Better Urban Living - Blue Wings April Column
By Petra Zlatevska. First published in Blue Wings magazine, April 2012.
In his 2007 book ‘Affluenza’, British Psychologist and Author Oliver James claims that our contagious, socially transmitted condition of debt and anxiety results from our efforts to “keep up with the Joneses”. As a result, many people in modern-day society fail to understand what promotes well being.
Even the ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle discussed well being,although it was viewed rather negatively, as they associated it with hedonism and egoism. Well being has since come to be understood by doctors, psychologists and alternative healers as what is ultimately good for an individual or group of people.
Yet what about the well being and health of an entire city?
Living in a city is a reality for more than half the world’s population – with that figure set to rise to 70 per cent by 2050 according to the World Health Organisation.
Dr Agis Tsouros, Head of the Centre for Urban Health WHO in Europe, says “At its heart, the Healthy Cities movement is about creating the urban conditions that will allow all a city’s residents to live long and healthy lives and achieve their maximum potential’’.
One successful initiative supported by the WHO Healthy Cities Project in London was the introduction of a congestion charge in 2003 to enter the city centre. As the world’s first major city to introduce such a charge, bicycle journeys have increased by 20% with a 7% reduction in crashes.
My guest post on the formidable yesandyes blog: Why You Should Take A Career Sabbatical
A few months ago, I got in touch with the lovely Sarah, editor and founder of one of my favourite blogs yesandyes. After a bit of email badminton, she asked me to write a guest post on the benefits of embarking upon a career sabbatical.
This post was inspired by my real-life post-GFC travels around Asia, prior to landing in Berlin. I credit the sabbatical with pushing me out of my comfort zone and being a MAJOR factor in giving me the confidence and courage to pursue my writing and creative career.
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How many times have you been sitting in your office with a full in-tray, an annoying boss asking you to churn out yet another meaningless monthly report and what with yesterday’s cuppa soup staining your desk, all the while dreaming about joining an art retreat in the Tuscan foothills? Well, the good news is that these day dreams don’t merely have to be confined to your private journal or Pinterest board. In less time than you'd think, you could be sitting in on that artist’s retreat.
The bad news is that it is going to take a bit of saving, a lot of motivation and a healthy dose of courage.Read on here...
Bold New Clicks - Blue Wings March Column
By Petra Zlatevska. First published in Blue Wings magazine, March 2012.
There are now some 400 million entrepreneurs starting and running new businesses, according to a recent survey by the world’s largest study of entrepreneurship, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (www. gemconsortium.org), which profiled 54 economies.
In Europe, the German capital is currently a hotbed for new ventures. “Berlin is an amazing city that’s very similar to a startup, with a large pool of people who have big ideas, are passionate, and willing to work hard,” says Edial Dekker, Dutch-born CEO and co-founder of Gidsy (http://gidsy.com/about/). The Berlin- based online platform lets people discover, offer and book unique experiences in New York, London, Berlin and Amsterdam.
But Berlin is not representative of the rest of Europe, which according to the European Union does not have enough entrepreneurs setting up new businesses. Not to mention the disproportionate number of female to male entrepreneurs. For example, in the EU’s largest country, Germany, women account for no more than 29 per cent of all start-ups.
Iceland’s Rúna Magnusdottir, a successful entrepreneur and founder of Connected-Women.com and co-founder of BRANDit, is ranked by Forbes magazine as one of 20 global business women to follow on twitter. She believes that a social system promoting gender equality, strong female role models as well as specific government grants and programmes to assist women entrepreneurs start a business all increase economic diversity.
“Global power systems are collapsing around us - the bank crash in Iceland, the global financial crisis, the Arab Spring,” she says. “Now more than ever we need entrepreneurs to change the world into one where we and our children want to live.”
Happy International Women's Day
__________
"You are so fortunate since there are many young girls just like you in other parts of the world who may not be able to go to school because there is no school near where they lived or their parents expect them to look after their younger siblings.."
We were reminded that as young girls ready to take our place in this world, that not everyone lived in such a safe and peaceful country such as Australia. Then we would sing the school hymn. Back then in a suburban Sydney primary school, I could not have imagined how transformative IWD celebrations would come to be for me.
Fast forward twenty years later, and I still can't help but feel a combination of pride and excitement at sporadic points during the day. There is always something incredibly unique about IWD. It is a day very different to Mother's Day. It is a day shared by women all over the world of all ages and nationalities - young, old, mother, non-mother, pensioner, student. It celebrates all that its means to be a woman no matter where you are born, irrespective of your circumstances are and what you want out of life.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.~ Mother Teresa ~If you are interested in following the views of renowned female opinion leaders, NGOs and other activists from many different continents focusing on women's rights, politics, business, women in the arts and philanthropy, I have curated what I think is a pretty great twitter list here.
The Warts And All Version Of Starting a Writing Career In a Brand New Country
I've been thinking about writing a lot lately. Which is different to actually writing.
Firstly because it is just on two years since I finished my Integrationskurs (German language and cultural orientation course).With my last exam ('Write a letter to your old school teacher and tell him/her what you have been doing recently') fertig, my brain cleared of declining nouns and conjugating verbs, it was time to front-up: would I go and find a job as a lawyer (yawn) or dredge out those writing fantasies from the nooks and crannies of my mind by venturing out into unknown depths of the writing world?Then a few weeks ago, an old friend announced that his short Internet sketch comedy news show was going to be turned into a longer TV comedy series, produced by a national Australian television network.I emailed him to firstly pass on my congratulations on the show and to also pick his brain about his writing habits and tricks. His reply was something I wanted to share in this post.Before I do though, I wanted to be self-indulgent and introspective - it is rather cathartic to do so on a blank white screen you know will be read by a few hundred people.
Looking back, I spoke to a few people and was told I should at first piece some kind of writing portfolio together. I knew that I wanted to be able to explore different genres and writing styles, both print and online, in a way that suited me (i.e would allow me to write from different cafés in Prenzlauer Berg).
I just got to writing. I didn't enrol in a writer's course as I had some microscopic traces of creative marrow left in me having studied literature and done lots of writing all through university. Alas, since having to churn out legal advices and documents the last few years, I really had to suck that marrow for all it was worth. So I wrote a few small pieces to get started and landed a regular contributing author gig for an online British women's magazine which enabled me to focus on a few culture,modern life and travel anecdotes.
As adamant as I was to NOT work in the legal field, as fate would have it, I was offered a gig to write and edit a legal business guide in English and German for a Berlin-based law firm. Whilst it was not the sexiest of subject matters, it was writing after all and got me into a loose daily writing and editing discipline.And of course there was the allure of getting published.Step by little step, I plucked up the courage to apply for a prize I honestly believed I was not going to get, from a German media publishing group to be able to attend its flagship media and business conference known as DLDwomen. Lo and behold, God was smiling down on me that day and I ended up winning the prize.I went along to the conference eaten up with nerves so much so that it made me feel like I wanted to vomit, being around some of Europe's and the world's most respected authors, media figures and artists. It was here I met (ok, stalked) author Paulo Coelho after his talk on writing from the heart and his female heroines.
Meeting Paulo was both inspiring yet intimidating - it led me to spend hours I will never get back ogling at his and other authors/journalists/screen writers' websites and their works, feeling as though some of their talent would magically come my way via the cosmic forces of the Internet.This would totally throw off track my own plans - whether it is writing an article, a blog post, a presentation or speech or any other writing 'job'. Or even looking back at a book synopsis I wrote over a year ago. Then at another Berlin do a few months later, I met a French creativity instructor (in French) who gave workshops on the creative and writing process as taught by writer, author, teacher and film director Julia Cameron.I joined her workshop and we looked at what we thought of as creativity and explored why we can get 'blocked' creatively. Some of the reasons we came up with (relevant for writers were):- inner fear of failure or lack of self-belief to take action
- fear that you or your own writing aren't good enough
- that you will be rejected by every editor/literary agency known to man(or woman)
- that you don't believe in what you are writing/doing
- Or that you have received some harsh (and possibly undue) criticism in the past which has likely sucked you into a procrastination black hole.Cameron wrote The Artist's Way to assist artists (essentially anyone in the creative world) to overcome their creative rut via a twelve-week inner journey through various exercises and tasks. It may seem lofty, yet there is one main requirement: the daily writing of Morning Pages. These are three longform, handwritten pages written upon waking which are designed to unclog the sub-conscious mind and ensure you get through your writing or creative goals.The added benefit is that because you will feel "cleared", there will be a lesser need to procrastinate and therefore it will be easier to launch head - on into whatever writing you want to do that day/week/month. I first started the morning pages fairly fastidiously, went on holidays and stopped, and have now taken them up again. It does mean getting up twenty minutes earlier each day.I found though that writing them has definitely helped me in squeezing out of a creative rut. It has also helped me to feel more focused and confident in my own writing and writing style.
Through it all though, I found writing quite solitary. No one ever tells you that. There were many days when it was just me, my laptop and eating endless packets of Ritter Sport chocolate in my tracksuit pants at 2pm.
As people got to know I had scrubbed 'Lawyer' off my Linkedin Profile and replaced it with 'Writer', a few old contacts got in touch to ask if I would work with them on a few projects. Actually, no they didn't, I am making that up. I painstakingly pitched for every single article, blog post and communications project I ever worked on.
The first dozen rejections from Editors I cried. Then I cried some more, then I just stopped feeling sorry for myself and focused on the positives. I kept pitching for new stories and the persistence eventually paid off.
After the six month mark, I came to realise that writing did not just have to equate to publishing - writing and creating could also bare fruit outside of the print and online media universe. So I decided to also pitch for some creative consulting work with a few communications organisations and businesses that I had come across back home in Oz and in Berlin.
Whether it was writing my speech and post-screening questions as host for a few documentary film premieres in Sydney and Melbourne, researching twenty first office trends and presenting it in a workshop in German or devising and writing a new communications platform for a social media firm: these short and mid-term projects gave me interaction with other humans.
The other thing project work has given me is the breathing space to pursue my paid writing, creative writing and blog writing. I am now, Gott sei Dank, in a much better routine and last year, was invited to join a Büromitgliedschaft, a co-working space in the heart of Berlin with a motley crew of other creative types.
Anyways, I digress. Back to the writing advice from my friend - he too was once a lawyer and wrote for a few successful comedy shows in the last few years:So my advice? Keep the personal project and give it every chance to breathe.Best tip I was given was: "Write 200 words every day". Even if they suck, you get to the end of the week and you're on 1400 words without even trying, plus the greater value of that approach is that one rarely stops at 200 words.Similarly for screenplays, if you write just one page per day, you can have two completely finished, revised and edited films by the end of a single year.
Never stop, even if it's only for you!
Which brings me to the crux of this post : sometimes it is difficult to be a 100% certain about for whom or even why we write. Some of us just like to see our names in cyberspace,others want to be able to write from home and earn a salary writing, others still have intentions to land a book deal or write a film or TV screenplay.I don't think it's necessary to have such an articulated vision, I know I don't at this stage. Opportunities will come our way which we may not anticipate. So I remain open and challenge myself to try new things out: fiction stories for literary journals, book editing, screen play writing.Starting on a writing career from scratch in a foreign city on the other side of the world may seem like a ridiculous idea. Indeed it probably is. Yet,when it comes down to it, I have realised writing is a real love for me, indeed it is a labor of love.And no matter what, I write for myself.
Nice day for a white Wedding : Berlin's ugliest but most charming suburb
„Wo ick wohne? Wie alle feine Leite, Berlin W. hinten mit en ‚Ding‘! –?? – Na Mensch, vastehste nich, Berlin Wedding!“
- Hans Ostwald, Der Urberliner
“4€, bitte” the man said chirpily.
“Entschuldigung, nochmal ? ” I asked, incredulous about the price.
“Ja, 4€” he repeated.
I handed over the coins, wondering in the process how this lovely, cheerful man and his family could possibly make a living. This was the asking price for a yummy, doughy lump of spinach-filled goodness and a big cup of Turkish tea at a gözleme café in a little known corner of Berlin.
A few weekends ago, desperate to escape the tourist trap that my street has become, (Dutch retirees, Barcelona art students, Americans who shop at the Kollwitzmarkt Saturday markets) I had the urge to go where no tourist goes: Wedding.
When I first moved to Berlin and met people living in Mitte, Prenzlauerberg and Kreuzberg, they told me that everything I need to see, know and do about Berlin is contained within the radius formed by their three suburbs. I came to realise very quickly how wrong that was.
I first came across Wedding when I took a German language course at the Volkshochschule Mitte last Spring. I intentionally ticked the box for the Wedding campus (although technically, Wedding and Mitte have now fused together into one Council agglomeration as part of a cost-cutting exercise a few years ago by the city's Senat).
Two times a week, I would ride my bike to class jetting past Tetris-like residential buildings and unkempt public spaces. I’d constantly have to break on my bike, for the infinite number of many people, old and young, who seemed to be limping about on some kind of walking frame or wheel chair. The thing that struck me the most about this place though was its unmistakable multi kulti factor, which reminded me of many suburbs in my home town of Sydney. Afro hair dressers next to a Turkish nut shop and coffee roastery, opposite an Italian espresso bar squeezed haphazardly adjacent a typical German corner Kneipe (pub).
The Flak towers were large, above-ground, concrete bunkers built in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg , and Vienna from 1940 onwards. They were used by the German Luftwaffe to defend against Allied air raids on these cities during World War II. They also served as air-raid shelters for tens of thousands of people and to coordinate air defence.
I walked across the road from the Gesundbrunnen S-Bahn station to Humboldthain park, passed an army of mothers walking their babies in prams, young kids kicking a soccer ball around and a group of old Croatian men playing bocce. I eventually came upon the remains of Flaktower III. It is possible to walk up to the top of it and in the warmer months, take a tour of the Flak tower's underground. I didn't know what to expect - it is rather decrepit and has morphed into an outdoor canvas for all sorts of amateur graffiti and political messaging. There was mostly locals and a few photography enthusiasts out and about on this crisp, sunny Saturday afternoon. 
Humboldthain Park
Flaktower in Humboldthain park
There is a local saying which goes "Habt Spass, wenn ihr in den Wedding geht." Have fun, if you are going to the Wedding. No one really knows why the locals refer to the suburb as 'der Wedding' (The Wedding) and the fact that non-residents don’t realise they are supposed to use the definite article is an interesting social and linguistic oddity. Unlike its English meaning, symbolic of joy, happiness, togetherness and eternity, unfortunately there is no linguistic correlation in German. It is just the name of place and is one of the few place names with an article (in the Berliner dialect one would say “Er wohnt uff’m Wedding“ oder „am Wedding“- “He lives on the Wedding or at the Wedding”)
Wedding's colourful mix of people and its bustling streets seem to be in contrast to its trendier neighbour Prenzlauer Berg, which lies in the former East Berlin. There is something about its concrete blocks and grey streets which gives me the feeling that I would not want to find myself here after dark - which is a rarity in Berlin.
While decades of war, isolation and gentrification have shaped the demographics and architecture of many other neighbouring suburbs, Wedding is an exception. Social change has been slow here - it was one of the poorest suburbs in the 19th century, reminiscent of Charles Dickens’ London with infant mortality, unemployment and tuberculosis rife.
It is one of the Berlin districts which has arguably changed the least in the last one hundred years. While the artists and activists were progressively driven out of Prenzlauer Berg in the late 1990s by wealthy southern Germans setting up art galleries, advertising executives from Hamburg and Scandinavian real estate investors, Wedding has not got a large slice of this prettying-up pie. Ongoing poverty, high unemployment rates and with many of its residents on some form of social welfare, has meant that Wedding still has its "lefty" political affiliations. Many of the city's most outspoken soap box commentators (and CDU critics) can be found here.
After 1945 until German reunification, Wedding ended up in West Berlin, as part of the French occupation zone of Berlin. Since the post-war German "Wirtschaftswunder" (economic miracle), the area was a magnet for Turkish and former Yugoslavian Gastarbeiter (guest workers), many of whom continue to live in the apartments given to them by the German state and who decided to settle in Berlin. Then in the 80s came the wave of Africans and other migrant groups from the Middle East, fleeing persecution in their home countries and seeking better opportunities. The 90s saw a wave of economic migrants from the former USSR and other ex-Communist countries in the Caucasus.
At a Turkish market
There are, however, quite a few hidden gems as I discovered. The suburb boasts one of the most un-marketed UNESCO world heritage sites in the world: Schillerpark. Designed by Bruno Taut in the late 1920s, it is as exemplary a piece of Modernist urban design as you are likely to see anywhere. There is also the former Luisenbad, said to be the source of the suburb's natural spring and which is now a public library.
Schiller memorial at Schillerpark
While it is not one of the prettiest suburbs in this city by any means, what it lacks in beauty, it surely makes up for in the charm and authenticity of its people.
Photos from judith74 .
See:
'Nächste Ausfahrt Wedding' offers guided walking tours (in German) with locals and includes visits to the African shops, Turkish hairdressers and gives an insight into many hidden parts of the suburb
Humboldthain Park and Flaktower III (S-Bahn and U-Bahn Gesundbrunnen)
Gesundbrunnen Mall (S-Bahn and U-Bahn Gesundbrunnen)
Turkish, African and other shops on Mullerstr. and Seestr.
Eat:
Sirin Gözleme opposite S-Bahn Wedding (12 Müllerstr., Wedding)
The Green Box Project Launch, Berlin - When Alcohol meets Art
On first blush, mixing alcohol with art may seem like a dangerous endeavour.
Yet when you think of any gallery launch or vernissage there is always bubbly and wine on hand to celebrate the new works of an up-and-coming darling of the art world. Have you ever been to an exhibition launch where the guests were drinking aloe vera juice. Or Fanta ?
So it only seems fitting that one of Germany's (and the world's) most popular and beloved beer brands enters the Kunstmarkt.Beck's recently established The Green Box Project, "a global fund established to inspire, celebrate and financially support independent talent in art, design, music and fashion." Over the next three years, Beck’s will fund and showcase 1,000 projects by individual artists, musicians and digital designers.
It is a fairly heavy brief and the project has already launched in New York and London. It made its Berlin debut last Wednesday 7th at Soho House.
I was quite skeptical about this collaboration. Corporate involvement in the arts does not always have a positive outcome in Berlin. A case in point is the recent controversy caused by the BMW Guggenheim Lab. Local residents of Kastanienallee Prenzlauerberg objected to the installation in their street and lobbied the Government and Local council and succeeded in foiling the project. It has since had to change its location to the Pfefferberg down the road.
The Green Box launch party was held at SoHo house and as expected, there was a sea of Beck's bottles and in true Mitte style, woollen beanies aplenty, garlanding the room. There were also a group of people holding their iPads towards a green screen and it was only about half an hour later that I realised that this was the purpose of the green box. The commissioned art was 'inside' and it was supposed to be experienced via augmented-reality.
I had to download the special app, then install it on my iPhone using the special Becks wi-fi available on that night only and then enter my date of birth, to ensure I'm not a minor (in Germany, 16 year olds are allowed to legally drink beer anyways).
Then it was a matter of pointing the iPad or iPhone to the green 'box' and images of the art would appear and could be viewed through the iPhone or iPad.
As there was no actual art adorning the walls, the several strategically placed fridges full of Beck's waiting for the desperate to help themselves, the pulsing green neon lighting and otherwise sparse decoration (white sheets draping carelessly behind the bar) made the function seem as though it could be someone's private cellar and not necessarily an art event. Which is perhaps what Beck's was aiming for.On reflection, Beck's makes beer not absinthe or tobacco and is not involved in oil drilling. It values innovation, being one of the first German companies to use green glass to protect their beer once it had fermented. Beck's in comparison with other food or beverage businesses, has the kudos to sustain this project. Its prior Art Label initiative sponsored artists such as Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, helping to launch them into stardom. Who knows if Jeff Koons drinks Beck's. Even if he does not, he is a genius and it will be interesting to observe this new direction in art and the future stars it produces.NB: As part of The Green Box Project Berlin launch, the limited edition FriendsWithYou virtual artwork is live until 2nd January and can be viewed by standing approximately 75 meters in front of the Brandenburg Gate using the Beck's Key app, available at the iTunes & Android store.
Postcards from Berlin
I would not consider myself a poet by any stretch of the imagination.
Although I am very taken with rhymes.
While scrolling through my trove of recent iPhone-tastic photos and, inspired by the late November cobalt blue - sky and the heady aromas of nutmeg scented Glühwein and woody chestnuts, these little ditties just came to me.
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Christmas is in the air,
Drink Glühwein like you just don't care.
When Lebkuchen, Zimtsterne and Kipferl become your Yuletide staple,
In three months time you will be as large as your dining room table.
They are the last, lingering traces of Autumn,
Almost dead, their fiery reds, zesty oranges and golden yellows are no longer.
And in their place are spirals of greysmoke
Billowing gently from the chimneys inside.
Chesnuts are roasting,
Everyone is toasting,
No one can stop boasting
That we all live in Berlin.
Global Faces of the Future : Aleksandra Nasteska - National Director at We Canada, Actress and TV Host, Montreal
This is one of those rare encounters that could only have taken place in the twenty first century.
A few months ago on twitter, on the 'similar to you' listing was a very interesting sounding girl living in Vancouver, Canada. It could have verged on twitter stalking, yet luckily it didn't as we discovered through our tweets that we had similar interests and ideas. I was keen to learn more about her. So I sent her an old fashioned email.
It turned out that Aleksandra Nasteska is the National co-Director and a founding member of a Canadian civil society organisation, We Canada. It is a nation-wide initiative for sustainability, pressing for Canadian leadership at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, popularly known as the Earth Summit 2012. Not only that, but through our internet ramblings and skype chat, much more emerged.
Aleksandra is originally from Macedonia and built a career as a youth speaker on women's issues and as a television host and producer before relocating to Vancouver to study acting. In addition to directing a team at We Canada, she currently sits on the United Nations Environmental Programme Youth Steering Committee for Rio+20 and recently led a We Canada delegation at the UN Tunza Youth Conference in Indonesia.
As a passionate advocate for the environment,the multi-talented multi-tasker shares her views on her work with We Canada, the importance of putting your best foot forward and a few childhood tales.
What is the We Canada initiative and what is it trying to achieve?
We Canada is a nation-wide civil society initiative for Canadian leadership at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, popularly known as the Earth Summit 2012. It is to raise the profile of the Earth Summit 2012 and to engage Canadians in policy beyond voting.
We want the government to know we are watching them and we are collaborating with our partner organisations to bring policy recommendations to the Summit from civil society. We want the world to see that Canadians support the necessary changes and we seek to collaborate with the international community to make Earth Summit 2012 a successful one.
As National co-Director of We Canada, what is your role?
At the beginning, the focus was on developing a strategy alongside the experts at One Earth. After that, we focused on setting up the organisational structure, communications plan and team development, with the creative team at Pearly and White and Elephant Brands. We Canada then launched at a fundraising event in Vancouver. During the last year, We Canada hosted two large entertainment and educational events.
We Canada has two major areas of focus: Policy and public engagement. I initially focused on the public engagement side at the beginning of this year until our National Director of Eastern Canada, Marie-Pierre Daigle, joined and started leading the policy team.
These days I am working on content and website redesign with One Earth and several talented coordinators in the public engagement team.
You have had a fascinating career: you were born and raised in Macedonia, then moved to Vancouver in your early twenties to study acting and have also worked as a model, TV host and producer. Now you can add Environmental Activist to your CV. Discuss.
Ha ha! I remember politics always being discussed at the dinner table, and instead of cartoons we watched the parliamentary channel. Alright, soccer too. My parents were opinionated working class people. There were family members running for, and in,Parliament. Being engaged was inevitable.
I got involved with the UN at a young age. I was invited to participate in public debates on the status of women. Then in my teens I was cast as the host of a youth culture TV show and developed a passion for storytelling, organising and producing. In Macedonia, I had several shows and other TV and film projects that prepared me for the work I do today.
Outside the UN.
Then I won an acting scholarship for the Vancouver Film School. This opened the door to the industry and many invaluable friendships have since grown into partnerships with We Canada. For example, Sara Canning from The Vampire Diaries is one of our We Canada Champions. We met in acting class and helped each other out with lines.
You never know where life will take you and who you meet – so always put your best foot forward and extend yourself to help. People such as the actors Aleks Paunovic and Patricia Isaac have not only became great friends but introduced me to a number of my closest friends today. I became the coordinator of the Vancouver South Asian Film Festival which Patricia co-founded and met the other co-founder, internationally acclaimed actress Agam Darshi, today a good friend and another Champion of We Canada.
Modelling was an excellent way to see the world and get some fancy photos. I am also a massage therapist and worked on the Queen Elizabeth 2 during its round the world trip. That was one of the best experiences in my life at the time. You can never afford to leave Macedonia and travel that much, and even if you can afford it, the passport can't take you past Bulgaria and Serbia.
Finish the following sentence: 'If you want to be an environmental or social activist, you have to ...'
Get to know your self intimately and madly follow your heart. You have to remember that justice and equity are important. You have to want to be part of history. It's exciting. There's nothing else I would rather do.
What with all of the high level organisational and strategic focus of your work, how do you stay motivated and motivate your team?
I have a close group of twenty friends, mentors and advisers whom I rely on. You have to build a solid support network. I cry a lot and laugh even more. I run, I do Yoga, I rock climb, I bike to work everyday and swim.
For my team, my best practice which is not always easy to do, is listening. You can't talk people into a change. You can certainly listen them into it. That goes for engagement too. Listen to people and your life will change. I also love recognising the talents of my team and appreciating them. I genuinely 'fall in love' with my team members. They are some of the greatest people I've met! I try to remember that appreciation goes the longest way even though we forget. Giving people an opportunity to lead is the best way to keep people motivated.
"People are inherently zestful and cooperative", is my mantra.
If you could emphasise three things the average citizen can do to lead a sustainable lifestyle, what would they be?
Take care of Number One first - make sure you are in great shape mentally, emotionally and physically. Secondly, stop driving – fossil fuels and transportation is taken for granted. Thirdly, stop buying stuff which destroys our life support system and is a crime against future generations.
What is the most rewarding part of your work? The most frustrating?
The best parts are working in a team environment, creating, collaborating, observing the development of a team member and myself, being on a sharp learning curve, meeting some amazing people and making friends, like the One Earth team and Severn Cullis-Suzuki.
The most frustrating part is feeling like you are back at square one after years of experience. And there are definitely moments like that. I've learned to welcome those too, as they are only an indicator of personal development.
How has your Macedonian upbringing and culture influenced your view of the world and the way you live?
My culture is very important to me. I think growing up in a country occupied by the Ottoman Empire for five centuries, then partitioned by its neighbours in the First World War and which eventually gained independence definitely helps you relate to other indigenous people.
I grew up being taught to never forget who I am, who my ancestors are and not to flinch in the face of potential war, because justice will prevail. The history of my people is one about resilience and perseverance. It greatly empowers me to do the work I do.
I am involved in Macedonian issues and take the time to advocate and educate my networks about Macedonia. I truly hope that we will persevere in the struggle to keep our identity. We are not a wealthy country. I grew up in a modest working class household and life was not easy, in the home and outside. Macedonia was going through transition. I appreciate every meal, warm shower, clean water and the bed I sleep in every night. And I want this for everyone in the world. It's not too much to ask.
Favourite Macedonian dish?
Oh dear, that’s a very hard question! Can I do three? Musaka with an alternative to meat (I make a delicious one!), ajvar (Macedonian roasted pepper relish) and feta, and tavce gravce (Macedonian slow cooked bean stew in a terracotta pot).
Your most influential Macedonian?
When I was growing up I thought Olivera Trajkovska the political journalist from The Red Line (Crvenata Linija) was fascinating – I am not sure what she is up to lately, but back then she seemed sharp, bold and absolutely gorgeous!
There's more to "Work - Life Balance" than just Work - Life Balance
By Petra Zlatevska. First published in Blue Wings magazine, November 2011.
As the 21st- century working environment continues to undergo major shifts, the meaning of “Work - Life Balance” is being reassessed.
In theory, the balance is supposed to ensure that employees have adequate leisure time outside of work hours. “Unlike during the Industrial Revolution, today many, if not most, people work in knowledge jobs where it no longer makes sense to measure time spent at a machine, but rather output”, says Markus Albers, author of Meconomy: How to reinvent ourselves for the future of work. Albers was the former Managing Editor of Vanity Fair and the catalyst for writing the book was the Global Financial Crisis.
“By 2030, I believe the words "commute" and "home time" will definitely be gone from dictionaries. "Work-life-balance" will be gone too, since work and free time will have completely meshed into one other,“ predicts Albers.
"Co-working spaces" where contractors, consultants, bloggers and other self-employed people rent a desk or workstation, or small office in a shared space complete with broadband Internet, a communal kitchen and other trappings of office life,are cropping up around the world.
Another flexible working practice is the “Workation”, a period of time whereby employees of companies and the self - employed complete their work outside of a traditional office environment. Simon Blake, a leading German Innovator and founder of Germany’s first public “Workation Week” believes that Work- Life balance is already an outdated expression.
Blake’s Workation Week brought together a group of twenty something self-employed consultants and bloggers from the design and media communities as well as several employees of mid - size companies who worked together lakeside near Berlin with access to a Wi-Fi, unlimited coffee, networking sessions and exercise.
“In the future, not everyone will necessarily want to be self - employed, as they seek a combination of a stable income as an employee and the freedom to work on what is meaningful to them. A Workation is one way companies can offer their staff a better working environment,” says Blake.
Amongst companies such as Google, daily Workations are already common practice, where software engineers are encouraged to spend 20 percent of their day doing whatever they like.
