Ivett Lengyel
Born and raised in Hungary, Ivett Lengyel took that leap of faith and moved to New Zealand after having established a successful career back home. It was a huge step, especially when we consider that Ivett was a 4-time EFFIE awarded media expert in Europe! But her life wasn’t providing the excitement she craved, it had become the same every day and she decided to make a change, by moving as far as possible to make sure she didn’t give up easily. How’s that for leaping outside your comfort zone?
You’ll notice the theme here, Ivett too wasn’t sure on her future career during her high school years, other than to further her studies. That led her to follow her interest and achieve a qualification in midwifery, before starting a Media Relations degree, whilst working as an assistant at a media firm. This combination of work and study allowed her to share real life examples in her studies, and really understand the context too.
You’d think that would be enough study for one lifetime, but Ivett’s hunger for learning meant she went on to study part time and achieve a Horticultural Engineering degree, whilst working her day job as a media manager. As you can imagine, that’s a huge commitment and something had to give. During this time, Ivett gave up her social time, but did so knowing it would be so worth it in the end.
Interestingly, the last degree has a sentimental reason too, it was a tribute to her late grandfather’s heritage, who was a barrel maker. And once the move to New Zealand was made, this third degree turned out to be the most useful! With her English not as strong as other’s in the job market, Ivett’s experience with wine (and no doubt her huge work ethic!) helped her get a waitressing job, funding her work visa and over the course of the next year, significantly improving her English skills.
All that hard work really paid off – she then scored a job as a Marketing Manager and, check it out, Ivett won a New Zealand Direct Marketing Award within the next couple years! What a great achievement and reward for all that hard grind!
You’ll notice the theme here, Ivett too wasn’t sure on her future career during her high school years, other than to further her studies. That led her to follow her interest and achieve a qualification in midwifery, before starting a Media Relations degree, whilst working as an assistant at a media firm. This combination of work and study allowed her to share real life examples in her studies, and really understand the context too.
You’d think that would be enough study for one lifetime, but Ivett’s hunger for learning meant she went on to study part time and achieve a Horticultural Engineering degree, whilst working her day job as a media manager. As you can imagine, that’s a huge commitment and something had to give. During this time, Ivett gave up her social time, but did so knowing it would be so worth it in the end.
Interestingly, the last degree has a sentimental reason too, it was a tribute to her late grandfather’s heritage, who was a barrel maker. And once the move to New Zealand was made, this third degree turned out to be the most useful! With her English not as strong as other’s in the job market, Ivett’s experience with wine (and no doubt her huge work ethic!) helped her get a waitressing job, funding her work visa and over the course of the next year, significantly improving her English skills.
All that hard work really paid off – she then scored a job as a Marketing Manager and, check it out, Ivett won a New Zealand Direct Marketing Award within the next couple years! What a great achievement and reward for all that hard grind!
It’s not surprising that Ivett believes that it is important to head off overseas, and grow from learning and experiencing other cultures. She’s glad to see that New Zealand, in comparison to Hungary, embraces that idea, and that international exchanges are encouraged at all levels of education. However, she regrets that she herself didn't learn more languages during her school time. It is such an advantageous skill and pointed out a Hungarian proverb, which says:
“As many languages you speak, so many times a human you are.”
Even if it is hard, challenging and unnerving to learn another language, it is so worth it! Like many of the inspiring women we’ve met, Ivett points out the well known quote “The magic happens outside of our comfort zone” and encourages us all to go and explore.
Ivett shares three quick tips for evolving and moving through life:
Ivett shares three quick tips for evolving and moving through life:
- Be flexible and open to change. Keep an open mind and consider how to embrace change as things usually change for a reason. Work environments are always changing. Life is always changing.
- Be patient. You need to learn how to be patient at work. This will improve your relationships with everyone around you. If you’re patient, you give people space, they will respond more positively to you, and the work environment will be more pleasant.
- Promote yourself. Know what you do well, then let other people know what you do well. Own your strengths and do get the recognition you deserve.
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In our day and age, everything is accessible online. Do take the time and find out about possible pathways, write down any questions you have, and then find the answers online or by approaching people who can help. Career pathways do unfold, but you’re the one who has to take the actions needed to develop the path.
Distractions, such as social media, make it easy to be lost in the every-day lives and it is up to each of us to make the effort of finding what you love doing and going for it! You needn’t feel like you have to find a solution today, take Ivett’s advice – be flexible and be patient. Take time, think about what you like, don’t like, what your interests are and what you’re good at. Know yourself, and work hard. Ivett really is living proof of this. She’s recently received a promotion to that of Media Strategy Lead for a well-known and respected electronics brand – which is a similar position to that which she held in Hungary. In five years she’s achieved so much, including moving across the globe, creating a whole new life, in a new country, speaking a new language and now she’s achieved her next career goal here too. What a great reminder that not immediately, but with some extra invested effort over time, we can all reach the goals we truly want to! |
Summer 2017/2018
Watch this space! There's a tonne of content being moulded for you which will make it's way here in the coming months so be sure to flick us a LIKE on Facebook to keep up with the latest and greatest.
If you are a cool chick with a great story, we'd love to hear from you. Feel free to send us deets of other amazing ladies you know too, and we will reach out.
Tēnā rawa atu koe.
If you are a cool chick with a great story, we'd love to hear from you. Feel free to send us deets of other amazing ladies you know too, and we will reach out.
Tēnā rawa atu koe.