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"The most important thing is the costume": Yekaterinburg resident prepares for the final of the world beauty contest
Alena Arefieva, a leading economist from Yekaterinburg, has reached the final of the Miss Office contest, where girls from France, the UAE, Switzerland, Serbia and Russia compete for the title of the most beautiful employee. As a child, Alena had a strange dream. She wanted to buy a car, but when she grew up, she decided to devote her life to economics. Alena told what awaits the girls at the final show, why she has never participated in beauty contests before and where she plans to spend her three million rubles if she wins.
— It is known that Shvab-Ural prepares management reports, attracts debt financing and conducts analyses. How did you decide to connect your life with economics?
— I was born in a small town called Kurgan, graduated from a school with an economic profile and, accordingly, entered the Ural State University of Economics in Yekaterinburg, where I received a degree in "World Economy". She began working as a manager in the field of foreign economic activity and simultaneously received a second higher education at UrFU. She studied to be a translator. After completing my studies, I went to work at Shvabe-Ural and began to develop in the field of finance.
— When I was young, I dreamed of becoming a car dealer. It was a strange dream for a girl, but fortunately, fate directed me to the field of economics. I love what I do, and I get real benefits from it. In the end, the most important thing for everyone is to feel that your activities, even within an organization, contribute to the development of society.
— In addition to your main job, you are also developing your own project in the field of recruiting public relations personnel. How did you come up with the idea to create such a startup and what major clients have you already worked with?
— When I was in college, there was no opportunity to get a job with a 5-day schedule, but a part-time job was appropriate. Gradually, I began to study this field, think about what is important for both sides, and gradually began to work as an intermediary between companies and promotional staff. With large clients, I work mainly as an intermediary through full-service advertising agencies, and the number of organizations is quite large, so it is not possible to immediately choose a large organization. I remember more organizations that were easy to work with. Regardless of whether you are a large company or not, you always set priorities.
— About beauty contests: Have you ever participated in them before?
— It was my first time participating in such a large-scale beauty contest. Sometimes these questions arose around me. "Why didn't you send an application to participate in the Miss Yekaterinburg contest?" I heard the general answer: "There wasn't enough time to participate." I always put work first.
— You are among the top 30 girls who will compete for the title of the most beautiful office worker in the world. How did you feel when you found out you had made it to the finals?
"I felt a huge sense of gratitude and joy." It was a really big event that involved everyone around me. I especially loved the response not only from my friends, but also from my friend's friends, colleagues, relatives and neighbors. I felt an incredible outpouring of support from all over the world. The value of this cannot be compared to anything. Thank you very much to everyone.
— The 30 girls who have passed the final selection will be able to present themselves, their company and their region at the international level in the final. The final itself will be held in Moscow on November 30 last year, and more than 10 million people watched this show. The preparatory period has already begun. The day began immediately with the summing up of the online voting results, that is, in two hours. We have a lot of deadlines and tasks that need to be completed while we are in the city. The most important thing now is to prepare the costumes for the final stage of the Art Double Show. We hired a designer who did the hard work of preparing the images in a short time.
— In addition to the crown, the winner will receive a prize of 3 million rubles. Have you already thought about how you will spend the money if you win?
"The idea of how to create an accessible platform that will help girls from different regions of Russia become more confident and find strength in their femininity has been in my head for a long time. This is a platform that contains the knowledge of excellent experts on the basics that every girl needs, including psychological consultations on healthy self-esteem, knowledge of the correct delivery of speech, dirty etiquette, nutrition and other important things that help in character and self-development. . - to appreciate.
— What prospects and opportunities does participation in “Miss Office” open up?
— First of all, personal growth. All spheres of life of the participants are harmoniously intertwined: professional spheres, creativity, communication skills, thinking, the ability to flexibly respond to new problems and find non-standard solutions. So for me it was like a challenge that I had to accept.
— How can participation in the Miss Office contest affect your career? For example, would you prefer to leave the company and focus more on your own projects?
— I think I worked at Shvab-Ural for five years, starting as a “first-class economist” and gradually moving up to the position of “leading economist”. Now I am taking several training courses in my specialty, I understand that I grew up at Shvab-Ural, I want to develop further and use new tools and cover more opportunities. Unfortunately, this can only be possible within another organization.
— I work at Shvab-Ural, I do projects, yoga, tennis, I organize charity concerts with a vocal school. How do you find time to do all this? Do you feel tired and how can you protect yourself from it?
— How can you get tired of something that inspires you? I am sure that as soon as I have my own family, I will focus on my husband and children. At the same time, I get tremendous pleasure from my activities, work, hobbies and sports and, despite my busy schedule, I feel quite energetic.