Loz, hi! 👋 Great to chat with you today! You started at Tide four years ago as a Member Support Agent, and the last time we spoke, you were a Premium Account Manager. What made you decide to change careers?
Becoming a writer is an accomplished dream and the pinnacle of a dynamic career path I’ve been on for some time. It makes sense for me, and it feels right to be in this role at Tide after getting so much experience from years in member-facing positions.
Being a former Premium Account Manager, I’ve had a ton of experience that helped me write content for our Engagement Marketing team. My new role has allowed me to combine my writing skills and my unyielding desire to provide outstanding service to our members.✍️
How would you explain your role as Senior Writer to someone unfamiliar with your area?
I’m incredibly proud to be a writer for the Member Support team 😎
Housed in our Operations function, the breadth of projects I touch upon in Member Support keeps me busy. From technical writing to blog drafts, proofreading, editing, and structuring team meetings – no two tasks are similar. I also take care of our knowledge base 📚, and this is only the beginning!
Our teams need to master a lot of product and service knowledge, so we must have well-written and structured processes to make sure we have a strong correspondence with our members, and that’s where I come in.🧐 My work ensures our support agents can continue assisting our members with the highest level of service 🚀.
Our tone of voice is professional but friendly. I carry this notion to anything member-facing that I write for the teams. Our agents, Team Leads and managers, are some of the brightest and most hardworking people I’ve met in my career, so I get passionate about helping them communicate effectively with each other and with our members.🤝
Tide really gives you the opportunity to take on challenges and learn new skills. I have taken full advantage of that!
Career switching opportunities at Tide is something we are really proud of. We are thrilled to help Tideans grow personally and professionally. What were the challenges when you stepped into your new role?
It’s really fulfilling to come full circle and support the department I started in. Tide really gives you the opportunity to take on challenges and learn new skills. I have taken full advantage of that! 💙 I’ve never been discouraged from pursuing a skillset or a role, even when the path to achieving it wasn’t clear.
And you didn’t just change teams! You recently moved from your home country, the UK, to Bulgaria 🇧🇬 where we have an office. How did you take that decision and what made it possible?
I had visited our Sofia office a few times for team trainings and social events and always had a great time. The team here is fun to be around. They have unrestricted, liberating, cheeky humour, and it’s what I like. Having lived in London my whole life, I realised I wasn’t taking advantage of my city; everything felt chaotic, and I was jaded. For me, the revelations came in the very early stages of the pandemic. I suppose nothing like being boxed in a flat makes you want to explore the unknown! Like everyone else, spending so much time indoors made me confront notions of moving outside of my comfort zone to feel like I was ‘living’ and maybe even making up for the lost time.
What better way to tear away from my comfort zone than move to Bulgaria? It’s not been without its challenges. Still, when I walk around my sleepy neighbourhood, stand on mountain tops or relax in the springs, I remember why I came here. When I visit London now, it feels different, and I no longer feel apathetic because I appreciate that way of life in contrast.
The head of the Member Support department offered continual backing and support and didn’t blink when I said I’d like to relocate to join the team. I have an abundance of gratitude for him. The Head of the People team here in Sofia, my manager at the time in Member Engagement Marketing (MEM) and our London People team invested a lot of time in a relocation that was post-Brexit and at the peak of a pandemic. I pick my moments! 😊
What is thing you find most unexpected about Bulgaria so far?
I can leave my flat, jump in a car and be at the base of Vitosha mountain in 20 minutes. If the view from the peak doesn’t take your breath away, the -15° winter weather might. 🏔️🧊
You undoubtedly know a lot about the DNA of a Fintech company. What advice would you give someone looking for a role in the industry?
Become a problem solver 👊. No matter what role you are going for, problem-solving is going to be high on your agenda— as well as adaptability and openness. The faster you adapt, the more opportunities will present themselves to you. Everything in this sector moves so quickly!
Tide has a clear mission: to save small business owners time (and money), so they can focus on doing what they love. Would you want to start your own business one day?
I’ve learned a lot over the past four years about growing a business, so I may have to open an English tea shop here in Sofia ☕. In all seriousness, I see a few possibilities in the market here, which does prompt me to think about starting something on my own in the future. 🤔💡
Any hidden talents of yours that your colleagues are not aware of?
I keep my Bulgarian language skills (I use the term incredibly lightly) hidden for now. Still, once I will have completed my course, I intend to ‘take the plunge’ and use it more seriously. For now, I just talk with shop attendants, taxi drivers, and anyone else patient enough to have a broken conversation with me.
It would seem that skiing was a talent I had no idea I possessed, but I seem to have taken to the slopes like a duck to (frozen) water. 🎿
Is your cat Dali with you in Bulgaria?
Of course, we’re two halves of a whole, and she’s happy here. There are plenty of birds, and other cats in my neighbourhood that she likes to ‘people watch’ all day.
