One early Wednesday morning,
on a sunny December day, in Ploiești, Romania, Iulian (me) breathed for the first time. If I knew, I would probably talk more about the astrological significance of that day, but I think it's more interesting to see what happens next.
I got into the first grade,
at the General School Number 17 in Ploiești, the place where I first got in touch with the educational system, with good and bad parts. I am grateful for all that I learned during the elementary school, but especially for the openness to sports that I gained at that time.
I started practicing performance handball,
the sport that educated me. The story began with a simple visit of Professor Ilie Coman to school no. 17 and continued with 8 years of work, satisfaction, challenges, travel and fun, all shared fraternally with a more united team than any military alliance.
Life presents me with a new type of lesson.
With a year left until the transition to seniors, in top form with almost 10 goals per game, touched only by destiny, during running my left knee breaks, with a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament. What do you choose? Knee surgery with 6 months of recovery and 6 months to regain your shape, or you consider to change your career?
I chose to change my career.
And yet, for a former performance athlete, the BAC exam (equivalent to SAT) came with a lot of pressure. But the sport discipline applied to the study, generated a grade of 10 in the math test. Next came the Politehnica University of Bucharest, the Faculty of Transportation, the Automotive Engineering section, plus the student life in Regie Campus.
While attending Leaders School,
where I was loud and clear that I am going to build the first Romanian supercar, I had the chance to meet the eMAG CEO Iulian Stanciu. Suddenly I was inspired to apply for a job, and he suddenly had the openness to call me for an interview. Since that interview, things have changed dramatically for me. Why? Because I met my first mentor, then on the position of Marketing Director at eMAG: Lucia Ciucă. Simple, in the next 14 months I worked there I was her shadow and I learned more about marketing, communication and leadership than I learned in 4 years at college things about cars.
Things were getting serious now.
I was finishing my studies, and after two internships for Groupe Renault, in the field in which I was finishing my studies, I was extremely determined not to work as an engineer. So in parallel with my bachelor's thesis, I wrote a business plan with the help of Google, which I submitted for funding under the Start-up Nation program. That's how I got 40 000 euros for what would become F21 digital. That's it, the 5 friends who organized parties and had "office meetings" at my house, have a job and do what they like. Superb.
College was an extremely rich experience for me.
Although I finally decided not to work as an engineer, although our educational system still has a lot to improve, in the 4 years of college I learned how to think effectively. No, I didn't know that in 2017, I found out recently. Out of 120 students in my section, I managed to be among the approx. 35 who obtained their Bachelor Degree on time, doing all of the above at the same time. And before the presentation of the bachelor's thesis, I received from my coordinating professor, Prof.Univ.Dr.Ing. Mircea Oprean, the most important advice of the 4 years: Communicate what you know! Interestingly, my last lesson at the Politehnica University was about communication.
Ok, we're riding the wave now,
college graduated, satisfied parents, funded business, employee friends, customers to support 5 employees were missing. Until I was able to implement the whole project of the agency, I decided that I had to learn how to sell. What could I sell? Cars, exactly. Here things are going to suffer an even more dramatic change for the better. Volvo was the catalyst, Cristina Stoian was the person who invested 10 times more trust in me than Start-up Nation, hiring me first as a Sales Consultant and then as a Marketing Specialist. But things didn't stop there, because later I was lucky enough to meet the mentor who had the greatest concern for my development so far and the one who challenged me, taught me valuable lessons, and set me on the right path, Mrs. Lavinia Spandonide.
The year at the beginning of which this website sees the light of day
with one goal in mind: to inspire at least one person a year, to do whatever he / she wants, better.
It’s time for new experiences.
After fully recovering from knee surgery, I challenged myself to try snowboarding for the first time in the stunning scenery of Poiana Brașov. And as the year came to a close, I embraced a new intellectual adventure as well: being admitted to the EMBA program at Maastricht School of Management, in collaboration with Bucharest International School of Management.
New challenges, new lessons, new perspectives — the journey continues.
One cycle ends, another begins.
After almost two very intense years, during which I had so much to learn from both professors and colleagues, I joyfully graduated from the EMBA program organized by MSM in partnership with BISM. Coincidentally—or perhaps not—this same year I also received my first requests for business and communication consulting. It’s something new for me, but also deeply fulfilling, because it allows me to support and bring value to other entrepreneurs.
