Nada Matijevic, founder of ElevateMe takes us through her journey, that led to the Elevate Me path.
WHY ELEVATE ME?
Chances are, if you’re like most women, you know that something’s missing, that you’re unfulfilled and not entirely happy. And you want more out of life. I created Elevate Me to show you that it doesn’t have to be that way. There is a better way.
Because as women, we have different needs and we face different challenges to men. We’re conditioned differently. We juggle different roles and responsibilities. We step back in our careers to raise a family and we lose career ground. Our self-identity becomes entangled in those roles and responsibilities and we become disconnected with ourselves and our needs. And we so often don’t back ourselves up. We develop limited perceptions of who we are and underestimate ourselves. We’re hard on ourselves when it comes to self-confidence and self-promotion. It’s too easy to fall into a trap of dysfunctional living and to sacrifice our wellbeing and the things that really matter to us.
It’s time to turn things around and change the way we look at our lives and careers.
Why? Because it’s not a good way to live. And because the world is changing rapidly and it’s putting us under constant stress. Studies show that 70% of us are somewhere between functioning and flailing when it comes to our wellbeing. Never before have we seen as much stress, anxiety and feelings of uncertainty as we do today.
It’s time to take control of shaping a better way to live. Elevate Me was created for the woman who wants to be authentic and confident to be herself, to help her know her value and her unique genius. So she knows what her best looks like. So she’s clear on her strengths, needs, values and on her self-identity. To guide her to do the groundwork. To help her take the time to reconnect with who she really is.
My program helps her disentangle her self-identity and self-worth from the past. So she can see beyond the trappings of her previous roles and responsibilities and is clear on her true North and her worth. So her self-identity is not tied to her past roles, but to her own personal brand.
Elevate Me helps the evolutionary woman identify her drivers, strengths and capabilities to help her stay agile and future-ready. So she can redefine and reinvent herself and proactively chart her own career path, rather than leaving it to chance, or to someone else.
Elevate Me is for the woman who is ready to bring wellbeing and whole-of-life quality and enjoyment back into her success model. Because she’s ready to function at her peak and she’s ready to create the life she loves. So her work is driven by her values and has more meaning and so she can make a greater impact on the world around her.
MY JOURNEY
The driving force behind Elevate Me is built on my many years of experience as a career-woman. It draws on my experience in diverse organisations and roles and on knowing what it takes to succeed in varied and male-dominated industries.
You could say I’ve spent the last 30 years researching the challenges career-women face and have come through on the other end after redefining myself and making my own career transitions. Across industries. From technical to leadership. Shifting my focus from bottom-line to the bigger picture and ultimately to people. Because at the end of the day, in my view, it’s all about people making the bigger picture possible. And self-actualised women, tapping into their best strengths, values and genius and leading positive change create a better bigger picture.
I’ve also learned the importance of career health and why we need to create a whole of life version of success. And why we need to bring our focus back to our wellbeing in order to thrive and do our best work. This is especially true for women. Because it’s so easy to lose ourselves in the rat race and to lose sight of the things that really matter to us and end up feeling empty, unfulfilled and unhappy.
I’ve been there myself. I have found that the harsh male career success model just isn’t working well for women. Yes, it’s possible to succeed, but it often comes at a high cost, both to men and women.
Chasing someone else’s meaningless goals on someone else’s terms just causes women unnecessary stress and anxiety. Because so often it boxes us into playing roles, masking our true feelings, adapting to someone else’s values and achieving results that are personally meaningless and unfulfilling. And which sometimes make us go against our values and the grain of who we are.
On my journey, I realised that being authentic to myself, my values and my bigger vision meant putting people first, ahead of numbers. And I realised that sometimes change needs to happen outside the influence of organisations. That is why I chose to work with individuals directly. In this way, I’m not compromised by having to tow the company line, so we can focus on what the individual needs in order to thrive. I’ve found my way out of the maze. I’ve found the tools and resources needed to make the transition and want to help others to find their own path too.