In the next round of our Inspirational Series, we have Sanja, the CEO of Utrust.
Utrust is a cryptocurrency payment solution, designed to simplify and modernise cryptocurrency payments like bitcoin and ethereum. It offers instant transactions and immediate crypto-to-cash settlements for merchants. If you haven’t already heard, we’ve partnered with them to offer cryptocurrency payments on Vaniday.
In a commonly male-dominated fintech industry, Sanja paves the way for women and in fact, encourages more women to join the industry. She attributes this to her open-minded approach to life.
A day in Sanja Kon’s life
Born in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Sanja had multiple stints across the globe from a young age. Depending on her schedule, she may find herself waking in either Portugal or Italy. Regardless of where she is, though, her day always starts with a morning gratitude meditation that helps in setting her intentions for the day.
As a young company in a young field, there’s never a dull day with Utrust. Meetings with either with her team, clients, advisors, or prospects take up the remainder of the day — something that Sanja always looks forward to.
Moving to fintech
Seeing her enthusiasm for fintech, it may be surprising to note that Sanja wasn’t always in the industry.
In fact, she had spent most of her career in e-commerce and digital, working for big names like Vodafone and eBay. It was only after she got a job at PayPal UK that she started getting interested in blockchain. She sees it as a solution to solve many traditional inefficiencies in the payments market.
One day, she came across Utrust and was intrigued by the solution it offer. She leaped to it, and needless to say, the rest is history. Two years later, she became the CEO of the fledgling company.
Becoming a leader during the pandemic
However, leadership positions are never easy, more so transitioning to one in the middle of a pandemic. How exactly did she do it?
For one, this didn’t deter Sanja. Rather, it forced her to think outside the box and really approach it hands-on. Her leadership style had to be adjusted during the first few month — instead of long-term solutions, she was forced to adopt more short-term ones.
Fortunately, as time went by, she was able to find more balance. One of the things she focused on was market research, investigating where and how its solution could play a bigger role in the lives of customers’. So far, so good — it has been well-received.
Her favourite part about being a leader? Being able to working with a lot of different people, personalities and backgrounds.
A good leader focuses on bringing out the best in everyone, leveraging on their strengths and things they love to do, and that is exactly what Sanja does.
In her free time, Sanja is also a freelance coach, helping people get past their self-fulfilling properties and expanding their potential. She also loves helping people to design their roles in a way where they can do what they enjoy the most. Talk about multi-talented!
Some nuggets of wisdom
Whether you are in fintech or not, Sanja has some nuggets of advice to impart to all women out there:
Firstly, always measure your success and growth against your own former self. Don’t compare yourself to others! Remember that everyone else is on their own journey which is different from yours. Look at yourself yesterday, a week ago, a month ago, a year ago. That’s the person you need to beat.
Secondly, always keep the door open behind you. Help other women up. Whatever goal you achieve, make sure the job is easier for the woman that comes after you. Glass ceilings, once shattered, need to stay broken.
She lives by the quote “Life always happens FOR YOU, not TO YOU”.
About Utrust
Utrust is a cryptocurrency payment solution designed to simplify and modernise cryptocurrency payments like bitcoin and ethereum, offering instant transactions and immediate crypto-to-cash settlements for merchants.
Utrust’s mission is to minus the middlemen from the equation.
No fees, no additional charges — making cryptocurrency payments global, safe, fast, inexpensive, and, most importantly, accessible to everyone.
HELLO
