MY STORY
Hi, I'm Bibi and here is my story.
Violinist, entrepreneur, online course creator and presenter, author and speaker.
Though at first glance they don’t seem to have much in common, my professions are a reflection of my purpose and core beliefs: sharing knowledge, experiences and passions.
As a child I was always fascinated by people’s achievements and accomplishments, whether in music or in other disciplines. I closely looked to sport, to find out how Olympians prepared for the Olympics, how painters painted masterpieces, or how scientists and explorers made new discoveries. I asked myself: what drives them? How do they achieve mastery? If they can do it, so can I! They are my inspiration. Little did I I know then, that the term used to explain learning from other disciplines is called interdisciplinary education, and that it would lead me to take a different path than the one I chose as a violinist.
My fascination for everything interdisciplinary, and belief that the discoveries and experiences I have made can help others led me to create ConductVision, a visionary program designed as a global learning platform for interdisciplinary education.
ConductVision is what occupies me most today.
Here are key events and experiences that forged my life's journey so far and what shaped me...
My Early Years
I remember having a very happy childhood. Born in former Yugoslavia, I was 5 months old when I boarded the plane for the first time with my parents and left for Sydney, Australia. This was probably the start of my passion for traveling!
I was 6 when we relocated back to Europe, to the centre of classical music: Vienna, Austria. Our 5 year stay in Vienna had a profound influence on me. Together with my sister we attended the Vienna International School, where our classrooms included children from all continents and cultures which, now in hindsight, made us citizens of the world. It is also the place where my violin journey started. Becoming a great violinist soon became my obsession. I gave my first concert after only 2 months of taking up the violin and very soon was giving numerous concerts throughout the year. I was regarded as a very talented violinist and many thought that a great concert career was ahead of me.
Following this vision, I enrolled at the Prague Academy of Arts, one of the leading music academies in the world. I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to study with Prof. Vaclav Snitil, one of the world’s leading violin pedagogues who passed on to me the secrets of violin playing. After graduating with distinction - in record time - three years later, I took up a post-graduate study in Berlin with Prof. Manfred Scherzer, a great violinist and teacher. At the same time, I launched a successful career as a performing and recording artist, recording my first album as a student. The road ahead seemed pretty straightforward.
A New Path
One concert however changed my life. Asked by a concert organizer to talk about the music I will play, my short speech was a game-changer. It was quite successful, so an idea came up to organize music workshops. These workshops inevitably led to the creation of Music and Leadership. Following my passion for interdisciplinary learning and taking the examples of the music conductor as a leader and the orchestra as the perfect organizational structure, I developed Music & Leadership as an innovative and visionary program, sharing music's accumulated knowledge and experiences to business.
Realizing the need to move away from traditional trainings and corporate education, I transformed Music & Leadership into ConductVision as a global platform for interdisciplinary learning that beside music includes other disciplines.
As a person opened to take on challenges I then embarked on a proper corporate career. I started working as a strategic consultant. I also held the position of Head of Customer Service at a global e-learning organisation, responsible for restructuring the department and optimising work processes and procedures. These experiences helped me to further develop ConductVision, understanding the intricacies of the business world which I, as a musician, did not know.
During my tenure in the e-learning world, I took up the challenge of writing and presenting online courses, becoming quite good at it. In 2018 I was the Senior Content Editor for The Times Academy, creating and writing various political, business and music courses for their subscribers.
In the meantime my first book Music & Leadership was published and I founded Conductvision's online school Conductvision Academy.
My passion for everything interdisciplinary led me to create projects such as ConductVision Talks, inviting exceptional people from different industries to talk about their passions and drives.
My music career still continues. In 2012 I founded my 2nd company startup, Let’s Play Concertos, one of the first in music education to recognise the need for including technology into music education. LPC includes an app which music beginners can play along with.
I received a number of awards during my career. The most significant are perhaps the European Union prize of Gustav Mahler for artistic achievements, and an Honorary degree of Fine Arts.
The journey continues.
