GoodGeist
A podcast on sustainability, hosted by Damla Özlüer and Steve Connor, brought to you by the DNS Network. Looking at sustainability issues, communications, and featuring global guests from a wide variety of sectors such as business, NGOs and government.
GoodGeist
Communication is Everything, with Olga Blasco
What happens when a passionate advocate for localization and women's empowerment takes on the challenge of social entrepreneurship? Join us as we sit down with Olga Blasco, who was born in Barcelona and in her own words ia a nomad at heart. Olga operates in Dublin and İstanbul at the moment. She was a Board member of The Rosetta Foundation and led the merger with Translators without Borders.
Now a board member of Clear Tech, the tech hub of Clear Global, she brings over 20 years of experience in the translation industry, having held leadership positions in Lionbridge and Welocalize. She is also a board member of Women in Localisation and she is an independent growth strategist, M&A advisor, mentor and social entrepreneur.
Don't miss this episode if you're keen on learning how to blend professional skills with a heart for social good.
Follow GoodGeist for more episodes on sustainability, communications and how creativity can help make the world a better place.
Good Geist, a podcast series on sustainability hosted by Damla Özler and Steve Connor, brought to you by the DNS Network.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello everyone, you are listening to Good Guys, the message on sustainability which is brought to you by the DNS Network, the global network of agencies dedicated to making the world a better place. This is Damla from Mira Agency, istanbul, and.
Speaker 3:And this is Steve from Creative Concern in Manchester. This podcast series explores global sustainability issues, how they're communicated and what creativity can do to make positive change happen.
Speaker 2:So in this episode, we're going to talk to Olga Blasko, a versatile trailblazer championing localization and women's empowerment. Born in Barcelona and, with her own words, a nomad at heart, olga operates in Dublin and Istanbul. At the moment, she was a board member of the Rosetta Foundation and led the merger with Translators Without Borders, and now is a board member of ClearTech, the tech hub of Clear Global.
Speaker 3:She brings over 20 years of experience in the translation industry, having held leadership positions in Lionbridge and we Localize. She's also a board member of Women in Localization, an independent growth strategist, m&a supervisor, mentor and social entrepreneur. She co-founded Janna to empower disadvantaged communities towards socially inclusive businesses. So, olga, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to Damla and myself.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'm really, really, really honored to be here and you know, I mean it's always a pleasure to get a little bit of space you know and talk about. You know the projects that I'm involved in.
Speaker 2:Well, it's great to have you with us today, Olga. We have worked together in one of your ventures, actually Ekip, in Istanbul, which was also about empowering women. But before we dive deep dive into that, could you tell us about this multifaceted story of yours? I mean, how did you evolve into this cross borders change maker suite?
Speaker 4:So, since I was a child, I mean I was always very curious about the world and I also had this example in my family, like my parents, my grandparents and great grandparents, which I had, you know, when I was a child surrounded with really great people, and then I was watching them how they always made space for helping others. And so I mean this curiosity for the world and, you know, seeing like the great example of my family, it made me always want to get involved in, you know, things that would both satisfy my curiosity and also allow me to help other people. And so, you know, when I got into the translation and localization world, it was to actually solve communication problems, I mean helping others by solving communication problems. And then, you know, when I got involved into the management of projects and you know, management of teams and all of that around the world, it was also, you know, with that kind of purpose, but of course it evolved into, you know, jobs with a lot of responsibility, a lot of traveling, and I, you know I thrived in solving very complex problems around the world and you know, meeting new people, knowing new places, getting involved in new challenges, and at some point in time it was really really big and really really busy and I started wondering about giving back to the world and getting involved in nonprofits, simply because my job at the time was not allowing me to have that flexibility, you know, to get involved with pure nonprofit. And so, I mean, eventually, when I left the big corporations and I left my senior vice president job, I took a year sabbatical and during that year, I mean, I thought about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to transform my life.
Speaker 4:Um, and then, uh, I was, I was traveling in in Turkey for pleasure as a tourist. Uh, and um, at that time, you know, 10 years ago, um, Turkey was going through a lot uh of, um know, social tension and also the influx of refugees from Syria. And something clicked inside of me and I thought, because I've always learned by doing, you know, rather than just studying, something I mean I learned by doing. And I said, if I want to get involved in non-profits, you have an opportunity, you know, during your sabbatical to just, you know, get involved, volunteer for some organizations and learn. And so this is what I did and at that time, because I didn't have any Turkish and I didn't really know the country, I thought I would use other skills that I have and because I've always been involved in music and dance as well, that's my other, like the other facet of my life, um, I? I became a volunteer dance teacher for a academic um and I, um, you know, I was basically working with, you know, kids and teenagers with disabilities. And also I got involved in Kizil Atatürk, which, you know, helped teenage girls, you know, that were going through difficulties as well. And through my activities as a volunteer, I learned, you know, what life was like in Turkey, like I learned more about the problem.
Speaker 4:So, I know, after spending one year, you know, volunteering for different organizations, I? I met my my business partner, sundry uh, who, uh, through karma uh, was trying to connect, you know, people from the corporate world with business, you know, skills and nonprofit organizations, and we started kind of ideating what we could do. And we had this idea of, you know, founding Jana to help, you know, women from disadvantaged communities start their own businesses. And in parallel to all of that, I mean I got involved with the Rosetta Foundation in Ireland, which connected me back to the translation world, and I started helping them with their mission to empower people from disadvantaged communities around the world, to empower them, no matter what language they speak. And at the same time, I also got involved with my business partner in Ireland to set up the growth and exit consultancy business that we have, which is also connected to the localization world, which is also connected to the localization world, and I realized that I could actually manage to have all these different projects going on at the same time.
Speaker 4:That if I was basically serious about getting involved in nonprofit and, at the same time, using my skills in for-profit and nonprofit non-profit and at the same time, you know, using my skills in for-profit and non-profit I could basically have all of this going on at the same time and have the flexibility to do it. You know, as a self-employed person and I started basically the journey 10 years ago to tailor my life exactly in a way that it would allow me to help other people and get involved in things that really mean a lot to me. You know women empowerment. You know communication and helping. You know people, business owners, whether they are from disadvantaged communities or not, to meet their goals and, at the same time, you know, between locations, which is all always something that interested me as a, as a nomad, perhaps not as intense as I used to do, which was traveling around the world all the time, but, um, you know, to have all of these kind of different locations where I could do, you know good.
Speaker 3:Even though you adopt a borderless mindset, you put great emphasis to localization in your work, so could you elaborate for us on that mindset and how it shapes your overall endeavor? What are you looking to change and how?
Speaker 4:So I mean I think that, because of this aim for helping people with their, with their complex problems, and and, and and communication communication is everything. First of all, I mean being able to convey what you want to say, convey what you want to do and rally people around you know your goals, is is is super important, and I've realized, like all my life, that people that communicated well were able to achieve things, and there are. So, I mean, there are so many people that either need to make their needs known in other languages and they need barriers if they cannot achieve that. So I mean it was super important, for example, just to elaborate in the recent examples of my work in Turkey, that, like the women that we were helping that were coming from Syria, that they would learn, you know, turkish since they were now living in Turkey, and that they would, you know, overcome that barrier and also lead by example to their own children. You know, if we're making a new life here, you know, being able to be understood and being able to thrive in the society that you're in, I mean you need to be able to speak the language and while you are not able to have the means to make yourself understood and that's why I became a translator in the first place when I was, you know, a university student.
Speaker 4:That's why I studied translation, because I wanted to help people like that, and that's why I mean, I think that it's so important, but not only that.
Speaker 4:I mean, even when you are fluent in a language, and if you are a business person, being able to communicate what you are selling, being able to communicate what you're producing, being able to communicate what you need in a community here in Dublin and you want to get involved in biodiversity, you want to basically make your neighbours aware you know how, you know your garden can contribute to pollination and that's why you know, if you're able to do that, everybody's trees will produce more. So all of these things I mean are extremely important, and sometimes it comes to this kind of basic ability to communicate and this has been, I think, one of the engines of my life and not only communicate, but help others communicate, help others do, but by all means communicate and make sure that, like, the message is amplified, because I think that you know, when you're thinking about starting a movement, you need a voice, and that's why finding that voice and then getting the help that you need to amplify the message is extremely important.
Speaker 2:Well, this is very, very good, because, you know, the core of DNS is communication. Because we are communication agencies, came together to making the change happen. For the communication, you have to have the idea, the product. Not only the product itself as a marketing tool, but the product as the idea. If we are talking about the sustainability, if we're talking about selling a sustainable lifestyle, we have to have the product. We have to have the product, our product, first. So, when we look at the atmosphere around all sustainability communications and social entrepreneurship, you put a lot of emphasis on the business side too, because, having worked with you for a long time, I've seen that, besides the social good you are producing, besides the impact you are making, you always say that, even if it's an NGO, even if it's a social entrepreneurship product, it has to be very solid business-wide, it has to be professional. So do you think that we are lacking?
Speaker 4:uh, when we talk about the change making sector, I think that, uh, you know, strategy is extremely important and, and like it, you know it, it defines me actually, because I mean, I, I introduce myself as a growth strategist all the time, I mean, but but I practice what I preach. So, in a lot of the projects where I'm involved, in a lot of the business owners that involve me and a lot of the organizations that seek my help, is because I bring that thought into what is it that we're trying to achieve here, and why? And I think that whenever you are starting anything, you need to ask yourself these questions, and there are some people that struggle with this because they are caught in the day-to-day life and the urgency and and the tactical things that need to happen. You need to call this person, you need to arrange this, you need to meet this deadline or you need to do this other thing, but you need to be able to take that step back, um, and you need to make space for that. So, whenever you know any project is starting, or whenever you're thinking, okay, I want to be able to help this community. Now, what is it that we're trying to achieve, why? And if we are choosing a mission that is going to take a lot of work and it's going to take, you know, involving others. You know, what is it that we want to achieve and where do we want to be five years from now? You need to be able to ask yourself this question before you start this journey or before you ideate a new project, and even in technology, I mean, like the business that I'm involved in localization. It's about language services, but it's also language technology.
Speaker 4:So whenever somebody comes to me with that disruptive idea, we need to see you know, what is this going to do in the world, what gap is it filling, what problem is it solving? And do you have any competitors out there that are trying to achieve the same thing? And how are you going to differentiate yourself from them? And why should people choose your product, what you're offering versus choosing another, and how are you going to? You know, keep up with all of these. But first of all, what are you trying to achieve and why? Um and this is the, this is the.
Speaker 4:I think that the first thing that one needs to ask before initiating any, any, any change and so and so, if you don't ask yourself this question and in the world, whenever we're trying to change something. We need to really take that step back, and a lot of people are reluctant to do that because they say no paralysis by analysis. You know, if we just sit here talking about this, we will never get anything done. But I always use the same kind of metaphor like before before you start cutting the trees, you need to make sure you're in the right forest. And, and sometimes, um, not asking that question drives people to spend a lot of energy in something that perhaps is not addressing the root cause of a problem. I mean, maybe the root cause of a problem would be something else.
Speaker 4:And, like that question, even when you have ideated something and you are agreed that that's the strategy you want to follow, every six months you should ask yourself the same question and see is it what we're doing, addressing that thing that we were setting ourselves out to do?
Speaker 4:Um, so, so you, you have to have that kind of um. You know self-reflection all the time, and sometimes you need the feedback of others. If you've developed a blind spot that wouldn't allow you to see that perhaps you've chosen a tangent that is not quite, you know, you need the feedback of others that are kind of saying well, you know how about? You know we think about this again. So you know, to answer your question, that kind of strategic mindset needs to be brought to the table by someone, and perhaps some people prefer to involve themselves in the doing and the execution, which you always need in order to drive change. You need the people that will actually get things done. You know, day by day, but without the right strategy, sometimes it's very hard to make change effective. So maybe you make change happen, but maybe that change is not as effective as you thought it would be. So that's why I think it's important to keep all of these in mind.
Speaker 3:Olga, you say you fund your Ikigai in tech innovation and women empowerment projects.
Speaker 4:What's the recipe here?
Speaker 3:I think, the recipe, I mean.
Speaker 4:Ikigai is a Japanese word that means you know what gets you up in the morning. You know what drives your life and inspires you to get up and do things. So, so I think, when I was thinking about all of these things, I was thinking, uh, obviously like what, what inspires me? What? What am I passionate about? Uh, so I'm passionate about, um, I'm passionate about women empowerment. I mean, I'm passionate about a society that brings that true gender equity and and everything that we can do, you know, to make that true, to make that true and and to make it happen. And I'm passionate about, you know, um, technology, because it, it can bring change. But I mean technology used in the in, in a way that actually helps us as humankind, and technology advances that can make our lives better. And I'm passionate about helping other people. I mean, it makes me feel good. So one thing very important is that I need to feel passionate about something in order to act on it. The other thing is you know what am I good at? I mean, and I am good at driving change. I am good at strategizing. I am good at, you know, helping people. You know with my analytical skills and you know helping people with you know how do we go about doing this, you know what is the plan, what kind of plan can we do? And I think I'm good at helping people reflect about what they want to do deep down, because sometimes, you know, some people think, people think, oh, I want to do this, and then, when you start talking to them and asking probing questions, they realize that, oh, maybe I'm not ready to do this. What do I need to do to get ready then? So, so, so, it was very important for me to clear those aspects of you. Know what, what am I passionate about or what am I good at.
Speaker 4:But, of course, the other important thing of the ikigai is what does the world need? And I think that, um, the world needs, uh, people that are ready, you know, to face complex challenges and does not give up on complex challenges. And I think that I am somebody that can be very tenacious and very persistent. Uh, if I decide that I want to do something and I commit, that commitment is not wavering, you know. I mean it's like I just go for it, and I think that the world needs people that can carve out time in order to do something, even if it's on a volunteer basis. I mean my work on the board of Women in Localization and my work on the board of, you know, cleartech, clearglobal is volunteer. So this is time and energy that I put into two organizations whose missions I absolutely believe in and I want to further for as long as possible. And you know I mean and then, when the time comes, I will make space for others to come in and help.
Speaker 4:And the last thing of the Ikigai is something that allows you, you know, to have a livelihood. You know, obviously, in my nonprofit endeavors I mean, like that's not the objective, I mean it doesn't bring the livelihood but in my Lion People Global, which is the venture that I have with my business partner Annette, in how we're helping businesses with their growth and exit strategies, I mean it does bring a livelihood. And my other consulting work as well, but it's something that I enjoy doing and that I know the people that come to us. They come to us because they trust us, because they believe that we can help them and that we care, you know, about their businesses and that we care about helping them meet their objectives. So, yeah, what you're passionate about, what you're good at, what the world needs and what can make you a livelihood, and that's how I landed on all these things.
Speaker 2:Our core in Goodguist is sustainability and, with your local experience from different parts of the world, can you paint us a picture of how business and social entrepreneurship can play a part in sustainable development?
Speaker 4:I think that sustainable development is a collective responsibility, because I mean sustainable development means that you are creating something, or you know creating and growing something in a way that it will endure. It will endure a change, it will not be wiped out, regardless of how the world evolves, something that is friendly to the environment and something that will not develop at any cost. I mean, I think that there is a lot of emphasis in the world in growth, growing, growing, growing and growing at any cost is not sustainable. Yeah, because you know, growing something that will be susceptible to, let's say, a financial crisis means that you know the business you know might disappear and, like, the people that you employ might be left without a job, disappear and the people that you employ might be left without a job. So I think that when something is developed in order to grow, you need to make sure that it will endure the passage of time and everything else, and I think that whenever we are thinking about a social enterprise, for example, it means that it needs to be able to provide that livelihood and that inspiration to the people it aims to help, and I think that you need a plan for that, and you need a plan that allows people to see that, that has a future and that inspires people to continuously act. You know, within that business, thinking about, you know, and if tomorrow we need to pivot and change in order to survive, what are we going to do?
Speaker 4:And I think that in social entrepreneurship, a lot of the time, there is a lot of thought about how you start something. I mean, and all the effort in starting something, but not so much in how do you keep it going. I mean, and to keep it going is the biggest challenge. And what, for example, sandrine and I tried to do when we wrote the book about the journey of a keep. You know where Myra Agency helped us was to actually show the effort and the thoughts that it took, you know, to create something that would transform those women's lives, not only because of the knowledge that they got, not only because of the community that we built, but also to teach them, like, if you want to start a business and keep it going, this is what it takes. And even when we are no longer there, I mean, and there are other people, you know, helping you, and there are other people involved. If you don't know something, but you see that it's needed. We have given you the tools so that you can ask these questions and say, well, I mean, if we want to do this, who's going to help us? Or where do we need to go, you know, in order to get this level of help.
Speaker 4:And when I asked for feedback, you know, on the book that we wrote I mean to people that work in in organizations that help uh, cooperatives like a keep they told us that all the lessons learned that we put in there and all the recommendations were spot on.
Speaker 4:They were spot on because, you know, a lot of the funding for sustainable development puts that emphasis on the getting something started, but not not how you sustain it and how you keep it going and all the considerations that you need to take into account, and that there should be more put into that.
Speaker 4:Because if you put a lot of effort into getting a lot of things started but not how you continue them means that a lot of those projects are going to struggle to continue and to actually put the effort as well into not only how you keep it going, but how do you keep it going in a way that does not hurt society or the environment or that it does not end up suffering from a lack of continuity based on the fact that it's hard work to keep it going and nobody wants to do that work is also something to consider and to think about.
Speaker 4:So I think that my call to action would be for everybody to really consider all those things. You know whenever you're starting something. You know and you know the power of starting something is in the hands of a lot of people. Nowadays it's not just a few. But with power comes responsibility. So that responsibility is important, and if you don't think that you have the knowledge or the tools to continue something that you've started, you need to consider in your strategy what are you going to do and how are you going to make sure that that sustainability is built into your plan?
Speaker 3:So, olga, final question from us. We always ask this. Our network is ironically called Do Not Smile, because we need to make sustainability a subject that brings happiness into the world. What object, place or person always makes you smile?
Speaker 4:If I have to choose a person, I would say my nephews. If I have to choose a place, Kalpanzanka and Gurga Zala.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's a beautiful place and I love it too. So we were with Olga Blasko and she gave us a lot of inspiring thoughts. Thank you very much, olga, for being with us today, and thanks everyone who has listened to our Good Guys podcast, brought to you by the Do Not Smile Network of Agencies.
Speaker 3:And make sure you listen to future episodes, where we'll be talking to more amazing people about how we can work together to create a more sustainable future. See you, demna.
Speaker 4:See you, bye-bye, bye, bye-bye, see you, bye-bye. Bye-bye.
