Over the course of my career, I have combined my academic interests with running a business. I consider myself to be a Business Developer, Marketing Educator, and Learning Designer, owing to a diverse background in marketing, business communications, and education. I hold a Tertiary Diploma in Education from The Far Eastern State University of Humanities  (5 years full time, Russia), and a Master of Business Degree (by research) from Unitec Institute of Technology (New Zealand).

Since 2011 I have been teaching a variety of marketing papers across Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics and in New Zealand, focusing on innovative approaches in course design and delivery. As a Learning Designer, I have been involved in undergraduate and postgraduate course development for different disciplines, including social media and digital media marketing.

Prior to working as a Learning Designer and Marketing Educator, for the better part of a decade I worked on the development of private TV and Radio channels in the Russian Far East. While I was Senior Marketing Manager for one of the leading media holdings in the Russian Far East, I had the opportunity to develop skills and gain relevant experience required to build a successful business.

After moving to New Zealand I continued pursuing my passion for business development. This resulted in launching two companies in the field of travel and immigration. At the same time I was seeking a career that would allow me to work with students in different ways: as a teacher, a learning designer, or a project supervisor. I used my degree in education in combination with my Master of Business, and professional experiences, to create a learning environment for students that was grounded in real-world business contexts.

I have been experimenting with social media marketing since 2009. For over 10 years I have been applying social media to my own businesses and to my teaching. I have implemented different tactics, adjusted my business communications to specific target audiences, analysed my competitors’ social media activities, produced large volumes of content for different social media channels, and managed to grow my business following. However, dealing with social media has also been humbling. I have experienced my share of failures which allowed me to recognise that 1) there is no universal solution, given that social media is still a relatively new phenomenon that is constantly evolving, and 2) both of my businesses are services that require different approaches on social media. It took me time to identify the most appropriate social media communication channels as well as the best practices, and tools to measure those practices.

This year I’m starting a new journey – I’m in the middle of developing a new company – a training business that does not have a name for now. Once I wanted to name it SMART Education or Convenient Technologies. It is to be decided. And surprisingly this is the most difficult part of the journey – how you name a boat, is how it will sail.