Dec 10, 2020
Saving the environment and forging a career in Tech
Boryana was the first to apply for our Genius at Work innovation program. With her green initiative, our company is taking small steps on the path to becoming more sustainable.
“Recently, I have realized it is not enough to live a sustainable life personally. To really help, I need to spread awareness. I don’t want to just point out the problem. I want to give people advice on how to solve the problem.” - Boryana Pilyarska, Project Manager
For the past six years, Boryana has been a Project Manager and has led her team to great results. As a team leader, her top priority is to create and maintain a good work environment for her colleagues.
What do you aim for as a Project Manager?
Managing a team of 20 people from different countries can be challenging. People with different personalities, different needs and coming from different lines of work must coordinate their work to deliver results. I see myself more as a team leader and my number one priority is to monitor not only what my team is doing, but also how they feel doing it. I am aware that good results come from a fulfilled and satisfied team.
You have been with Adacta for six years already, how would you describe Adacta as an employer?
I feel Adacta on a very personal level. It is not just my job. Here are the people I love and trust. I have always received so much support from Adacta.
One of the things I appreciate most about Adacta is the freedom that the company gives me. I know that freedom comes with responsibilities, but there is nothing more motivational than the fact that I can make decisions about my personal working environment as well as the corporate decisions that affect the entire company.
»For me, Adacta is not just an employer who pays my salary. It is much more than that and I appreciate having the opportunity to work here. If I had to describe Adacta as a person, I would say Adacta is a reliable and supporting friend.«
You were the first to apply for Adacta’s innovation program with your green initiative. When did this awareness about preserving our planet start?
Finding new ways to be environmentally friendly and preserve our planet is my passion. I cannot tell you when it started as it has always been a part of me. I started working on projects related to the environment back in high school. I feel like it is my responsibility to care about nature and show others how important it is for our wellbeing.
Recently, I have concluded that it is not enough just to live a sustainable life personally. To really help, I need to raise other’s awareness. I said to myself: if only one person achieves a more sustainable lifestyle because of me, I did my job here. I started by challenging my colleagues at work along with some other challenges that were already underway during remote work. And that is how we started with 21 environmental tips on how to live a more sustainable lifestyle in the office and at home. This was my first step in helping Adacta become more eco-friendly.
When did you decide to apply for Adacta’s Innovation program?
After the green challenges, I decided to take a step further with my initiative. I applied the idea with the innovation program that was just launched at that time. By applying I wanted to make our company more nature friendly and sustainable. Adacta saw the added value and we started making changes.
We started our effort on reducing the amount of plastic we use. We replaced the plastic bottles with glass ones and we agreed on replacing the coffee machine, which was my worst nightmare because of all the plastic filters. Together with my colleagues we even planted some plants in our office. It is one thing to know you have a problem and quite another to do something about it. Some people are not even informed enough to make changes. We need to give people alternatives, so they know exactly what to do. And that is something I am trying to achieve – instead of just pointing out the problem, I want to give people advice on how to solve it.
How did Adacta support you through the process?
The support I am getting from Adacta is amazing. In terms of becoming green, it is a little more complex because this requires changes. And to become a greener company Adacta must make some changes that also require certain resources. I appreciate that Adacta said yes to all my suggestions, no matter the financial investment they required. I know these are small steps and much more needs to be done in the future, but together we are making the changes and I am excited to see what the future brings.
You have so many things going on and do not seem to slow down. Who inspires you to achieve your goals?
I find inspiration all around me. Since I spend a lot of time at work, for me it is very important to respect and admire the people I work with. Some of the people who inspired me a lot were our former colleagues Matej Pfajfar and Zoran Slanič. Every time I talked to them, they gave me some good and smart advice. In general, smart people with smart out-of-the-box ideas inspire me.
My family inspires me as well. I am very close to my family although we live in different countries. They are my biggest motivators and supporters.
To conclude, tell us something we would never guess about you.
It was never my dream to become a consultant or a Project Manager and having to deal with people. I wanted to become a statistician and do calculations and analyses. Now I love my work so much exactly because of the human ingredient.
Hi, we’re Adacta—a leading software provider for the insurance industry. Our insurance platform, AdInsure, gives Life and P&C insurers a future-proof way to streamline their operations and processes.
