Part of our story
Back in the summer of 2017 there we were, in the midst of our adult life. Two individuals who dared to listen to and name a longing that had been nagging at our hearts: What if the skills that we have acquired through education and work experience could be used to benefit all beings, the Planet, and ourselves? What if these skills did not belong to one employer, industry, field, but could be used to serve all? Looking back at how this yearning came to be felt, we realize that we had become disenchanted with the direction our lives were taking.
Naming this longing was like planting a seed into our hearts and minds. We tended to this seed and observed a number of options that would enable it to sprout. For us, these meant ridding ourselves of most of our possessions and planning a journey to contribute beyond our immediate realities. So we started what turned into a 15-month long travel and volunteer experience. The aim was to relocate our skills in order to learn how the world might need us. This part of the journey was rich and humbling as we contributed to 8 organizations and projects in 8 countries.
Back in Europe and full from our experiences we stood in front of yet another question: What did we wish to serve with our lives? And through a combination of dreams and practicalities, we founded Skillward. We hoped for this structure to enable us to dream up ways of living our lives at the intersection of being of service, creating value for others, caring deeply for ourselves, each other, our communities, and our planet.
When one opens up to transformation one invites in all sorts of initiations. The recent years have showed us what the purest love and the deepest loss feel like. What remains when all else shatters. Life seems to wish to be lived, expressed, tasted fully, be it sweet, savory, or deeply bitter. Each bite that we taste, swallow and integrate evolves us into new beings day by day. And so we breathe in and out, allowing it to make and remake us. And in the process find courage to embody our place in the world. We are still finding words and listening closely to our broken and mending hearts to capture how we might weave together these lived experiences.
Who we are
My non-linear background makes it challenging for me to describe myself. Questions such as Who am I? and Why am I here? have been on my mind since childhood. One word I used to describe myself was seeker. Seeking to find my place within a post-communist society back in Romania, seeking to find my identity as a student in Spain, Belgium and Switzerland, seeking to find purpose by applying innate skills and developing others in a capitalist world, seeking sustainable ways to contribute to this beautiful world we live in.
Tremendous loss and deep grief offers one different lenses to look through at the world. Today I wish to use the word finder to describe myself – finding the breadcrumbs left for me to pick up and follow. My time and energy are dedicated to healing, to re-membering who I am and guiding others to do the same. A re-membering of lost parts of ourselves so that we might feel a deep sense of belonging again.
The ability to be present to several parts of ourselves comes through practice. And so I practice: energy healing to help me and others feel harmony again, journaling, menstrual cycle awareness, yoga, holding space for grief. I use these tools in my everyday actions, with my clients, involved with the community, and shaping Skillward.
Writing an introduction about myself on our website has not been easy for me. So I will start at the beginning. Some may say I have been evolving within my environment and navigating the system with a fair amount of success. Born in Geneva (Switzerland) in 1984, socially engaged, physically active, travelled the world, graduated from business school, co-founded a MedTech startup, fell in love and got married, and was on the way to a promising career in a major healthcare company. Based on society standards, I qualify as a successful and well-integrated individual.
It is my belief that our place of origin, gender, job, religious beliefs, the ecosystem around us, the culture we come from can only help figure out how we are different from each other, but not who we ultimately are. While these elements have a degree of influence on us, as individuals, we expand beyond these (mostly) anthropocentric concepts. And this is in fact where the fun began for me.
For me recently it boils down to a simple question: What would I do if all the repercussions of my acts fell directly on me and the ones I love? When I consider all beings as an extension of myself, my choices start to take a different direction. And that is where you find me presently contributing sustainably with Skillward.