It’s Time to Meet The Petrova Experience!
Today marks one of the big milestones in my life. This is the day I am officially choosing to live my dream. We are launching The Petrova Experience, a customer experience consulting, coaching and membership organization. I remember the day I fell in love with Customer Experience. On that day I saw first hand how better customer experience impacts employees, customers, and businesses. This was the first time in my life that I not only saw the end product of my work, but I also had a real-time impact on our customers and bottom line. I knew that day, that I had found my professional home.
I have been planning for this defining step since 2008 when I met a woman in Royal Bank of Canada who had gone out on her own to be more available to her little daughter. I do not remember her name, but I do remember the seed she planted in me. So it is possible to be a successful professional and an emotionally available mom?
Customer Experience Consulting Roots
A name I do remember is Mike Taunton. He was the one who told me that my career should consist of series of roles that are in very different parts of an organization. He was the first finance guy I have ever known who had run a marketing team. I think I may be the second. It took me two years in Marketing to realize I AM creative.
Unleashing that side of me is the most valuable gift of my career. Without it, I could have never pushed the design to perfection for the experiences that we built. Respecting brand management and marketing is a real skill that is not as common as we think. Customer experience design is one of my favorite parts of the customer experience business and I can do it now, because of my marketing experience.
Customer Experience Consulting Inspiration
Customer experience also made finance fun for the first time in my life. I have a pretty long tenure in finance and never particularly enjoyed those years. Building business cases and proving the ROI of customer experience brought purpose to my finance background. It is particularly invigorating because it is hard to prove. If it was easy, there would be no need for The Petrova Experience.
Why membership? I get asked this every time I pitch. Because I care. Because in JetBlue I got more than 30 awards for passion. As leaders we all have the responsibility to build that missing pipeline of customer experience skills, jobs, qualifications, trajectories so young people today can enter the field although they have never heard about it in the classroom. The industry is still misunderstood. Senior professionals are still not sure where to begin or what to do to have real impact. Membership means community and support. And that is what The Petrova Experience is all about. We empower people to reach their potential. That is our reward and purpose.
Creating a Community and a Legacy
This post is quite emotional for me, but there is a reason for it. Going on your own with an 8 month old baby is not the most common career move you will encounter. That is why I wanted to write about it. I hope to inspire more people to listen to their inner voice, believe in themselves, and when they feel it is right (regardless of the circumstances) to just GO FOR IT. Opening your own business is exactly like having a baby. You are NEVER really ready. You do it anyways. Because you know deep in you that there is no higher purpose. And living with purpose is what life is all about.
Liliana
P.S. Become a founding member and get to know our five values: Integrity, Empathy, Innovation, Passion, and Empowerment. Enjoy all the benefits that we are building for you, including monthly networking events in Manhattan!
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