Canada

President’s Club @ MiQ: Kristina Kodjabacheva

“The more prepared and knowledgeable we are, the better equipped we'll be to take advantage of any opportunity” - Kristina Kodjabacheva, Sales Director

President’s Club is the pioneer employee recognition program for sales superstars in the MiQ Canadian market. We are excited to recognize and celebrate those who have gone above and beyond to achieve great results.

 

Your background cuts across several aspects of media and sales. Why did you choose to focus on a career in sales and why at MiQ?

I’ve had opportunities to work on the client side, as well as the agency side. But as I progressed in my career, I realized I wanted to work on more than one brand and diversify my skill set. I wanted to work on various media channels and learn how to plan and buy holistically. After working on the agency side for about five or six years, I got an opportunity on the sales side. And I thought, well, I’ve worked with agencies for quite a few years now, so why not give sales a try?

It was a personal challenge for me. I felt quite intimidated because I don’t consider myself a traditional salesperson, but I tried it out with CBC for a year and a half before joining MiQ and it was great. MiQ felt like an opportunity of a lifetime because it is such a great company. There were so many reasons I wanted to work here, starting with the people and culture – simply incredible! MiQ is also technologically advanced and a leader in the industry, so it’s an exciting place to be.

You are being recognized for your amazing sales achievements last year, what key moments were defining points of success for you?

It has been a bit of a wild year for us in Western Canada. We’ve been growing 75% year-on-year. And honestly, it’s a combination of the hard work put in by my predecessors and our ability to build on it, with the help of our incredible trading and account management team.

In terms of key moments, the first would have to be when we realized that we were about to hit our target for the year, and we weren’t even halfway through the year!

The second milestone of that calibre was when we realized that we made up more than 10% of the revenue in Canada! That was huge for us.

Success is the aftermath of several challenges. What would you say your greatest sales challenge and achievement has been here at MiQ?

I struggle with this question only because I have had a lot of milestones, achievements and challenges over the last couple of years. But at the risk of sounding cliché, I would say my biggest achievement is that I get to work at MiQ.

I am proud to work with the smart and amazing people here at MiQ – it compels me to continuously strive for personal growth and improvement. The sense of belonging is also very strong. If there is any constant with MiQ, it is that the people are truly incredible. Being able to keep up with this team of passionate and determined people has been both a challenge and an achievement for me. It has been both intimidating and inspiring.

We also have a very team-oriented environment where we lift each other, and it’s great to see our team live out MiQ’s values of unity, passion, determination, agility and courage. It’s beautiful to experience.

What is your philosophy towards achieving your goals?

That’s a good question. I would say I believe that hard work is always rewarded – even if not immediately, it will eventually pay off. If I pour my blood, sweat and tears into a proposal that doesn’t land us the client, I know that I put my best foot forward and down the road, we’ll hopefully get another opportunity to try again. And if we don’t, then the process was a great learning experience. Hard work is never a waste.

One of my favourite quotes is by Louis Pasteur and it says, “Chance favours the prepared mind.” It means that ​the more prepared and knowledgeable we are, the better equipped we’ll be to take advantage of any opportunity.

Finally, tell us how you spend your time when you’re not busy breaking sales records.

My work-life balance is something I am actively working on because it’s not quite perfect yet. There’s work, family and friends, health, and then personal. So, I just try to allocate my resources between all the different life buckets. Sometimes, one of the buckets will need more filling than the others, and I try to create that balance as much as possible.

But in general, I spend a lot of time with my cat. I also love working out, listening to informational podcasts, and reading books. But my guilty pleasure is mindless time scrolling through Instagram and TikTok watching funny videos of cats and dogs… because who doesn’t love that?

 

We are always looking for great talent to join our team. To find out more about MiQ:

– Check out our open positions

– Learn more about life at MiQ

– Discover our ever-evolving culture and passion for inclusion and diversity