BUSINESS

Being Brave and Pursuing Goals

Renáta Valerie Nešporek is a woman of many facets. The first vice-president of the CzechMoravian Association of Businesswomen and Managers (Českomoravská asociace podnikatelek

a manažerek) and the chair of the institution’s branch in Ostrava, a mediator who respects win-win

solutions, good communication and high professionalism, is also a fundraiser for the Entrepreneurs

Trade Unions–the Union of Entrepreneurs and Freelancers Associations (Podnikatelské odbory –

Unie podnikatelských a živnostenských spolků, z.s.) and the manager of the designer fashion brand

MarVa de Luxe. She independently contracts with a few universities. This lady lives every moment

to the fullest and cannot picture herself doing what she would not truly enjoy.

Mrs Nešporek, you are the first vice-president

of the Czech-Moravian Association of

Businesswomen and Managers and also the

chairwoman of the Ostrava branch. What was

your personal goal when taking up the position? 

The Ostrava branch will celebrate its ninth birthday

this year. My goal was to make it the best club in

the association. And that became true. It is not

just my personal feeling, but it is also supported

with numbers. And I believe that ‘you can manage

only the things you can measure’. The satisfaction

of the members is important to me, that they feel

good in the club and see the value added for their

businesses development from the meetings.

As the first vice-president, I have been responsible

mainly for the internal operations of the

association since 2018, i.e. ensuring effective

communication between individual clubs (eight

in total), improving relationships with external

partners and, last but not least, carrying out our

strategies.

Could you please give us an idea what

services the association offers to managers

and businesswomen and why you believe it is

important to support them in this field? 

Businesswomen and female managers need

a ‘place’ to meet each other. It doesn’t matter

whether it is online or offline. It is important to

share experiences, discover and realize new

opportunities and develop oneself.

The association has a number of tools, programmes

and activities. As the members form a wide

spectrum of professional specialization, age and

values, we react to and offer many interesting

things in this context.

Establishing a long-term collaboration with Veuve

Clicquot and L´Occitane en Provence is the

newest thing, but you already mentioned it in your

newsletter. We joined the international project

‘Choose Women’, we are showing our children

the path into business via the ‘Next Generation’

programme--I could go on.

We enjoy almost every Friday morning a ‘morning

coffee’ with interesting guests. The Ostrava branch

organizes an online ‘glass of wine or club meeting

of successful women’ every second Thursday of

the month.

What are you currently working on and what are

your plans for the upcoming weeks or months?

I keep fulfilling my dreams. Once, I wanted to be

a lawyer or a fashion designer. And now I have both

in a somehow transformed way.

At the moment, I am establishing a mediation

office in Ostrava. I ‘fell in love’ with mediation as

such during my LL.M. studies and I think that the

out-of-court settlement of conflicts is an amazing

opportunity to improve our lives. I became

a registered mediator this year and at the moment

I am meeting with my clients online.

I have been actively engaged in fashion for two

years. I work as a fashion manager for the Ostrava

fashion brand MarVa de Luxe. I also create myself.

My domain is silk hand-painted scarfs. And I also

want to try jewelry.

Antifragility, creativity and tenaciousness are my

key characteristics. I am convinced that every

period brings new challenges, opportunities and

possibilities. I live and do business here and now.

I am not waiting for SOMETHING to change.

What was your path to becoming one of the top

managers? Did luck play any part or did you have

to fight for your position? 

There was no fight. I am a lover of opportunities, so

I just used them. They were no dream positions, but

they were somehow interesting for me. I am used

to pushing things forward. The passive approach is

strange to me. My time-proven method is to surround

myself with great people and use their potential.

I don’t suffer from impostor syndrome. I am not

afraid. Success is like living water to me and I love it.

Where do you draw your energy from to be able

to function again the next morning? How do you

manage to combine business with family life?

I hope that you ask men the same question (laughing).

I have my work-life balance managed. I had

my workaholic period a long time ago. I don’t

do anything I wouldn’t enjoy and with anyone

I wouldn’t enjoy doing it. I can say NO and I can

also say to myself ENOUGH. And I am authentic.

It is nice to be able to do it and dare to do it. And

I can.

Thank you for the interview.

Text: redakce

Foto: Sergey Sekurov

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