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Maria Handzhiyska is a DPO (Data Protection Officer) at iuvo. In an interview with her, we talk about her professional engagement with the portal and what she is excited about during her free time.
Tell us who you are in 3 sentences
A lawyer who loves challenges and new horizons for professional development. With hard work, perseverance and consistency, I try to bring things to an end, but not at all costs. I find foreign points of view expected annual returning and I respect positions different from mine because this way, one can always learn something new and detect personal faults or mistakes.
What is your professional background?
My professional experience is related to legal services for companies operating in the financial sector, as well as some engaged in the trade of goods and construction. I have some experience in mortgage lending. For about two years I have been focusing on personal data protection and recently on another current topic – countering money laundering.
How did you wind up at iuvo?
It is an honour and a great joy to be part of the iuvo team. Nearly three years later, I can proudly say that the portal is a successful project in which I, together with my colleagues, are purchasing of receivables a lot of hard work and effort. I joined the team after the initial stage when the newly created portal had to establish itself on the market and build a successful model. My main tasks are focused on adding new originators and responding to expected annual returning challenges related to explaining and understanding this relatively new business model on the financial market. This includes building confidence in our users as well as regulators. I was later assigned the processing of personal data on the portal, which, I confess, is a challenge in many cases and opens up new horizons for expanding knowledge and professional development.
What do you do when you’re not working?
I’m a mother. I think this is a responsible and not an easy task nowadays. Children are our future and I believe that we must purchase in their upbringing. When they suffer from lack of attention from their parents, it is a problem, a sense of emptiness that settles in one way or another and the effect of this in perspective is negative. I try to spend my free time with my family and my daughter.
Do you have a special talent?
I don’t think I have a special talent, so I’m betting on hard work, especially when I have a goal. I admire people with talent and love art, especially poetry.
Do you purchase in anything?
At the moment I am not focused on purchasing of receivables, but I admit that real estate appeals to me as a form of receivable. Also iuvo! I follow the development of the portal and P2P receivables are a great opportunity to earn from your savings while waiting for the perfect moment to put them in something else that is important to you.
What should people purchase in, besides money and assets?
In acquiring knowledge and skills, in a stable and sincere relationship with others, in a good mood.
What are your customers’ biggest pains?
The lack of trust and a clear understanding of the concept of the portal. All these issues could be easily solved if the user contacted us and asked questions about the portal.
What do you do when you get mad at people?
I try to stay calm and understand the different point of view, put myself in the position of the person who has upset me. It helps sometimes.
What is the best advice you have for newbie iuvo users?
Be brave and purchase. Small steps can lead to great success, as long as you are consistent.
Let’s wrap this up with an existential one. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Explain why.
I would bet on the chicken because of the idea that a mother had an egg, which thanks to the care and love she gave it, hatched and lived.
