The Beginnings

Setting the foundation.

I started working when I was 19 years old as an office manager at a multinational in Romania. Within a year, I was doing two jobs and still had time to spare in my day. When I decided to quit the company, its’ managing director asked me personally not to leave, as the subsidiary I was working in became the most efficient one in the country, and she saw huge potential for me to grow. However, I knew I had a different purpose and moved on.

What followed was a series of jobs as life insurance agent, secretary at a private university, office manager at a medical devices company, and personal assistant to a high-profile personality in Romania.

Throughout these years, I gathered a tremendous variety of skills and experiences, learned that bosses make or break an employee, and that because of my independent spirit, I will always have difficulties working for abusive managers. This period was the foundation of my future self as a manager, focused on empathy and enabling colleagues to achieving their potential.

• Employers: AXXON Romania, Universitatea Dimitrie Cantemir, Pell-Amar SRL, AIG Romania

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Freelance

Finding My Drive

In 2005, I moved to the USA, and handling the immigration process was quite challenging. However, after countless hours of research, I (almost) became an expert in US immigration law and became a US citizen without any external legal support.

The period right after moving to the USA, I was not allowed to work due to my residency status, so when I was not doing immigration research, I was learning how to design websites. By “designing websites”, I mean poking around Adobe Illustrator, which I fell in love with (and still am!). One thing led to another, and once I had my green card, I signed up to study design in college and learned how to build brands and websites.

I still consider myself a designer at heart. I loved the process of creating brands working with clients, shedding light into their businesses and building their corporate identities. Two of my clients touched my heart in a unique way, and I dedicated myself to them after I finished my studies. Human Rights Action Center and Startup Weekend were organisations with a similar goal: make a positive change in the world!

These years were incredibly transformative for me: I adapted to a very different culture, found one my life-long passions and contributed to ideas that were much larger than myself. I learned that being open and accepting change in its true and deep form can lead to significant life improvements.

I became comfortable with being uncomfortable and also realised that collaborating with others and contributing my skills to working towards shared Big Hairy Audacious Goals is incredibly rewarding.

• Main Contractors: Human Rights Action Center, Startup Weekend (acquired by Techstars)

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Dedication

All In!

Connecting with inspirational Startup Weekend community builders from around the world was very impactful, to the point where I became fully immersed in the organisation. I developed and changed the shape and scope of my role alongside organisational growth.

What started with web and graphic design, managing the website with its >200 subdomains and local organisers with the technical aspect of their work, ended up with me relocating to London to manage the European business development and negotiating joint ventures initiated by the European Comission. I never stopped to think “I can’t do this, it’s beyond my knowledge and comfort zone”, instead adopting a mentality of “How can I do this?” and learning to become as good as I could at each challenge thrown my way.

Throughout my work with Startup Weekend, I heard hundreds of ideas and met thousands of entrepreneurs, learning about their pains and challenges. I frequently exchanged experiences with people on the ground all over Europe, always doing my best to adapt my work, improve the services we offered as an organisation and get the best possible outcome from the local organisers. When context changes - be it cultural, geographical or educational, so must the output of the knowledge and experience you have.

After my work with Startup Weekend ended, it felt natural to start my own venture focusing on the CEE region. I also collaborated with Capital on Stage, inviting VCs on stage to pitch their funds to tech startup founders. I learned that VCs have very similar behaviours as founders when they are in the spotlight. I cooperated with humble billionaires and arrogant founders, and I learned that everyone is vulnerable and no one is better than the other.

Through active listening, one can understand anyone's real needs and wants.

• Employer: Startup Weekend (acquired by Techstars), Capital On Stage, CEE Changers.

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Focus

Developing Excellence

After working for so many years being fully-focused on tech startup founders, I felt the need to learn more about the “other side of the industry” - the investment world. I moved to Switzerland to join SICTIC as Head of Marketing and Business Development, and got promoted to Managing Director within eight months. For the first time in more than a decade, I was in a position where I had to “shrink” my vision and focus from a global level to one-country only and found this to be the most challenging aspect of my work.

I professionalised and optimised all business activities and managed an operational team and a large community of investors. I supported 12 different board members, launched an educational program for angel investors, and grew SICTIC into the largest and most active angel investor network in Switzerland (and Europe). The accomplishments and learnings are too many to list. However, the most important personal learning was that now I know what motivates me is working on solving problems - the more complex the problem, the higher my enthusiasm. I get energy from working with startups, from thinking big and always pushing my and other boundaries.

At the end of my SICTIC employment I remained active on a strategic level as a volunteer Board Member.

• Employer: Swiss ICT Investor Club (SICTIC)

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