Emilija Zafirova is an Engineering Manager at Axway who enjoys supporting her teams, managing execution, and coordinating across the teams on a daily basis. She reviews and designs solutions but also provides guidance to her teams. Emilija thinks that communication is the key to success.

For Emilija Zafirova the most important parts of her job are the people and the opportunities that make them grow. She also adds that it’s crucial for her to give everyone the autonomy to make decisions and to provide them with the chance to learn from their mistakes. Emilija thinks that building trust with people is invaluable. She also adds that when both parties have built trust between each other, everything else falls into place. Emilija is an Engineering Manager at Axway who always works to find the right approach in order to turn a difficult situation into a positive solution. Emilija reviews and designs solutions but also provides guidance to her teams. This involves keeping track of all priorities to make sure that the most important tasks are moving forward. She believes that it is crucial for women to find jobs that should fit well with other areas of their life. They have to enjoy their work and believe that their job gives them enough opportunities to grow. Emilija shares that inspiring people to grow is the best part of her job. She enjoys supporting her teams, managing execution, and coordinating across the teams on a daily basis. According to her, making things happen through other people and establishing better results from a group of people working together is very rewarding. Emilija thinks that communication is the key to success. She thinks that we have to set personal goals and schedule our work correctly if we want to achieve success and pleasure from the work that has been done. She adds that we should always have an open mind and be willing to learn new things. Emilija thinks that the value of action is far greater than words, hence her philosophy of life is “Show, don’t tell”. One of her rules of how to combine personal with professional life is “Take Time To Make Time”. She tells us that a pleasant work-life balance means managing our family and professional life in a way that none of the two oversteps their boundaries and interferes with one another. The challenge is to balance what we must do with what we enjoy doing. Emilija concludes that taking responsibility for our own choices is important and we should never accept that something is “not possible.”

“The most important thing for women is that their job fits well with other areas of their life”

Favourite clothes?

I like different sorts of clothes such as shorts, trousers, jeans, t-shirts. These types of clothes are more comfortable compared to others. I also wear dresses on special occasions.

High heels or flat shoes?

I prefer sneakers or flat shoes. For special occasions, I wear heels- makes me feel fabulous and taller 🙂 It really depends on the weather and season. I wear what is comfortable and I prefer sneakers or flat shoes. Heels are also great. I wear them on very rare occasions when I have to go to parties and special events.

Read More Inspiring Stories for Women in Tech in WRTech here.

Which typical female quality or household responsibility does not apply to you?

Everything applies to me 🙂 Household responsibilities are typically considered to be “tasks” and they are family responsibilities for all family members, so everything applies to me. When responsibilities are divided equitably, each member of the family respects and protect each other’s time as just as valuable as their own and everything is easier.

“The challenge is to balance what we must do with what we enjoy doing.”

What is THE thing that you must have in your bag when going out?

Perfume – it is always with me in my bag 🙂 Whatever I wear every day, I put my favourite perfume in my handbag, so I’ll have my perfume during the whole day with me and use it when I feel it is necessary, a few times a day 🙂

Favourite lipstick colour?

Nude shades, brown, peach or orange, reds, burgundy or wine shades. When it comes to lipsticks, let them be matte. I generally go for nude shades which have more of a brown, peach or orange shade. And with reds, I go for maroon, burgundy or wine shades. So generally I prefer to wear lipstick shades that are either close to my natural lip colour or kind of shades that enhance their looks and my confidence.

“A pleasant work-life balance means managing your personal and professional life in a way that none of the two oversteps their boundaries and interests with the other.”

Do you know how many women work in your position?

I don’t know 🙂 The most important thing for women is that their job fits well with other areas of their life, followed by enjoying the work that they do, and believing that their job gives them enough opportunities to grow. When responsibilities are divided equitably, each member of the family respects and protect each other’s time.

How do you combine personal and professional life? Do you have any rules you follow?

“Take time to make time”. We all lead busy lives, but we should never be too busy to connect with our family, friends and our inner self. A pleasant work-life balance means managing your personal and professional life in a way that none of the two oversteps their boundaries and interferes with the other. The challenge is to balance what we must do with what we enjoy doing. So, I like some rules that I follow and prioritise tasks into four categories:

• Important and urgent
• Important, but not urgent
• Urgent, but not important
• Not important, not urgent

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