As a predominantly female-led company, we at Puzl 🧩 can't help but admire the strong ladies in our community. Not only today but every single day! 💐 So, we invited four of them to participate in a semi-serious, semi-not-so-serious conversation on female leadership, role models and acting ballsy when you don’t have balls. 🎾🎾
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Tell us a bit more about yourself, your company and your current position.

My name is Iliana, an experienced professional in the mystical world of accounting & finance 🧾, passionate about number-crunching, data and financial analysis (apparently) 🧮, nature and outdoors 🏔️, books 📚, children 👯 and cats 😻.

Six years ago I embarked on my exciting journey as CFO of Estafet, an established software development, digital transformation consultancy and trusted nearshore delivery partner, which gave me both the opportunity to further progress my skills and the privilege to vastly expand my network through meeting and working with many amazing professionals across numerous parts of Europe. 🌍

What’s your superpower as a female leader?

Among my powers as a female leader I'd flag great intuition – the secret weapon that all of us ladies seem to be blessed with. 🔮 It forms a perfect symbiosis with the logic reasoning of my professionally trained mind and as such is a trusted advisor of mine in all areas of life. 

Pick one female role model you find inspiring. Why her?

Amelia Earhart 🛩️, Maria Montessori 🪜, Ada Lovelace, Frida Kahlo 🎨, Jane Austen 🖋️… these are just few of the many notable women I admire who inspired and transformed this world into a better place through their unique personalities, skills, knowledge, courage and talent.

Yet, I believe that true inspiration often comes quietly in our daily lives, through those silent beacons of light and fortitude that navigate our journeys in both mild and turbulent waters. 🌊 I’ve always considered two figures as the most important role models in my life, women I’ve always looked up to and cherished the most - my mother and sister.❣️

Share your favourite funny prejudice when it comes to being a woman. Might be parking-skills-related, not only professional.

It’s true that there are so many stereotypes that women have to deal with on a daily basis. From girls only playing with dolls to women no knowing how to do math. Or that they prefer guys to pay. Well, I do demand from guys to always pay…attention to my slides when I lead my finance meetings. 📈😉

If you could snap your fingers and instantly change one thing for women worldwide, what would it be?

I believe that every person holds the seed of immense potential within themselves. 🌱 We only need fruitful soil to plant it in, and then ensure there’s plenty of light and water for it to spurt out to the world. In this regard, I wish that one day all women on the planet will enjoy equal rights that give them the ability to discover and develop their true potential, starting with full and unhindered access to education and health services. 🎓 🩺

To wrap it up - a wise advice from you to your 10-years-old-ponytail version?

Back when I was 10 years old my hair was cut in a short bob, much against my own accord, so it’s difficult for me to identify with the ponytail image. 😅 Joke aside, I’d say to all the little folks out there: be brave and follow your wildest dreams (regardless of what your parents say)! The path least trodden may well take you on the journey of greatest discovery and self-fulfillment. 🧘♀️
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Tell us a bit more about yourself, your company and your current position.

My name is Iva Dimova and since 2015 I’ve been the Country Manager of Ipsos in Bulgaria. 🇧🇬

What’s your superpower as a female leader?

My intuition – I just need to trust my strong hunch more.🔮

Pick one female role model you find inspiring. Why her?

I like the new-generation female leaders, e.g. Jacinda Ardern. Not because of her political ideology but because she is strong and bold, but also empathetic and brave enough to look vulnerable. The way she managed to combine maternity with the New Zealand 🇳🇿 prime minister's role was mind-blowing. Her graceful resignation was also a true example of dignity and respect. 👑

Share your favourite funny prejudice when it comes to being a woman. Might be parking-skills-related, not only professional.

“That’s women's work” – I personally find gendering certain types of work to be super annoying. 🙅♀️

If you could snap your fingers and instantly change one thing for women worldwide, what would it be?

If I can change only one thing this will be gender-based violence – I will make sure nothing like that has ever happened to any woman on the earth. ☮️

To wrap it up - a wise advice from you to your 10-years-old-ponytail version?

It will be from Bob Marley’s “Three little birds” song: “Don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing is gonna be all right!” 🐥🐥🐥
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Tell us a bit more about yourself, your company and your current position.

I am Jeny and as a PR lead of Viber on my watch for the past 5 years are the communication activities of the platform for the CEE region. I am a happily married mother of two 👨👩👧👦, a doer and an eager beaver 🦫 both at home and at work.

I am lucky to be working on numerous inspiring projects, providing solutions to challenging problems, and bringing valuable innovations to our users in the region and abroad. I feel perfectly seated at my current position because what matters for me are good connections, a place that makes me feel content and happy, and the freedom to express my true self. And Viber is all about that. 💬

What’s your superpower as a female leader?

Positivity is my superpower. 🤩 I am an absolute cheerleader who will root for you and drive progress towards appreciation, motivation and collaboration. 🤝 I believe this is not only a strength but a skill to give you advantage in a world where artificial intelligence and automation are poised to aid some main technical skills and competencies. 

Pick one female role model you find inspiring. Why her?

April O'Neil! I know it might not ring a bell because it is April, the fictional character from the Ninja Turtles cartoon. 🥷🐢 Being my fav character as a kid, she certainly has some impact on my personality. I admired her for her strong nature and passion for work, frequently expressing disagreement with tasks pigeon-nesting her in mediocrity. She was a vocal champion of the turtle's cause and this relates to me as I always jump all in for a good cause when I see a chance to move the needle. 🪡 Last but not least, she was a reporter. 🎤 [Even though in the original comics she is a programmer! 👩💻] I also graduated from Sofia University Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Share your favourite funny prejudice when it comes to being a woman. Might be parking-skills-related, not only professional.

Umm...the thing about women's parking skills is a prejudice?! 😅 Let's say - necessarily choosing between family or professional success. Having no balance. ⚖️ Giving advantage to either your personal life or your career is not the only way. The silver bullet in this situation is not a myth and it depends on your abilities to approach challenges by focusing on your strengths. 💪

If you could snap your fingers and instantly change one thing for women worldwide, what would it be?

I'd eliminate the systematic social discrimination and lack of political rights for the women in the Middle East and North Africa. I'd stand for their overall degree of freedom and give them a chance for personal status, equal career development, education and autonomy.  The significant barriers to women's full realisation bring us back to medieval times which doesn't correlate with the human strive for progress.

To wrap it up - a wise advice from you to your 10-years-old-ponytail version?

Be brave. 🔥
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Tell us a bit more about yourself, your company and your current position.

I am Rozalia Pandauzova. 🌹 Currently heading the Bulgarian operations of Cerillion Technologies, a leading provider of software solutions for the telecoms industry, 📡 but we do have customers from other industries too.

I have an academic and professional background in Computer Science and Telecommunications and my whole career has been focused on Operations and Business Support Systems for Telecoms.

My role is quite exciting as I got the opportunity to develop a new office and team from scratch. It is a real pleasure to build something from the ground up and watch it grow. 🏗️

I also enjoy working on some of our projects and putting my technical skills to good use. This sometimes requires traveling to our customers’ sites around the world and I get to visit very interesting locations - my last couple of trips were to Paramaribo, Suriname. Being on the field with colleagues helps me understand our business, as well as the challenges people face, and be more relevant as a manager too.

What’s your superpower as a female leader?

Female intuition...obviously! 🔮 Combined with solid patience. Patience to play a long-term game. Patience to learn new skills. Patience to teach. Patience, because I know where I’m going, and I enjoy the process. ☮️ You can add passion to patience and it will be still true.

Pick one female role model you find inspiring. Why her?

My professional role model is the woman who goes to work not just because she needs to earn a living. She is passionate for the business and the industry she’s in and she gets a kick out of making a difference. I’ve met several such women along the way, and I can say they were all exceptionally driven and capable. I’ll keep their names for myself, but they are very real.

Share your favourite funny prejudice when it comes to being a woman. Might be parking-skills-related, not only professional.

They say women are good at multitasking. Alas, nobody is good at multitasking. ❌

If you could snap your fingers and instantly change one thing for women worldwide, what would it be?

I’ll have to be careful because it’s just one thing, but I’ll probably go for education, hoping that will make the biggest impact overall. 🏫

To wrap it up - a wise advice from you to your 10-years-old-ponytail version?

Study more languages while you still have free time. 😀