Women Entrepreneurs under 30
A new generation of 20-somethings are taking over London’s startup space. Never before were there so many inspirational, active and ambitious (and young) female founders changing our tomorrow. Iulia Tudor is a Community Marketing Manager at Startup Institute, an 8-weeks programme that gives individuals the skills, networks, and mindset they need to get a job and thrive at a startup. She’s been working with London-based startups for more than two and a half years and went through the first Techstars London programme. She loves wearing multiple hats, being a dot-connector and an epic dancer!
Pardon for asking, but how old are you?
Oh Gosh! I’d love to say that I’m pretty young. Or at least feel pretty young. Oh well, if I have to….26.
When you were a little girl…
Can’t really remember, have the worst memory ever! (laughing). I’ve actually studied Sociology & Anthropology for 5 years while also running Operations and Marketing for Starbucks in Romania for the last two. Then I moved to London. Long story short, I’ve been lucky enough to land in a startup (nb: OP3Nvoice, now Clarify) and the rest is history! I’ve got to admit that transiting from corporate to the startup world has been pretty hard to digest. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never shied away from hard work (or that’s what I like to think). But, oh, man! I didn’t really feel like I was working in a startup until we went through Techstars, the 1st London cohort. And that’s where the joy began! I’ve met an amazing group of friends in London, one in particular pushed me to my limits of going to networking events and building relationships. And the story continues!
How did you get involved in the Startup Institute?
It was all about accepting a new challenge! My company was moving to Austin, USA (yeap, SXSW’s heaven, got the pleasure to attend it that year!) and I kinda didn’t. So I started looking for a new opportunity. That’s when Startup Institute was prepping to launch the first programme in London. After having been through Techstars, the community they were building fascinated me. Plus, I wanted to work with them. So back then SI was looking like a smaller accelerator, but for people, not for startups. I started with an Operations role that led into a Community one. And here I am today, loving my job.
What does your day look like?
If only I had a daily routine!..
Snoozing the alarm is the first thing I do in the morning. Unless I start the day with a meeting in which case I’m definitely rushing out of the bed. Depending on the number of times I’m hitting the snooze button I manage to have breakfast or not, hence if I get to check emails & follow up on social media.
I live quite central (I know, lucky me), so I walk to work which gives me time to think what’s burning that day (plus my fav playlist). We have a regular team standup so we know who’s doing what and how we can help each other. And from here the madness starts: meetings, smiles, skype calls, follow-ups, meetings again, then smiles, team lunch, more emails & follow-ups and planning some events (and curating the best ones to attend). All of the above plus a lot more smiling and pushing people’s limits.
Then making sure that RampUp (our part-time, evening programme) runs smoothly or going to a couple of events. You can find me almost every Friday at Silicon Drinkabout! Once a week attending one of the TechHub’s events. For the rest of them I either curate on CampusBoard or EventHunt or just ask my other startup friends what they’re up for.
And it’s not just about networking with people as it is about building relationships with them and trying to figure out how to help and connect them to our community. I guess that’s the main goal of any single working day: internally making sure that people on the programme are being happy, externally that we’re bringing value to the broaden startup community. Give a little bit of love back to the community! Hence why we’re running a couple of co-hosted events with co-working spaces.
In my free time (what is that?!) I love dancing, going to the flower market, reading books, watching movies, wandering around… things that normal people do. Oh, and I love discovering independent coffee shops in London (by “discovering” I mean looking them up on an app and then having a lot of good coffee).
Tell us what inspired you lately.
I draw all my energy from the startup community (and that fav playlist of mine). So being around people is what inspires me most, be that a talk or a grand gesture they’re doing, or something that just clicks. And I love my people! There were a couple of personal life events I faced lately that made me who I am today, and they’re all people related. Had the honour to have an amazing mentor that pushed my boundaries.
I made a lot of good friends and met a bunch of great people. Also, listened to a talk that made me realised why I’ve always loved working in startups. 2014 has been one of the highlights of my life and it was a truly “life changing experience”. This year is gonna be even bigger!
Please share advice with young female entrepreneurs.
I think I’ll start with “Do what you love” and you’ll exceed expectations (yours and others). And if you don’t know what that is, take your time to discover it, even if it might take you a couple of years! Be open to taking initiative and ownership of your actions and play for the team. You might make mistakes, but it’s important to admit you’ve been wrong. Make room for listening as much as you want to make yourself heard. Always be learning and show people your unique value proposition. And be open (in general) and honest. Ending here with my fav quote: “Never give up!” (smiles).
Thank you Iulia! Curious who’s next on our inspiring young women’s list? A little tip — it’s a delicious story -follow us to find out. Back next Tuesday…!
