Cultural connections: Leading across borders

An opportunity to study in the UK led FemTech founder and international entrepreneur, Valentina Milanova, to rapidly pick up English. It also led her to create Daye — one of the UK’s fastest-growing FemTech companies providing period products and gynecological health services designed to help people understand and take ownership of their bodies.?

Heading up a global team, Valentina uses her international perspective to create a proactive approach to helping Daye team members around the world work effectively together. Valentina’s global experience includes working in Austria, Bulgaria, India and the USA, where she communicates in Bulgarian, English and German.?

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A rapid learning curve?

Twilight, a scholarship, and a local shopping center — that’s how I really learned English.??

Before I was offered a scholarship by the University of Buckingham, my English learning experience had mainly consisted of subtitled movies and reading the Twilight books.??

Born in Bulgaria, I lived in Austria briefly before accepting the place and coming to the UK — I was 18 before I really studied English properly.??

Working in retail stores was a rapid learning curve. I had to adapt my accent and pronunciation quickly.?

Today, my English isn’t always 100% perfect, but I spend so much time speaking English that I no longer really feel fluent in Bulgarian either.??

That linguistic “no man’s land” is a common challenge for immigrants.??

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More than words: things that are unsaid??

With language, it’s not just the words you use, it’s how you phrase things — it’s the things you leave unsaid that can be so different between cultures.??

I manage teams that are in the US, UK, Bulgaria, and India, and each has different default communication styles.?

The Bulgarian and U.S. teams, for example, tend to be more direct, whereas the team in the UK soften emails, asking how you are and whether you had a good weekend.??

Even the tone of voice can be so different. When I’m speaking Bulgarian on the phone, people assume I’m shouting or having a fight with someone, when we’re just catching up.??

Initially, you find yourself holding back — walking on eggshells wanting to say the right thing in the right way, but after a while, you start to get those subtleties and cultural references behind the words themselves.??

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Self-censoring?

Who you’re speaking to makes a big difference.???

I often notice that ESL (English as a Second Language) speakers in my team speak less or caveat their contributions with “I might be wrong” when in a meeting with people who grew up speaking English.??

Acknowledging our differences and making sure everyone has the chance to contribute in meetings makes a big difference.??

I ask people to speak up — tell them it doesn’t matter that you have an accent or that you might not remember the right word straight away.??

The best way to improve your fluency is to speak more, so don’t censor yourself. Getting the benefits of an international, diverse team means creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable speaking up.??

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Providing the systems and tools for cross-cultural collaboration?

You have to work really hard and create systems that enable people from different cultures to work together well, providing them with tools they can fall back on to navigate a multicultural context.??

At Daye, we have guides on how to communicate with each country. We use them when onboarding people to help raise awareness of the differences they might encounter, speed up the learning curve, and minimize misunderstandings.

On top of that, each person has a “how to work with me” guide, with details on how they like to communicate, their working style, and receiving feedback.?

We then help people match up the theory and the reality, traveling regularly between the offices so they’re meeting and making friends with people who are different from them.??

Talent without boundaries?

The biggest benefit of a global team is having access to the best talent in the world, regardless of where they’re based.??

We're very geography-agnostic in terms of where we find talent. We're super happy to hire people in any location as long as they're right for us.?

For Daye, that means we get so many different perspectives, approaches, and mindsets in the business as a result.??

A big believer in lifelong learning, Valentina completed an additional degree in Medical Device Law at Harvard Law School and is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health degree at Imperial College London.??

She splits her time between New York and her hometown in Bulgaria, regularly visiting her team around the world as Daye continues to grow.??

That experience of moving abroad, making a life, and building a team builds many of the foundational skills leaders need to thrive in today’s fast-paced international world. From better understanding customers to being more conscious leaders, read more about how international experience has transformed global leaders in Global perspectives: International experience as the ultimate preparation for today’s leaders.?

This interview is part of Pearson Languages’ series, Global Voices: Leaders on Language and Business, an exclusive exploration into the pivotal role of language in achieving international business excellence. In this thought-provoking series, we examine how leaders foster diverse teams, navigate global markets, and ultimately propel organizational success to new heights by leveraging language skills. Explore the rest of the series on Pearson Languages’ LinkedIn.?

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