Privet Ekaterina

Ekaterina has been in the Tink Tank since the beginning of the year and is an integral part of our community.

You can meet her either highly focused at her workplace or in the coffee kitchen. A chat with her is always worthwhile, because she impresses not only with her knowledge and wealth of experience, but also with her wide-ranging interests.

She brings an international flair to the space and sometimes her husband too. In addition to him, she also has a great love for Italian cuisine and fresh german baked goods. 

Meet Ekaterina

Tink Tank:  What is your job title? 

Ekaterina: I’m a Working Student in change management and product development team for almost 4 months. Our team is developing a mobile app for cement industry. 

Tink Tank: Where do you work? 

Ekaterina: At Digital Transformation Office in Heidelberg Cement, in the beautiful city of Heidelberg.

Tink Tank: What was the first job you got paid for and how old were you?

Ekaterina: I began my professional journey with Italian language teaching in Russia when I was 18 years old 😊 

Tink Tank: What do you like about your job?

Ekaterina: Interfacing between change management and product teams, I can apply my skills, which I developed during all my professional experience and which I like most: translate complex things to simple, pay attention to details, be in contact with different countries, understand their business flow and their needs, create the common vision, communicate them the latest updates and support on each step of the digital transformation journey. 

Tink Tank: What is your day-to-day work like, what are your tasks?

Ekaterina: As far as I’m a Working Student, I’m limited in working hours and that’s why I have only 2 full-days per week, but they are quite intensive. I’m aligning with developers if we are on the same page, what was done, what is going to be done, what are current issues in our processes, how we can handle them. I’m preparing communication materials for countries’ stakeholders, testing guides, training and learning materials, aligning with countries current localisation process, supporting change management and product team with everyday routine.  

Tink Tank: What are the challenges in your work area? 

Ekaterina: Working in an agile environment in a product development requires you to be always up-to-date and always prioritise. You need to stand not only on your side of the working process but also “in another shoes” in order to get the view of your colleagues.  

Tink Tank: Has the pandemic had any impact on your work / industry?

Ekaterina: The pandemic met me (or I met the pandemic 😀 ) when I was working in Trade Representation at Russian Embassy in Italy last year. As a state authority we never stopped providing consulting support for Russian/Italian companies and entrepreneurs, who were willing to enter the foreign markets. I would say that the pandemic made even more positive effect: together with the colleagues we ran almost 30 online workshops on the Russian and Italian partnership topics and managed to conclude agreements and contracts.  

The impact of the pandemic was more related to my personal life – I have relocated to Germany during the “second wave” in winter and was limited to get to know the new country and culture. Fortunately now it is getting more easy with the restrictions and I have more opportunity to enjoy beautiful German towns, get to know new people and of course new cuisine 😊 

Tink Tank:  What has your work taught you that is valuable to you today? 

Ekaterina: I think my work taught me to appreciate what I do, even a small thing, which can bore me or be unclear right now. Having a wide experience in teaching, project management, international environment, having lived in almost 3 countries, I understand that all the challenges I had are valuable, right now and in the future. Even if it is sometimes hard and not smooth at all, even if I don’t understand what will be the impact, I would never stop doing just because I’m afraid of doing. Quite the contrary – I will continue doing, because I’m wondering of the result, mostly of my own result – would I be able to handle it or not. (Spoiler – of course yes) 😊 

Tink Tank: Do you have a motto?

Ekaterina: Follow your heart but take your brain with you

Tink Tank: What do you like about Tink Tank? 

Ekaterina: First of all – atmosphere. Each detail in the interior and the mood of the space allows you to get inspired and in the same time to concentrate to “get-your-things-done”. People in the coworking space are just outstanding and always are there, whether you talk to them or ask for an advice. Common meetups, like monthly breakfast or Digital Tag is an opportunity to connect to people from different industries and to wide your own knowledge about the world around you. All these things are essential for me as it “charges” me more than a cup of coffee 😊 

Thank you Ekaterina.