Interview

1.      Can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

I feel that a large part of my soul, my life belongs to Crikvenica and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. I was born in Trsat in Rijeka, and after the death of my father at the age of 5, together with my mother, we came to Crikvenica, to our modest home, Pavla Radi?a 46. In Crikvenica, I attended the last year of kindergarten, and at the age of 6 and a half went to elementary school Zvonka Cara. After that, I enrolled in the Catering and Tourism School, majoring in chef, but I took the professional exam a year after graduating as a waiter. Who am I? I am a boy from the "Polish toilet" because unfortunately, my late mother's relatives for many years did not allow us to be a part of our lives with dignity. That doesn’t mean they are bad people and didn’t know me depending on the moment and the mood and honor. These were some of the views to be called today "mobbing" which left deep traumas in my life. Like all readers, I am an ordinary man who was brought to Slovenia today by faith and the blessing of life through tears and joy. I have lived there with my family for 23 years and I travel every day, where work takes me. I would dare say because of the humble life in childhood and youth and character, I was always looking for something new and had a different view of things. Enjoying his way at all times, looking optimistic, and always trying to find a positive view. I worked as a 10-year-old elevator boy at the Miramare Hotel just opening its doors after a long series of renovations. After the Miramare Hotel, at the Zagreb Hotel, I continued at the Esplanade Hotel, as a lift boy carrier, and ended up as a chef, which is why I went to school. The first celebrity I had the opportunity to meet and carry her suitcases to her room was my namesake, the famous singer Daniel, who represented Yugoslavia at Eurovision. Hotel Esplanade was a key center of summer events. Although the chef and his deputy were wonderful professional people, they taught me a lot of good things, and in the process of scientists to chefs, I experienced, unfortunately, also mobbing, not directly from them but from some other group of people I worked with. Unfortunately, you know for yourself what it is like to have no background if you are not the child of a politician, a doctor, or a person with a position and if you are also of poor status. The views of the community towards you are not lenient, but there is a certain pity or humiliation, of course, it is always a minority of people, but that is also changing. My wish was to work as a waiter and that wish came true in the Terapija hotel, I spent one of the most beautiful moments communicating with people. From the boy who took off the numbers at the Sunday raffle at the International Hotel, the participant of the famous Crikvenica masquerades but also the host 37. Fishermen's week in Crikvenica. I also worked as a photographer, glasswasher, waiter in a disco and entertainer, steward on a hydro speedboat, saleswoman of women's bags and clothes, and organized the first pajama beach party and Miss pageant which I also enjoyed. I am the founder of the first and only fashion agency in Crikvenica. All these jobs gave me new knowledge, but above all, I met different people and analyzed their characters, and learned through them. Far from everyone, I cried and prayed. My mother was first a cleaner and then a delivery woman, surrounded by good co-workers, mostly women who understood and supported her. There were also a lot of good people who fed me, dressed me, gave me books. When you don't have a complete family because I unfortunately only grew up with my mother, my character sought the warmth of a family home. So I was a guest with many neighbors, school friends at social gatherings, but also some meals. Because my mother worked for many years as an afternoon cleaner. I managed to enroll at the Faculty of Management in Tourism and Hospitality in Opatija, but unfortunately, I did not have the financial means to complete it. The road and the need took me to Zagreb, where I got a job at the then Intercontinental Hotel in Zagreb, where I experienced that unfortunate war and was fired, but fate wanted me to stay in Zagreb. As the manager of the Cafe bar "Four Roses" in Juri?i?eva Street, and with that job, my career related to event management. It all started when I met Tomislav Marinov from Zadar, a beer seller I met in Crikvenica, who introduced me in Zagreb to high school student ?or?e ?er?a, whose mother had a business in Zadar. At my initiative, we started organizing the concert Croatian Children of the Croatian Future, 15.1. In 1992, when Croatia was internationally recognized. Before organizing the concert, we organized the opening of the first shopping center of the Gradec arcade. Under the auspices of the late Marinko Bo?i? and members of the editorial board of the then tabloid Slobodni tjednik, 400 thousand euros were collected in one night for children who had already lost both parents in the war. My career continues and after that concert, nothing is the same anymore.

2. In addition to founding and leading the international consulting group 'Apriori World', you are also the founder of extremely successful international conferences such as PRO PR and FOCUS Conference on innovation and communication. However, as far as I can see, your career began with the organization of music festivals, sports tournaments, and the 'Supermodel Croatia' pageant. How did you come up with the idea to build your career in such a competitive and challenging sector as PR? What are the biggest challenges you have faced during your career?

After the concert we organized in the concert hall Vatroslav Lisinski, I received the first offer for cooperation and for 4 years I was the executive producer of the Eurovision winner, Rajko Dujmi? and Nina Badri? on the first choice of Croatian song for the song of Europe. Namely, Nina Badri?'s song for this performance was written by Jasenko Houra and Rajko Dujmi?. I met Nina again in 2003 when I signed the album "Love" as an executive producer and we renewed our collaboration, and my collaborators, together with me, positioned this singer regionally for 10 months and strengthened her musical status. The album "Love" won five Porin discography awards. For Rajko Dujmi?, I also organized the first music tour of a musician in theaters, including the Croatian National Theater Ivan pl. Zajc in Rijeka. After that, the late Ivo Pukani? noticed me as a photographer and later, as the editor of the TV best, a supplement to the weekly Globus, he appointed me to the position of executive director of Supermodel Croatia. I collaborated on the launch of the weekly Gloria, but also Nacional. Mr. Ivan Rado?evi?, (former majority owner of Autotrans), saw me in action as the director of the 4th Indoor Croatian Tennis Championship and hired me and sent me to study for a licensed director of the WTA (Woman Tennis Association) and after practical training in Leipzig, I became director of the WTA Croatian Lady's Open, a $ 175,000 tournament. After that, I became the director of the Croatian Golf Tournament, and at the invitation of the artistic director of the Festival of Pop Music in Split, Jo?ko Banova, I took over the executive role of director of Split 97 '. At the beginning of my life career, I learned from mistakes in movement. I started my career in the field of event management, but I opened an Advertising Agency. When I read a book on Public Relations in 1996, I realized that I was already doing it in my own way and that I wanted to deal with it. I started my career in this field at the first Public Relations Agency in Replica Hrvatska Spem Croatia. Later as its director, I visited more than 300 companies in the first year to tell them the story of what PR is. and eventually became the director of the licensed program of the London School of Public Relations in the Republic of Croatia. After public relations, I get acquainted with brand management, and today, as you said, I manage various consulting processes in the field of reputation management, crisis communications and business development. I am a consultant at Harvard University Medical School for Europe, an advisor to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, but I also worked with Philipp Morris International and the Pfanner and Hipp families, worked on the privatization of ?uro ?akovi? assembly, but the construction of a calcite filler factory in Gospi?. There were other interesting projects such as the launch of Fashion TV and collaboration with Michel Adams, branding the state of Qatar, and many other global brands such as Shiseido,, P&G, Levi's. Through my work, I had the honor of collaborating on more than 300 different projects, and the business situation due to the lack of perception about Croatia and the knowledge I carry in my room forced me to write the book "PR with a soul". I recently launched the project of the first thematic camp in Southeast Europe, the Youth Business Camp with business content, aimed at a target group of 15 to 19-year-olds. Being a consultant is a very responsible job, you have to have developed views and every word you have must have added value for your client. The idea for the PRO PR conference was born in Montenegro when I was working on a project in one of the crisis situations. Today, the conference is closely specialized in public relations topics, bringing together world experts from the region, but from all continents and that is my business love. As part of the conference, the world's prestigious Pro Pr Globe Awards are presented, and the motto of the conference is Networking in motion, in line with my life. I love to support business connections and I love doing it because life is the energy of how you give and receive, but without my wife’s support, nothing would be possible, but also without sincere friends and individuals who recognize your positive efforts. 

3.Your work has taken you around the world and you have certainly had the opportunity to work on extremely interesting and challenging projects and meet many interesting people - which moments in your career would you highlight as the most impressive and significant?

This is certainly the role of the person for protocol and media during the visit of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, to Croatia in 2002. Also, I would mention the collaboration with Ivan Trump at the Miss Universe pageant in Opatija. I had the opportunity to be invited and have lunch with three Lords in the London Parliament, including Lord Michael Dobbs who is also the author of the book House of Cards according to which the world-famous TV series was filmed. There are many more business people and celebrities like Selma Hayek whom I had the opportunity to meet at the 1998 Hilton Beverly Hill Hotel, in Los Angeles, during the Golden Eagle Award ceremony. All these people I have had the opportunity to meet, like many others, are no different from you or me. I believe that every man has a mission and every man should be treated with dignity. None of us chose a place of birth. We all need to learn to change and reduce xenophobia. One should know how to understand and accept differences. Also, we should help everyone if possible with a nice word, smile, good wishes, and thoughts and be constantly optimistic, awaken the good that exists in us no matter how much people hurt us.

4.In 2020, your company ‘Apriori World’ won the ‘Global Contribution Award’ which is awarded as part of the IPRA Golden World Awards. You won the award with the project 'Soaps with dots', which was realized thanks to your cooperation with the Association of the Blind Zagreb and the Cooperative Martinov pla?t. How did your collaboration start and what is the project 'Soaps with dots'?

The project: "Soaps with dots", is just a continuation of my management mission. I have been volunteering for 25 years and employing within the office of the Apriori world agency, students who specifically work under my mentorship on fundraising processes or the implementation of a communication strategy. In the past 23 years, we have collected 1.172 million euros through various projects. Soaps with dots is a project we have been collaborating on for 6 years. It is a project of social entrepreneurship for blind and partially sighted people who produce solid and liquid soaps. The project of the Center for Digital Literacy, the Center for the Visually Impaired, is nearing completion. I am very proud that Apriori World, together with my team, received an award from IPRA, the World Public Relations Association, and the United Nations, in line with the global goals of sustainable development, specifically for goal number 10 - reducing inequality. This is also the first time that such an award has been given to anyone in the world.

5. With your knowledge and ideas, you have made a great contribution to our city. Thanks to you, Crikvenica hosted the 17th international PRO PR conference in 2019, and in the same year, you designed an extremely interesting and unique event - New Year's Eve for dogs. How did this idea come about?

First of all, I would like to thank the City Administration for recognizing my knowledge and creativity. I am sorry that my idea to build a Fishermen’s Museum has not yet been realized. My late nono was a fisherman, and Crikvenica as a destination was related to fishing, apart from health tourism which in my opinion needs a stronger identity, with the idea of celebrating the New Year for dogs, Crikvenica got a unique identity. Crikvenica, as well as the entire Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, has a lot of creative and smart people full of knowledge who are in the minority and sometimes do not come to the fore. New generations are coming and if we want to progress, we need to forget about political affiliation and open ourselves to new things and understanding, otherwise, we will remain at the level of kindergarten where "constant tingling" is a priority instead of prosperity. That is why people are leaving and we will have to face a major labor shortage crisis. We must be ready for people from all continents to come in the new age, only in that way will we be able to survive. In the end, don’t forget when you talk to someone wherever you are looking him in the face that person can be you. So be careful how you communicate, what energy you spread. Imagine how you would like someone to treat you, so try to do it for them. Success depends on forgiveness, the details of life are very important, and there is no need to be petty. Many people out of ignorance, fear of asking, or learning are willing to create a crisis situation, bring unrest where it is not needed, and redirect not only the course of events but to block things. The biggest challenge is to understand and praise the difference, stay your own, but above all stay people with a soul. All of this is transient, think carefully about what you came to this planet with and what you are leaving with. It is always better and more right to love people and give them a hand of goodness, but for that, you must have a blessing if you do not have it waiting for you. It's just up to you. I wish you all the best, wherever you are.