Disclaimer: This episode was recorded in the January, 2021. At the time, there were still Covid-19 related lockdowns and restrictions happening in different parts of Canada. We reference the difficulties related to networking during lockdowns during the episode. 

Pavla Bobosikova is the co-founder and CEO of WFHomie - an employee engagement and culture-building platform for remote-first and hybrid teams. Previously she was the Director of Product at Nudge.ai which got acquired by Affinity. Her professional background lies in product, design, and growth.

Pavla and Nino originally connected through a community for one of the largest youth-focused startup incubator programs in Canada called The League of Innovators. Pavla has been actively working on WFHomie since the pandemic started in 2020. She is passionate about helping remote and hybrid teams work efficiently and enabling the push towards remote work that started over the past couple of years.

During the episode we discuss her experience as an international student discovering a relevant career pathway in Canada, growing in her role in tech and making the switch from working full-time to becoming a startup founder. Pavla mentions how important it was for her to be intentional about what are some skills she should improve upon in order to set herself up for the career she wanted longer term.

Some of the main pieces of advice discussed included being proactive about acquiring relevant skills and building a personal brand throughout the process. She is quite active on LinkedIn herself and regularly shares insightful posts based on her startup experiences.

Fun fact, Pavla used to have a side project making leather laptop bags in her Toronto apartment! You can find the Instagram page for her leather creations here.

P.S. Interested in networking with fellow immigrant professionals? Check out the VisaWire Community: https://community.visawireapp.com/