Introduction

Hello

Let’s play an icebreaker game. I will share my art and you guess what it depicts.

Ok, there is really no right or wrong answer here. This is an abstract piece, which means something to me emotionally, and may mean something absolutely different to you. It may puzzle you, repel you, give you a happy vibe, or give you “the creeps”, as my son would say.

There are a couple of reasons why I started with this particular activity. First, I wanted to set the scene, give a happy emotion. Then, I wanted to grab your attention, even for a minute, and make you forget for a second about all the stress out there in the world, in business or at home. The third aspect of this exercise is to demonstrate how I integrate seemingly meaningless abstract lines and color spots into a coherent picture.

Abstract thinking is a cognitive process that involves the ability to understand and analyze complex ideas, concepts, and theories that are not concrete or visible. It is the ability to think beyond the immediate, observable facts and to understand the underlying principles and relationships. Abstract thinking is often associated with higher-level cognitive processes such as reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making. It allows me to understand abstract concepts and ideas and to make connections between seemingly unrelated concepts. Abstract thinking also enables individuals to think creatively, to generate new ideas and approaches to problems, and understand and navigate complex systems.

As this is an Introduction, I would like to describe my personal values in order to better describe myself.

Values are something that defines me. I am my values, even when no one is looking. My life's decisions are guided by these values, particularly when faced with dilemmas. They help me decide what to do when in doubt. 

My values are Friends, Learning (Knowledge), and Creativity.

These are my motivational drivers. I move forward when I am comfortable with the plan of direction where to go, and I move faster when I have a team of like-minded people around me working towards the same goal. The creativity of my approach in any work situation sometimes surprises people.

I give my all to the work I perform. I appreciate cooperation with teammates and collaboration with other teams. As a professional, I value education and have respect for the professionals around me.

I have set up and working on growing a Business Consulting firm, Toro N2, with an emphasis on strategy and marketing. I have 20 years of experience in marketing and branding in various industries and have developed a set of soft and hard skills to support my aspiration.

My soft skills include: 

1. Creative thinking in solving problems and approaching challenges.

2. Communication: I like cooperation, and will work on problems instead of escalating them. I believe in strong relationships within an organization, as it allows everybody to work towards the same goal as a unit, no matter how far apart physically team members are located.

3. Adaptability: in the constantly changing complex, even chaotic world I see only 1 way to survive and succeed. It is to adapt the accumulated experience and knowledge to make new connections, new decisions, and find new ways to the ever-occurring new problems.

4. Curiosity: I am on a path of continuous learning and discovery. The world is moving faster and one needs to keep up with the changes and adapt to new ways easier by keeping one's mind always in exploring mode. Never settle.

5. Emotional intelligence: I am constantly working on my emotional state, keeping reactions grounded and organized. I have tools that help me find the best way to seek balance in my mind and therefore in my life. I am passionate about work and relationships, but I am professional in my approach to finding solutions to problems and interpersonal conflict that always occurs.

My Hard skills include the following areas of experience:

• Marketing: SEO, B2B content, eCommerce, planning, research, data analysis, email marketing, Adwords, Facebook paid ads, segmentation, differentiation

• Presentation skills: visualization and graphic design, slideshows, data analysis, report writing, persuasion, and selling

  • Utilized data visualization to facilitate the message in business reports and newsletters

  • Designed slideshows in Canva and Powerpoint, also made short videos

• Management skills: project management, research, logistics, strategic planning

• Technical hard skills: Adobe CS, Excel (expert), PowerPoint various e-commerce platforms

  • Organized excel database for 5 companies and 20,000 product names, wrote formulas to perform pricing calculations and connections, even predictions

• Analytical skills: research, data analysis, and presentation, database management, interpreting, reporting

In short, I am a true professional gem, with a hunger for learning and self-improvement. 

And if you are still wondering what was in the image above, it was the face of a young woman.

Do you see it?