Inside Stories: Thinking Out-Of-The-Box is no longer such a Cliché when it comes to the Right Experience

In today’s episode, we are talking about Ancuța and Flavian, two team members with seniority and complex experience in our team. In addition, they are lovers of excel, planning and work well done.

Ah, ah! And they have something else in common, they believed in the causes of some NGOs, so they volunteered for their missions.

6 mins read

Flavian - energy and enthusiasm, glued with inspiration and creativity.

Flavian studied two faculties – the one of Communication and the one of Law. In a situation where he had to choose, initially he chose the Faculty of Law, giving up the one of Communication. Studying law helped him enormously on the part of structured thinking, to communicate in a professional and polite way, to support a well-founded argument but also to dress everything in fairness.

Instead, Flavian chose to self-educate in a „non-institutional” way, that is, he attended a lot of courses (really… a bunch!), read a lot of communication books and even took care of his parents’ business on the marketing side, he was part of two NGOs, where in both he was part of the marketing and sales teams. He always had a passion for communication and marketing, and, as you can see, he has chosen to bring it to fruition in his characteristic style.

The courage.

Courage is an important part of his professional DNA, and not only that.

Flavian, today, is the Delivery Manager of our company. Which involves a lot of forecasting in his day-to-day work, he said, is like playing chess. You have to find solutions to current problems, but also anticipate potential problems and the right solutions, play with mathematical formulas and… maybe among the most important things, manage people.

Flavian saw in his family how important it is to be a partner with people. That’s why, in every experience he had, in every role he had, he took this for granted – he coordinated projects, was president of an NGO, department manager and so on.

If there is something that characterizes Flavian very well, it is the courage. The courage to make decisions even when you don’t have all the information on the table, but you have enough to make an impact. „Sometimes it can be too late to wait for all the information.”

And through courage, Flavian created a great experience with the company, this year celebrating 9 years of partnership. It obviously started with an internship… but not anyway, internship in three areas: design, development and project management. And guess what? He did not stay on any of the roles, but was proposed to enter the marketing department, where he was a one-man show. He was a Marketing Specialist, then a digital strategist, then a Marketing Manager and also joined the agency’s leadership team. It has been 7 years since he became a Senior Digital Consultant, and for almost 3 years he has been the Agency’s Delivery Manager.

We asked him if he looks at Flavian from 8 years ago what does he see and do you know what he told us? He told us that he really wanted to enter the branding area, but at that time the agency no longer did this part. But he liked the company so much that he was very sure he would find his place. He believed that he would explore design area, then in all the roles he had, although the mindset and the experience recommended him, he had a different opinion.

If you look at his whole experience, you notice that Flavian is the kind of man who likes to explore, to go into unexplored areas. He really likes to take one thing, develop it, grow it, and then give it to someone who is better at that thing. For example, the company’s marketing department did not exist, but with his position as marketing manager, he also created a team. The same can be said about the strategy part, and even delivery.

We can deduce that… you have to be open to new things, have the ability to develop something and leave that role to someone who is better.

Oh, and did we tell you? He has two cats and a dog. And a wife he loves very much.

Ancuța - curiosity helped her get out of her comfort zone and grow day by day

Ancuța studied Journalism at the Faculty, and immediately entered the magical world of journalism. All the experience of copywriting, newspaper design, CMS and HTML helped her in her first position on the Grapefruit team – Content Editor.

Ancuța is the kind of person who never stops learning. Right after college, she chose to go on to a Master’s degree, studying Public Relations and Advertising. These studies were the knowledge base for the pitches she took part in, also in the creative area.

At the same time, she is passionate about studying consumer behavior, what influences it, what impact an advertisement has on the consumer decision and so on. What is interesting, she told us, is that part of the strategy is not necessarily connected. However, what she is doing now – Digital Strategy – is a kind of next level from her studies. As we said, she doesn’t stop learning, everything is a continuous learning process, and the learning plan is the main guide. She joined the team with a minimum of skills and personal values, and further… she just built on!

Out of curiosity, she ended up applying to our team as well. She joined a Digital Marketing Meet-up, where our company was the organizer, where the idea of joining us was just a flash. She didn’t think about it at all. And she did well!

In this 4 years since she has been in Grapefruit, Ancuța has grown nicely: first she was a Content Editor, then she was a Team Leader of the Content team, and today she is a Digital Strategist. It is a natural path, by the way. What was the basis of her growth? The passion. From a passion for words, for beauty, for understanding the consumer (maybe in the future she will study neuromarketing, who knows?) she came to enjoy this beautiful path.

As the team leader of the Content team, she really wanted to create a team culture and a safe space for team members. And take our word for it…it worked! While she was a team leader, she also managed to practice her strategy skills, thus, as simple as 1+1=2… Ancuța decided to go even further with her experience.

If she looks at Ancuța from 4 years ago, from her first day of work in our company, she looks at her with pride. Because of that, Ancuța was shy and had a little low self-esteem. But… then she was asked where she sees herself in 5 years. What do you think she answered?

In less time, she was able to mentor others, support them and „grow” them, and not only as a team leader, but also as a strategist.

Ancuța does not shy away from stepping out of the comfort zone. She adapts quickly to change – from the flow of people, to the switch of mentality. Basically, she embraced the change and that opened up more opportunities for her.

At the same time, if you ask our colleagues how they would characterize Ancuța, they would surely answer that she is the perfect mix of joviality and firmness.

Did you like the experiences of our colleagues?

Inside Stories: Thinking Out-Of-The-Box is no longer such a Cliché when it comes to the Right Experience

6 mins read

Flavian - energy and enthusiasm, glued with inspiration and creativity.

Ancuța - curiosity helped her get out of her comfort zone and grow day by day

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