How I got to where I am now
I was born in former Yugoslavia, current Croatia. When I was four years old, Yugoslavia was stricken by a civil war, which lasted for about four years. Some of my first memories stem from the war years, and despite some bad experiences I mostly remember my childhood, including wartime, as playful and carefree. Although both of my parents had good jobs, the economic situation was rough. That meant, among other things, that we lived in a studio apartment in downtown Zagreb until I was six and my sister was two years old. Although my parents didn’t want to emigrate during the war, the situation in the country after it ended was grim, and they would subtly suggest that life abroad might be better for me. So from a very young age, I wondered what it would be like to live in a foreign land. There seemed to be so much to discover and experience. Sometimes, as a child, I would imagine myself living in a foreign country, speaking English daily, being successful in my job, and traveling to all the places that I studied on the world map. Little did I know how powerful imagination can be!
When the time came to decide what I wanted to do in life, I was torn between studying psychology, linguistics, and business. In Croatia, the university system asks students to enroll in one faculty and doesn’t support taking courses from a different faculty as part of the same curriculum. I choose business because I was following my rational mind and advice from wise people who said that there was no money in humanities or psychology. I guess I will never know because I stuck to business, and although I resented my choice at times, I found some comfort in taking marketing as a major, where I developed a strong liking for marketing communications. However, part of me missed the opportunity to work directly with people and help them figure out who they are and what they want to do with their lives. Digging for what was within, putting strengths in the spotlight, uncovering fears, and encouraging people to follow their passions all came naturally.
My first stint of life abroad came between my Bachelor’s and Master’s programs when I moved to San Diego for the summer with a few friends from Zagreb. It happened to be the midst of the financial crisis, which meant that we couldn’t find cool bartending jobs as easily as we had hoped. We were left with two options: going back home or becoming pedicab drivers. Going back after a couple of weeks wasn’t really an option so we took the job of pedaling a rickshaw to make a living. I remember being left with $12 in my pocket after having paid $150 for a weekly pedicab rental. It was an all-or-nothing situation, and we truly made the best of it. After pedaling for 2.5 months and many adventures that the job and our living situation endowed us with, I got to travel around both U.S. coasts for about a month. I left North America knowing that there was so much more left for me to discover.
After finishing my Master’s one year later, I was adamant about not settling for a job in Croatia. My adventurous spirit was at its peak, and the only thing that was important to me was that wherever I go I have some work arrangement (uncertainty or pedicab weren’t options anymore). After months of searching and submitting job applications for roles in Pakistan, Uganda, Russia, India, and all possible Latin American countries, I ended up getting an offer from Canada. Not nearly as exotic as most other places I interviewed for but with a slightly better salary and higher safety track record. So I left again, this time planning on staying abroad for a year. My first stop, Edmonton, was a pretty cold and remote place but had some of the warmest people I could’ve possibly come across. After extending that year into a year and a half and an appetite for staying more permanently, an opportunity that I couldn’t reject came across and I moved to New York City to work for a global management consultancy in media relations. I had always thought that I wanted a career in public relations and was beyond myself to be doing exactly that, nowhere else but in Midtown Manhattan. I’ll never forget walking to work, suddenly realizing all over again that I was in NYC, headed to my full-time job at a prestigious company, where I’d be interacting with some of the world’s most reputable media, in English, a language that I hadn’t spoken regularly until I was 24 years old. It was a pretty wild experience. While living in New York I started to travel regularly, checking cities, states, countries, and continents off my never-ending travel-list. It felt like a dream come true.
After three years in NYC, I felt like I’d had my share of the city and it was time to move on. I got another stint with the same company, this time in Atlanta. The South was kind to me, and again I met some amazing people. Although I started doing yoga while I lived in New York, it was in Atlanta that I got into it to the point when the only thing that seemed to make sense was to deepen my practice by getting trained as a yoga teacher. And that’s when my journey of self-discovery began. Being surrounded by a bunch of yogis regularly made me question some of my life choices, but at that point, I still really enjoyed my corporate job (and a big part of my livelihood depended on a work visa, which was quite difficult to get so I held onto it with my life). Although I enjoyed my life in the South, I had to choose between staying in the U.S. and going through the process of becoming a permanent resident or moving back to Canada where I already had a permanent resident status. I picked Canada and moved to Toronto, one of the best cities I’d ever been to; a perfect middle ground between New York and Atlanta. In Toronto, I got into yoga even more — first by assisting, then by teaching classes — and became part of an amazing community of people with a background in wellness.
I learned about personal coaching in a professional training program that I attended through my company. It immediately sparked my interest and the more I looked into it, the more I was intrigued by this novel concept. What ensued was a period of self-discovery, which entailed lots of introspection and self-care: attending workshops and retreats, reading about personal growth and spirituality, and self-coaching. After a particularly challenging time at work during which I burned out, I became a lot more self-aware, and as I pondered about my life purpose and values, the coaching concept I had previously touched upon was calling me to join it professionally. Soon thereafter I was enrolled in a professional coach training, taking a break from the corporate world, ready to become a certified coach. Looking back, I realize that studying psychology or linguistics wouldn’t have been the best choice. It would have been that much more difficult to make it in the corporate world as a foreigner with a humanities degree vs. a business degree. Also, I can see how the entire corporate experience, including burnout, served as a wake-up call for me to get in tune with myself and to fuel my personal and professional growth. I can see how every experience brought me to exactly where I need to be today.
I’m currently in the process of getting certified as a professional coach and enjoying the constant learning and discovery that come with it. With my experience in yoga, I see so much opportunity in integrating it with personal coaching. The effects that yoga and coaching have had on me are profound and I’m beyond excited to have the tools I can share with others to create a similar effect. My dream is to one day have my practice, in nature, where my clients can completely disconnect from the everyday bustle and connect with themselves in their full wisdom and power. Until then, I am working with clients in person in any quiet place that works, as well as virtually.
As I think about my life so far, I consider myself very lucky to have such a supportive family and an ever-expanding group of friends I can rely on wherever in the world I am. Besides luck (which also helped immensely with some of my work permits) there has been a lot of hard work and constant investment in personal and professional growth and development. And that is important to emphasize because it means that anyone, including YOU, can be and do anything they’ve dreamed of as a child. No matter your country of origin, no matter your native language or your financial background, you can be the person you aspire to be and do the things you long to do. It doesn’t come overnight and it takes determination, courage, and perseverance, but it’s possible as long as you want it and work for it. Keep sending positive thoughts into the Universe and keep pursuing your passion, and I promise, the results will show.