and public issues, garnering over 7.7 million followers on TikTok, and 3.4 million subscribers on YouTube, as of September 2025.[8] In 2024, he began creating a series of short vertical videos, titled Career Ladder, in which he stands on the back rungs of a ladder, inviting one guest at a time to stand on the front side, attempting to guess their career through a series of questions in under two minutes. Klymenko stated the format was created to discuss careers without the biases which accompany such conversations, including someone's appearance, income, status, and location.[4][6] The format was subsequently copied by numerous creators, becoming one of the most popular on TikTok.[6][8] In 2025, he was nominated for the Creator of the Year Award at the Creator Awards, the largest digital content creators' awards in the United Kingdom.[8]
In 2021, he also recorded a speech for TED Talk regarding social media.[6][9]
Klymenko participated in aid campaigns for the Ukrainian refugees affected by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He also funded 100 abortions for Ukrainian women in Poland, who were raped by Russian soldiers, citing and criticising laws which make it difficult for them to get treatment.[6][10] In March 2026, Klymenko held a short interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, during his visit to the United Kingdom.[11][12]
In 2024, Klymenko was listed on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, in the Media and Marketing category.[13][14] In 2025, he became a member of the NATO Youth Advisory Board.[15]
He is also the founder of KLYM&CO, a communications agency that provides consulting, strategy and production services to clients in 25 countries, which includes the United Nations, World Wide Fund for Nature, NATO, Google, and Microsoft, among others.[6][13][7]
Personal life
Awards and nominations
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | TikTok Awards | Creator of the Year | Career Ladder | Won | [16] |