Hello, I am Ivana, and this is my story.

I was born in Serbia just before the Balkan wars broke out and was raised in the 90s amid hyperinflation and uncertainty, a post-communist reality that shaped me more than I thought. My parents became self-made entrepreneurs, which allowed me to leave for an international school abroad, then a very British university. That meant being catapulted into another world - in every possible way.

Over the last 20 years, I have changed countries five times, rebuilt my life and career each time, and learned new languages along the way. And each rebuild taught me I carried more forward than I thought. At 25, I moved to Brazil to follow my dream of living there - a fresh start in a completely different world. My career has been just as non-linear: four significant transitions - from the corporate world to building a food business, to venture capital, and then to building a portfolio career.

This non-linear path enables me to understand "paths less travelled." I know what it is like to build a career that does not fit expectations and templates, and I had to learn how to own that story instead of apologizing for it (which I did do for a long time). Having reframed my own successes, failures, and learnings allows me to help others do the same.

I bring different experiences into my work. Being a founder taught me what it means to "jump from the cliff and figure it out on the way down." Being the investor taught me how to read early-stage potential - both in a business and in the person building it. And advising and mentoring founders day to day taught me how to understand them, and not just evaluate them. My own extensive reading and research on success, achievement, money, and beliefs shape how I work with clients.

Before becoming a mum, while still in the high-paced venture capital industry, I stopped and decided what I wanted my life to look like and what kind of mother I wanted to be. Then I reverse-engineered my career from there - which led to the portfolio career I have today, which gives me the autonomy and flexibility I need in this specific season of life, as well as the variety of work and topics that better fit my own multilayered personality and interests - rather than trying to fit into predefined roles and boxes (as I have tried doing for more than a decade)

I also have two toddlers, 18 months apart. Navigating these early years while building a portfolio career has brought many ups and downs, trade-offs, and lessons.