Ramona Iacob is Country Manager for Regus, the biggest supplier of flexible working spaces. Ramona is a person who manages to be ERS in any situation. Now we offer you the opportunity to meet “the lady in red”.

Trainart: What 3 nouns would describe your career best?

R.I.: It’s very hard to choose nouns… I can say: courage, determination, perseverance, passion, evolution…

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life,” Confucius said and I have to admit that I have always loved what I did and my biggest ace up my sleeve was that I went to the office in a good mood, either as an entrepreneur in the past… or in a corporation like today. If I hadn’t loved my job, I couldn’t have coped and I would surely have done something else, I would have chosen another path.

Trainart: What have you learnt about yourself lately?

R.I.: Professionally speaking, I learnt that I can be extremely calm when others expect me to blow up and I also learnt for the thousandth time that I “don’t have to” …. and that doing something happily and passionately is extremely important. I learnt how important it is to always step back to see the big picture with a different perspective.

I have learnt to be a mother, which means I trained myself to stay calm, balanced, to learn how to share my time and resources and I still learnt that being a mother does not mean I know everything better… that I have to keep informed and then weigh my decisions. I learnt that nothing compares to a child’s smile… it’s an inner joy above everything else.

Trainart: What personal trait are you most proud of?

R.I.: My integrity.

Trainart: What makes you happy all the time?

R.I.: A peaceful day during which I simply listen to “the earth” (lying on the grass and contemplating nature). This is what I rarely manage to do, but it really makes me happy, it fills me with energy and relaxation.

Or just watching people… I love doing that and when I was a child I liked to watch people’s windows (I still like doing it and I do it whenever I have the opportunity – in the car, in traffic etc.) and try to guess their story depending on the kind of curtain in the window, how it is pulled etc.

But my son’s voice when he calls me: Mommy! How are you? makes me happy every day.

Trainart: Tell us a moment in your life when you felt Empowered/Resourceful/Spectacular.

R.I.: There are moments in one’s lifetime… both personal and professional, but: I would say that the most important was the day when I decided to put an end to a very important chapter in my life, to go on another path, to start from scratch and, though I was a bit afraid in the beginning, I went with my head held high and the most important thing was that I learnt to believe in myself and smile again.

So, given my job and the decisions I take on a daily basis as Country Manager, there are a lot of times when I can say that I feel Empowered/Resourceful/Spectacular and it means being positive, open minded and believing in you.

Trainart: What was your job dream-job when you were little?

R.I.: I wanted to become a teacher or a doctor, but I think that was a lot of little girls’ dream in the past.

Trainart: If you could introduce a new school subject, what would it be and why?

R.I.: I would introduce the etiquette code (and I mean respect for people, for society in general, towards your family, everything related to civilization and common sense, personal development – for me the etiquette code is much more vast) because I am saddened today by what I see around, it seems that society today is starting to degrade because we do not have a solid basis. People have to start learning how to live peacefully, how to respect the ones around, to help each other, to respect themselves, to be civilized and this seems to be the basis for other things in the future.

Trainart: What is the most creative thing you’ve done so far?

R.I.: I think that painting… and/or photography if I can call it “creative”. Besides, the last creative thing I’ve done is some cars from Lego parts (I have a little boy). I started to use my creativity for Lego too, though I would not have believed that. I love creative stuff, but those which are related to flowers, nature, vintage or collections.

Trainart: What would be the title of a book about your life?

R.I.: Meet the lady in red.

Trainart: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

R.I.: I admit that I would change something about my appearance, like any woman… But, as a person, mother, woman, manager… I don’t think I would change something in particular… I would improve, I would complete what I mean today… I would help myself grow more beautifully and wholesomely.

We could describe Ramona’s attitude through Ella Fitzgerald’s words: “Don’t give up on what you really want. You cannot fail where there is love and inspiration.”