About me
I see the world as a friendly place where something good is waiting around every corner. I am a good observer and love helping others to see their strengths.
Trained as a transformative coach, I possess core coaching skills such as active listening and holding space, and I understand how to help individuals gain new perspectives. Combined with my pragmatic nature and expertise in HR and Leadership, my approach is supportive yet action-oriented.
Since 2020, I've been helping career-oriented people build their visions, make important decisions, navigate career transitions or advancement, or simply.... life!
Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn!
My Story
Thank you for taking the time to visit this page and learn my story. I hope I get the opportunity to learn yours as well!
Growing up in Russia, I was surrounded by high expectations and a strong emphasis on personal responsibility and development.
My career journey took off early and progressed rapidly. During my university days, I found myself working as a recruiter for a major retailer, where I played a role in opening new stores. By the time I was 22, I was already managing a five-person HR team at a leading manufacturing company.
I didn't question whether I liked the approach or culture at the companies I worked for. And while I was learning a lot, my main driver was to fulfil those old expectations - something about success and status - so that my family could be proud of me.
All of the important questions came at the time of my move to Nürnberg, Germany in 2017 and created a lot of doubts about both myself and my abilities:
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Who am I outside of my job? What is important to me?
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Do I even have any strengths at all and are they relevant here?
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What do I really want? Should I accept any job or look for something I like?
On top of that, I've gathered quite a list of assumptions:
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I will never find a job without speaking proper German;
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Employers would prefer to hire someone local over a foreigner;
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They don't want to bother with your visa or work permit;
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You have to lower your expectations because you're coming from abroad
As you can imagine, they were not at all helpful to my goal of finding a job in Germany. But they played an important role in finding myself.
The best way to overcome these assumptions (or, as we call them, "limiting beliefs") is to start questioning them. What if it's not true?
I decided to move to Berlin, which I'm grateful to call home now.
I got a job in the HR department in English. No one has ever stressed about my work permit (except myself) or my knowledge of German, which is still a work in progress. Although I must say that knowing the language of the country you live in greatly improves the quality of life.
I built HR and Operations functions in 3 start-ups from the ground up, was part of a successful exit, and switched to self-employment.
Would I change something along the way if I could? No. Every path, no matter how difficult, is unique. And I love mine.