A Day in the Life of a Marketing Coordinator [Elly]

Greetings and salutations, dear DevriX blog readers!

In our last episode, we talked to our front-end team lead, and before that, we interviewed our recruiter/HR, one of our backend developers, and one of our project coordinators.

In today’s episode, we talk with our marketing coordinator. A marketing coordinator typically has a lot of different responsibilities within an organization.

Whether it’s implementing marketing strategies, working with various digital marketing niches, or organizing events, the role of the marketing coordinator is very important to the efforts of the entire marketing team.

Today, we meet the marketing coordinator of DevriX – Elena Atanasova. We’ll be talking about her favorite digital marketing niches, why she chose to come back to Bulgaria after studying in Vienna, and her most favorite moments in the DevriX community.

A Day in the Life of a Marketing Coordinator

Hey, Elly! Thank you for accepting my invitation. For starters, could you share a bit about yourself – education, hobbies, etc.?
Hello, Denis, thank you for your invitation to participate in your unique initiative.

About myself, I graduated from a high school in my hometown, Stara Zagora. There I took an accelerated course in German, which was a big part of my decision to continue my education in a German-speaking country. I picked Austria, because it looked more welcoming than Germany.

I just embarked on this adventure to Vienna entirely on my own. Maybe it was a bit  ill-advised, but that’s what made it so cool. I studied and graduated from Vienna University of Economics and Business, my degree was in Economics and Social Sciences, and I have two further specializations – Finances and Digital Marketing. In the end, digital marketing was more interesting to me, as you can see. (laughing).

Regarding my hobbies, I love spending time with friends, being outdoors, mountain hiking, and being involved in sporting activities. I also enjoy cooking, although I don’t have enough time for that lately. However, thanks to our DX Charity Kitchens, I’m forced to do it. (laughing).

What’s the last thing you cooked?
Greek moussaka. I’m very proud of it, I cooked it yesterday.

Awesome! Unfortunately, our readers won’t be able to try it, but I am sure it’s one of a kind. I also know that you like learning new languages – what are the languages you’ve learned so far, and which other ones do you want to learn?
For the moment, mainly German and English. It would be a bit of an exaggeration to say I know Russian, although I studied it in university. Also, I was enthusiastic about learning Spanish, I had started studying online, but I stopped, due to a lack of time, so perhaps these are the two languages that I would like to start learning again.

Russian and Spanish. How about something more exotic?
More exotic – no, I’m not really into such languages. I prefer ones that share a common family linguistically, so I can find similarities.

Okay. You said you like sports, and I know you’re a CrossFit regular, would you say you’ve benefited from it, apart from the obvious health benefits? For example, do you think you’ve managed to incorporate more discipline into your work and lifestyle?
I started going to CrossFit with colleagues-enthusiasts from the company. It’s very interesting and useful for me from a social, and team building standpoint. Since I like setting goals, it has helped me to set even bigger challenges for myself.

The other sports I like are all practiced outdoors, in nature. For instance, I like hiking to up to a hut, and setting time challenges, so I have extra motivation to beat my own time.

What’s more, sometimes I use the excuse that I don’t have enough time for sport, so that’s one more thing I’m working on – to be more organized, so I do have the time.

Speaking of time, can you tell us what a day in the life of a marketing coordinator looks like? Of course, I know, there are a lot of things that pop up every day, still, what do you usually do on a daily basis?
The work here is very interesting and way too dynamic for me to easily summarize it. No two days are the same, but if I have to structure it: I come to work in the morning, and the first thing I do is to check my emails, I go through Asana, and Slack. From thereon, I go through our social media channels. Afterward, I just work on my tasks. Every day brings something new. Be it working on a new landing page, or organizing an event…

Different times of the year are full of different projects. For example, in the Summer there weren’t a lot of events, so I didn’t as many tasks, while now, the Autumn has started with a bang, with two events. A large portion of my day has been dedicated to that, so everything goes smoothly.

That’s interesting to know. Of course, our readers can learn more about these events by following DevriX’s social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter).

Now, let’s change the topic a bit, I’m going to ask you about your favorite place to be, Vienna. You’ve lived and studied there for 3+ years, and then you came back to Bulgaria. Excluding the fact that Bulgaria is your home country, what made you make this decision, and what benefits are there to living and working in Bulgaria?
While I went to a foreign country, and lived there, I’ve never had a plan to stay there after I graduated. Somehow I always thought I’d just graduate in Vienna, I took it as an adventure, and a challenge to myself to go somewhere entirely on my own. I’ve always planned to come back afterward.

Also, since I have the good example of my parents, and friends who managed to successfully realize their dreams and make a living in Bulgaria, made me believe that there’s a future here, as well. Not everything is lost

In terms of pros and cons, I had a lot of friends in Vienna but here (Bulgaria) I feel at home, I know the people, and I just feel calmer.

Right, so you’re a… a stay-at-home traveler as it were – someone who loves travelling, but also loves returning home.
Absolutely.

Following this line of thought, can you share some favorite places you’ve been to so far, and where do you dream of going?
My favorite is Vienna, without a doubt. As you know, I recently came back from there. That’s the one place I’ll never get tired of. Other places I’ve been to and liked: unfortunately, I was very little, and I have vague memories of Egypt. I remember being fascinated by it as a child. I would surely like to go again, so I can see it from a different perspective.

I like to go everywhere, to experience different cultures. I don’t have a dream country to highlight, but I want to travel across Europe, and visit all the places in Bulgaria I haven’t been to yet. I’m open towards the idea of going anywhere. I love trying the various cuisines, that’s one of my favorite reasons for visiting new places.

Cool. Let me take you back to a more work-related question: as a marketing coordinator, you’re, more or less, involved with all niches of digital marketing, which of them do you prefer, and why?
Luckily, I’m in a company where I can get involved in all aspects of marketing. Simultaneously, I can further develop my skills in the niches that are most interesting to me. For me, the top pick would probably be organizing events – that’s what I wanted to specialize in before, but there wasn’t such an opportunity in Austria. I like communicating with people, following up on all the details, you need to have a plan A and B, etc.

The best part is when the event has been successfully organized, and you can see the fruits of your labor. Social media is also a very fascinating marketing niche, as well as, lead generation, although I’m still very green at it. The entire process, and the way we’re doing it here, is exciting, and I’m thankful for being included in it with the opportunity to also improve my skills.

Do you have a favorite social media platform?
Instagram (laughing).

Nice!. You mentioned events, and the satisfaction you receive after completing them successfully, and that’s the end goal, after all. Still, to what extent would you say that the process is stressful or is overcoming difficulties what makes it interesting to you?
Well, today, for example, there was a little drama over the organization of an upcoming event, and since it will be held soon, there are some details that concern me, and that I need to take care of.

However, it’s all cool. With my organizational skills, I can create a specific workflow, or a checklist, like I did for the first one or two events I had at DevriX.

Of course, there’s always something new, as every event is unique on its own, but I really do enjoy tasks such as making promotional materials, promoting it on social media, communicating with colleagues, and with people outside the organization.

Sounds like you have it all under control. Moreover, you’re an extrovert, so surely communication and meeting people recharges your batteries.

My next question is connected with all that. One of our company’s core values is to be a community citizen. What moments have you enjoyed the most in the DevriX community?
The first one was the Christmas party. It was, one of the first times we all gathered together, since I’ve been with the company. That’s when I truly felt the friendly vibes of everyone at DevriX.

Moreover, I’ve enjoyed every kick-off chat we have, with the mystery questions, the team lunches every Wednesday, the DevriX birthday, and its party, which was an awesome team bonding event.

Almost every day at DevriX is my favorite, because there’s always something new happening. I enjoy every moment, from our discussions in the marketing room and the shared laughter, to receiving thoughtful feedback from our team leader, Hrisi.

You’ve been at DevriX for almost a year now, is there a particular goal you’ve set for yourself, or a skill you’ve though about further developing?
On a personal level, I would say self-improvement, and finding myself. In the beginning, it was probably finding the digital marketing niche that I liked the most. That’s why I’m so happy to be here, because I really have had the opportunity to work with all aspects of marketing. At the moment, my goal is to become a real professional in the niches I’ve chosen – events, social media, and lead generation.

That’s great to hear. For good or for bad, they say digital marketing is constantly changing, so there will always be something new to learn, no?
Mhm, I agree.

When you take a look back at your life in 30 years time, what do you want to see?
I’d want to be a top expert in whatever field I’ve chosen to develop myself. I’d also want a healthy and happy family.

In the short term, though, I hope my parents are proud of me. Also, I’d maybe like to have my own business.

Thank you once again for this interview. Is there anything you would like to add?
Yes. DevriX is great! I’m happy that a year ago, I was lucky to attend the event where the company was, meet Hrisi, and end up at DevriX. It was fate.

How about you guys? Do you believe in fate? Perhaps you were also meant to meet DevriX, as well?

Let’s talk.

What Is It Like to Work With Elly?

“Working with Elly has always been a pleasure. She’s a great communicator, and always handles everything with ease. She’s very organized and is always willing to lend a hand. She’s simply amazing!”

“Elly is fun and caring. You can always rely on her to help with work-related tasks. She’s extremely extroverted, which helps in the situations where I (as in introvert) don’t feel comfortable interacting with other people.”

“Eli is one of those proactive, kind and reliable people that everyone loves to work with. She’s been with the team at DevriX for a year now, and during that time she’s been progressing really fast across different initiatives and projects. She crafted her role to match her strengths and interests, and I’m pretty sure this has motivated her to develop her expertise through continuous learning and smart experimenting. As a great team player, she has easily become the go-to person for most of the initiatives she’s involved in.

Tl;dr: working with her is a blessing, and I believe her career journey at DevriX is just beginning.”