It's late October in Moscow, Russia and darkness has fallen. Yara Vasina sits in front of her computer in her work offices at KPMG, her cursor hovering over the "submit" button. She's feeling hopeful, but also that resigned feeling that the chance of this working out is close to zero.
What the heck - she pushes "submit", closes the window, and gets back to work... forgetting all about the entry she's just lodged in a global competition.
Yara is now the Deputy Director International (Partnerships) at the University of Auckland, and if there's something to be said of her varied career and travels, is that she hasn't hesitated to seize an opportunity. As she says, "There's no such thing as luck - luck is simply where opportunity meets preparation".
That's not to say that everything has been easy on her journey. Far from it. But whether it's taking on a new hobby, travelling to an unusual place, or taking on a new job role, one of the attitudes that has guided her is that if the experience is likely to be uncomfortable and outside her comfort zone, then it's also likely to be challenging, interesting and worth pursuing.
This is a very personal conversation with a real gun in international education, a "social introvert" who's love of an active life is matched only by her ambition to create positive impact in the world. There are plenty of interesting stories and lessons and I'm sure you'll enjoy this wide ranging conversation with Yara Vasina!
Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia's Learning Abroad Support Company.
We are incredibly proud to be the OFFICIAL podcast of the AIEC Australian International Education Conference... registrations are open now!
And for all the breaking international education news, make sure you subscribe to The Koala News.
