Introducing our future Financial Director – Anna Gots

You may all remember one of our candidates for the best-dressed award from EBM-Izmir. The other day, I had a great opportunity to do a face-to-face interview with the same girl who is now one of the candidates to Comite Directeur of AEGEE for upcoming term – Anna Gots. She is one of the lucky ones without any competition for the position of the Financial Director. But nevertheless, she seemed as nervous and excited as anyone else would be. Here is how she replied to some of my questions.

The AEGEEan: What is your experience in AEGEE?

Anna Gots: I have been in AEGEE over three years and have gone through the whole so-called “career ladder”. I started from being a helper at local events, parties and Summer University. The milestone was of course Agora Kyiv in 2009. Feeling responsible for 600 people was a breakthrough for me and I contributed with organising welcome packages and being responsible for any and all printing material. I joined the board as Human Resources Responsible the same year and had a very successful term full of events and great activities. I was re-elected as HR-responsible the next year as well, but university life, especially my master’s diploma got in the way. I drew away from AEGEE for a while only to remember in summer just how much I missed it. It was at the Agora Skopje that I started thinking about the European level. Many thanks to my friends Alla Resheten and Olga Iatsyna who pushed me further and cheered me on. After joining the audit commission this term I started thinking about moving even further. And that’s how I got to where I am now.

As far as I understand you have a diploma which is not closely connected with finance. How do you plan to do all the needed book-keeping?

My university background taught me not just engineering, but also how to study. The technical background that I have allows me to learn new things quite easily, with enough motivation of course. And I’m definitely not afraid to learn anything new. The Audit Commission has helped me a lot in understanding accounting and finance. Recent meeting in Brussels, where we gathered to check the work of the current financial director, made me understand the nuances of my possible future position. I am actively preparing for it. Apart from acquiring and familiarizing myself with the software used by the current financial director I am reading and learning every day. Besides, I’m currently working in a bank. So my engineering background is getting modified all the time.

You seem like you have everything under control. But what about your downsides? Are there any?

Of course I’m not perfect. I can be a bit egocentric and even stubborn sometimes. As for life in the Brussels house, I might as well admit it now that I’m not a great cook simply because I never had to learn. My mom has always been there feeding me with all her yummy dishes. One of the things I’m definitely looking forward to in Brussels is cooking.

Do you have any motto you try to follow?

There are several phrases said by intelligent people who I agree with. I prefer to regret doing something than regret not doing something. I believe that all things happen for a reason and we meet everyone in our life for a reason as well. We are responsible for our life. And how we see ourselves is how the world will see us.

You have done a good job of seeming like a serious future Financial Director. But I know there is more to what meets the eye. What are your talents? What makes you who you are? You are after all an AEGEEan. I’ve heard you have some great musical talents.

I guess it all started with an inspiration from my grandmother who used to be an actress. After joining the music theater at school my life changed. We performed at many festivals and holidays and my first job was actually organising birthday parties for kids. I got the chance to try a bunch of roles: from a princess to a pirate, from Snow White to anything I could imagine. This was my part-time job during my student life and was like a breath of fresh air after all the math I had to learn day by day for my classes. Singing is still my second passion. After performing at all types of concerts from school to the university you just can’t lock away that part of you. I still sing from time to time at closed parties and find music the best way to express my feelings.

As you can see, the financial future of AEGEE-Europe will be in great hands. Anna Gots is ready to take on her position by storm and however hard she may try to hide it, we all know – Brussels house will be transformed by her presence there. All I can add is that you all should have seen the spark in her eye when she was talking about her past, present and future life in AEGEE. Her excitement was seen with a naked eye and I just wish that all of you could have been there to see it.

Written by Olga Volovyk, AEGEE-Kyiv