Creativity. Inspiration. Technology. If three words had to be named when speaking about Bozhana, these would be the ones.
Having started her career in Marketing & Communications, with a key role for the startup ecosystem in Bulgaria, today Bozhana is one of the most prominent Project Managers, part of ICT Strypes.
In addition, she has spent a lot of time transforming ideas into products, connections into communities, and contributing to the next wave of innovators in Bulgaria.
An Enabler for Innovation
You have been part of quite exciting projects before joining ICT Strypes. What was your role in them?
- Yes! Let me start with the most exciting one – the first-of-its-kind creative tech hub for our region. You might have heard about Resonator’s technology labs for product development, the creative studios for sound, STEM education or podcasting or maybe you have been to an event there.
I had a key role into building this unique 800 sq.m. physical space, finding the right partners to support us with the tech equipment and expertise, and of course – building the community. We opened the hub for the ones who want to explore and create. It provides entrepreneurs with the tools and the expertise to quickly start, scale, and adapt their ideas related to hardware. And indeed some quite impactful projects were brought to life.
Could you name a few of them?
- In the first months of the COVID-19 crisis we enabled a solution to quickly supply hospitals and doctors with protective masks and ease their work. At that time sufficient deliveries of protective equipment were more than critical. Some more recent highlights include the production of interactive museum equipment for a location in Plovdiv, support for a student Robotics team, or the nanosatellites project developed by young and ambitious space explorers at Resonator. Some of the prototypes developed at the tech hub are already launched products, such as VODORASLO or turned into custom gear for artists, such as the most prominent Bulgarian electro musician.
What is the impact of such initiatives?
- The community’s vision goes far beyond Resonator as a space and its visitors as a target audience. Our ambition was to act as enablers for technology and innovation by providing a playground for any experts or hobbyists to experiment and collaborate.
This is why we have been partnering with so many experts and organizations to offer such a vast pool of workshops and events in fast prototyping, sound engineering, immersive experiences, robotics, STEM education, AI & other. The impacted people? Their number keeps growing every day.
The Road to ICT Strypes
Bozhana’s interests, background and curiosity led her to a career move at ICT Strypes where she can unfold her experience further.
“The initiatives around Resonator expanded my overall insight about the interplay between software and hardware systems. The understanding how these two interact together is fundamental for one’s perception about technology, especially at ICT Strypes.”
How is this connected to your role at the company?
- My current role aligns naturally with my enthusiasm for product development and collaboration with multidisciplinary teams. Our team is responsible for deploying and maintaining software on hardware used literally on the field since our client is a leading farming innovator. In our everyday work, we must ensure the technology stays reliable and advances every day. So, I find it quite exciting to be a part of such an innovative market and to have the chance to build the cutting-edge solutions ICT Strypes is known for worldwide, with the biggest possible impact for our client.
Personal Life
Apart from work Bozhana is the same enthusiast on being part of communities that nerd on topics of her interest.
She connects with like-minded people in Product management at the Product Pirates Club or in entrepreneurship at Female Entrepreneurship Bulgaria. She dedicates time to help people develop their disruptive ideas by mentoring at Teenovator and Telerik Product Management Upskill Program.
“I am passionate about connecting with people, but I am super disciplined about connecting with nature and myself first. I like creative chaos, but only if I can structure it to function. This is why yoga and other mind–body practices are within my daily routine.”
And her final message for like-minded people:
- If you have the chance, observe how children approach creativity. Today they adapt faster than ever by hacking all possible perceptions that we adults grew-up with. I find kids to be the true innovators we should be learning from.”
