This time in our "In the spotlight" Tanya Bulavskaya; She's been working for Districon Solutions for more than 3 years. In this edition she would like to tell more about her experiences.

Who are you?

Hey, looks like today it’s my turn to stand in the Districon spotlight. But instead of reflecting on what brought me to Districon and what keeps me busy in my home office, I thought I’d start with what makes me stand out the most here. As you may have guessed by my last name, the Netherlands is not my home country. I am from Russia. My passport even says Soviet Union, which may clue you in on my age.

My experiences

With our offices expanding to Chicago and Singapore, my foreign origin may not seem so special. But 4 years ago, as I scrolled through the Team page on the website, I didn’t really know what to expect. Then, a few weeks before my starting date, my future boss calls and starts talking about ‘met je neus in de boter vallen’. Following a brief mental short-circuit and some more explanation, I realize that he is talking about a corporate weekend trip to Gent that will take place right in my first week. Luckily, my Dutch partner is also invited, so I don’t need to worry about enlisting one of my new colleagues as a proverb-explainer. But as the weekend in Gent progresses, I get to see a lot of similarities between my new colleagues and me: the desire to win at all costs in a silly scavenger hunt, a love for Belgian beers on a Saturday afternoon, and munching on Belgian fries on a Saturday night.

I guess what I am trying to say, is that I did feel the warm welcome I was hoping for (the program in Gent also involved walking on hot coals, but that’s not what I am talking about). And there was still a lot to learn about the Dutch culture from my colleagues over the years to come. That cheese is too good to be cut by a simple knife, so that a special device that goes by the name kaasschaaf had to be designed. That history of Eredivisie should be made part of the inburgering exam. And, of course, the countless proverbs.

But I should not forget about something that unites the whole team at Districon. It’s our love for supply chain and for mastering flow. We may disagree about what’s best for lunch, but as long as sneakerheads get their newest Nikes ahead of everyone else, Appie delivery man is at your doorstep right when you were expecting him, and Action remains in action - that’s when I’m in the flow! So even if Maarssen is far from home, I do feel that I am at the right place here.

Who will be our next 'In the spotlight' colleague?

I would like to nominate Jeroen Kiks to be the next one in the spotlight. Jeroen is one of our 4 Managing Directors, one of his core responsibilities is to make sure that we always have the right people to fulfill interim positions at our clients. Jeroen, looking forward to your story!