In the latest issue of “Meet the team,” we present one of the creative forces in the Marketing department – Ivelina Nedeva. Ivelina handles event and project management at iCard. With impeccable attention to detail and exceptional passion, Ivelina is dedicated to creating memorable experiences in her personal and professional life. She believes nothing happens by accident and invests her boundless energy into everything she does. Read the entire interview and and dive into the world of one of our dynamic, contagiously positive, and favorite colleagues.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I am a truly happy person because my parents and relatives are alive and well, and I have true friends who I see often. I like being surrounded by people, and I am often the life of the party. I can have a good time anywhere, but we change the venues for our meetings and activities depending on the season. In addition to my friends from school, I’m really glad that my work at iCard introduced me to a few party buddies, and together, we’ve closed the bars on a few occasions.
I don’t know if it’s due to my zodiac sign (Aries is considered the child of the Zodiac) or if I’m still living my childhood, but I like participating in activities that are typical for children. I always strive to come up with new activities for my son Presiyan, and I often join in. During the winter months, when we’re at home, we build constructors, watch animations, play hide and seek, or create our own games. In the Summer, we’re barely at home – instead, we spend most of our time at the beach, where I love to feel the sand under my feet. My husband Boyan, Presi, and I love to go on vacations – at the seaside or in the mountains, and we love to create beautiful memories. Nature charges me with positive energy, and I try to be as close to it as possible.
What do you believe in?
I believe in God, or rather, the Energy that shields us and gives us the strength to carry on when times are difficult. I believe it has many names (Christ, Buddha, Allah, etc.) and manifestations. I don’t read the Bible often, and I definitely can’t say I adhere to all its teachings about good and pious life. However, I feel peaceful and humbled when I enter a temple. I look up to the sky not only in times of need but also when my heart is full. I feel grateful for the good times and the positive emotions. Besides the almighty Energy, I believe in the energy within us all. Positive thinking, motivation, and the support of our loved ones can unlock many new possibilities for us all.
I also believe in the butterfly effect. Most people are probably aware of the concept – how one single flap of a butterfly’s wings in one part of the world can cause a hurricane in another. This concept can be applied to historical events – one small and seemingly harmless event can change the course of history. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but during World War I, Adolf Hitler was nearly killed by a British soldier. The British showed mercy and let Hitler live – an act which ultimately cost the lives of millions of people during World War II, the consequences of which can still be felt today.
It’s the same in my life – my mom signed me up for modern ballet, which led me to meet both my current leader at iCard and the love of my life and helped form me as a professional. With you, Siana (Siana Magardichyan – Marketing Manager at iCard), we trained for years together and now, we create and implement successful marketing campaigns at iCard. Before I got into the advertising business, I worked with the girls from the ballet in a nightclub, where I met my husband. The girls and I also participated in a promo campaign organized by my future employer, BBDO. While I was in university, I asked the advertising agency to start an internship with them. Years later, I was working for some of their biggest clients – Post Bank, Shell, Samsung, Henkel, Philip Morris, Wrigley, etc. An interesting fact that led to my application at iCard being noticed is that the head of HR had attended an event I organized back then. The takeaway is to be good to people and at what you do because you don’t know when and where one day your destinies might be intertwined again.
What was your career path before iCard?
I already mentioned that I used to work as a dancer and promoter of products and services. I’ve also worked at amusement parks in the USA for a few summers. Every activity I participated in before starting my career path as a Project and Event Manager helped form me as a professional. I had direct contact with clients at the locations, and I knew what they were looking for, what impressed them and how they could be guided to make a purchase. Behind the scenes, I connected with popular performers and gathered experience from the spectacular show programs and their technical specifications.
At BBDO advertising agency, I learned a lot, and I am incredibly grateful to the management for believing in me and allowing me to work on so many exciting projects. There, we handled communications with media (writing and disseminating press releases, communication with journalists, event planning), influencer marketing, and the generation and implementation of advertising and promo campaigns. Together, we organized some of the most impressive corporate events – 20 and 25 years of Shell Bulgaria, 20 and 25 years of Post Bank, the unique presentation of Samsung’s flagship phones, and many more. I am proud of every project, but the most memorable for me was the 25th anniversary of the bank. For the first time, we gathered 2,500 employees in one place to celebrate the anniversary of the company they worked for. The party was impressive, and I believe it was one of the reasons I was noticed and hired by iCard.
What does event planning involve?
Event planning and organizing are passions of mine, and I do them with great pleasure every time. Before, I used to share photos from different events, and people thought my life was one big party. But behind those 2-3 hours of fun and partying exist countless hours of hard work. Every event starts with determining the potential guests and audience, followed by generating a powerful concept to unite all the event elements, creating the text and design for the invitations and confirming the guests’ attendance. It’s essential to find the most appropriate venue, not just in terms of capacity but also of its overall vibe. The program and the performers are crucial in translating the emotions the hosts want to evoke. One needs to obtain offers, take into consideration everyone’s requirements, figure out the best time to present them to the audience and write the script for the hosts. The audio-visual materials also contribute to the overall emotion – we prepare visuals and videos for the LED screens, custom event branding, and musical accents. When all the ideas are clear, it is time to prepare the technical script in which everything that needs to happen has to be described in detail minute by minute – from the preparation to the end of the event. What remains is to collect all of the materials, update the budget with the new expenses, make the final payments to all partners and subcontractors, and give feedback to everyone involved.
What is the feedback after the events?
Everything I mentioned above costs a lot of effort, not just for me but also for the entire team organizing the project. Every time, I invest a lot of desire, creativity and love in the event organization. I’m always happy when people recognize that. I’ll never forget the words of the photographer I worked with before: “Ive, I work with many agencies in Sofia, and every week I shoot several events, but nobody pays such attention to detail and approaches the projects as professionally as you – from the beginning until the end.” I also get very emotional after our parties at iCard when colleagues come to me and congratulate me for a job well done. At the last celebration for Children’s Day, a few colleagues told me that this was the best event we’d organized to date. This gratitude is not just to me but to all the colleagues participating in the organization because every event requires a team effort. I love being around children’s laughter, seeing the smiles on the faces of colleagues and their kids, watching them have fun, and feeling the happiness that fills the space.
What other projects do you work on in the marketing department?
The events are a small but favourite part of my work responsibilities in the company. My colleagues and I are in charge of increasing our clients’ engagement by conducting marketing campaigns for the iCard digital wallet, iCard for Business, and GiftCard. Initially, we determine our targets and the results we want to achieve, then we generate the key messages and create a key visual, which unites all of the communication materials, such as promo websites, digital ads, social media posts, videos, e-mails, etc. When I say “the colleagues,” I mean not just the ones from the marketing team since we work very tightly with every department in the company. We are indeed responsible for the good presentation and the promotion of our products and services, but the colleagues who develop and maintain the product functionalities also have an important role in this process, as do the ones that develop the promo websites, prepare the print materials, are at the point of sale, those that communicate directly with the clients, and even the colleagues from the financial and accounting departments, who take care of the budgets and payments. Apart from the initial creative process, a favourite moment of mine is when I call the clients who have won a prize from our campaigns. I get to surprise them with the news that they are among the winners. I cannot put their emotion and excitement into words. The feeling is incredible, and it’s absolutely a deserved evaluation of our work.
At iCard, I enriched my experience in event and campaign planning and learned many new things. I was introduced to the process of website development, and I am currently responsible for keeping the content on our products and services websites up to date. I love symmetry, synchronicity, and the harmonious combination of elements. My colleagues often get frustrated when I nitpick about 1 pixel of misalignment in the prepared design. We laugh that I am a QA, even though I haven’t specialized in that field.
I love it when creativity is bubbling in our team. I especially like creating videos for our products – for social media or for events. This is one more skill I acquired here at iCard. Everyone finds it strange that I like to watch video ads. Still, I find them interesting and beneficial because we need to follow the trends, and every communication material can become an inspiration. You might have seen the latest videos we shot for GiftCard – behind the camera, we had a lot of fun moments, and the results with the audience were high. There are a lot of diverse and exciting projects we’re working on and that we’re looking to share with the audience.
What are you going to surprise us with at the next party?
Aw, this is one of my favorite questions. About 3-4 months before each party, the colleagues start to get curious and ask: ” When will the party be? Who will sing? Is there going to be a dress code?” I say this to everyone – no matter how many times you ask me, you’ll get nothing out of me. I love surprises – the emotion is much stronger, and the result is more impressive when the anticipation builds up to the event and you’re pleasantly surprised. We try to include something new every time, not to repeat locations, performers and event themes. The surprises are yet to come.
Download iCard digital wallet and manage your personal finances with ease:
