The process of work of an international marriage agency is simple and effective. Their clients are: on the one hand - the Western men, aspiring to find for themselves a girlfriend who would be young enough, beautiful and undemanding and, on the other hand, - the Russian women exhausted by personal and household problems, but rather attractive and unpretentious. The agency brings them together and receives a compensation for it.
On a photo you should look modest. It is not necessary to be photographed in a bathing suit for a marriage agency. Such photo will be viewed with pleasure, but a normal serious man will hardly become interested in the opportunity of marriage with a woman with such a photo online. Do not trust those who assure you of the opposite. A good photographer can take a photo of you in a normal decent dress and show all your advantages, and at the same time your photo will not look vulgar.
By the way: marriage agencies, especially western, are interested to receive such "sexy" photos - addresses of the women photographed in this way are better sold. But such ladies get married though letters and various offers from men less often.
Also remember: the fact that you have a PhD and have two higher educations, will not at all add to your appeal in the eyes of a Western man. So think again whether you want to mention it in your questionnaire. Meanwhile, the fact that you have children will not push men away from you, on the contrary - in many cases this will be a positive factor.
Do not complain, especially in the beginning of your acquaintance. Letters that say "all men here are alcoholics and helpless, and I am a poor creature who has no money for a piece of bread and stockings" look very depressing. As for novels and films, in the real life the women are burdened with numerous problems, and the men do not exactly aspire to solve them all. Those who say bad things about their native land equally do not inspire sympathy. As a rule, Western men immediately stop contact if they feel that their correspondent only writes in order to move to another country, not because of their personal qualities.
Finally: the world is huge. It is full of lonely people. A woman whom many men do not see as attractive, is so unique for someone that for her sake he would move mountains. One should not lose hope to find such person. Children, physical defects, a "potato" nose do not make you useless. Remember that someone needs you and is looking for you. You only have to meet somehow. And if you look for this meeting - it will happen!