“I was born into a century and a family that went through every kind of disruption imaginable in the course of about 70 years. I come from […] Central Asia, which has gone through tremendous turbulence: two brutal world wars, multiple civil wars in between every kind of disruption possible, and then that finished with the collapse of our government,“ Nadya Zhexembayeva tells Andrew Wrobel in the fourth episode of Emerging Europe Talks She’s Next empowered by Visa.

Her first job was in an insurance business selling life insurance in the collapsing Soviet Union. Now Nadya is a recovering academic scientist, entrepreneur, educator, and the founder and chief reinvention officer at Reinvention Academy.

“And if for some people stability is a norm, for me, turbulence is the norm and that makes me today in 2023 as we are facing the disruption we're facing in a competitive advantage, meaning I am more ready to deal with change.”

“Imagine this scene, a relatively young professor at the business school meets a vice president of a bank in the same class,” says Cristina Doros, now vice president, regional manager for Central Asia and Azerbaijan at Visa, who first med Nadya back in 2009.

“It's an inspiration because sometimes when you feel down, when you think your things are going south and you are so good at anything, then I see, I look at Nadya's speeches, I listen to her online, I read the post and I said to myself, OK, you know what, that's the meaning you've been missing.”

“You we are all learning from each other and in that environment, it's all about creating conditions where we can all share because the wisdom in the room is tremendous with all of these executives,” Nadya adds.