Many have written about happiness, many have searched for it, and many have never found it. Fools. All they need to do is follow Lana Šiljeg on one of her profiles on social networks.
Lana Šiljeg is a prominent Croatian entrepreneur, English language and literature teacher, art historian, editor of the portal and podcast Nova Perspektiva, vice president of the Voice of Entrepreneurs Association and founder and director of the West End School. Her life motto is “Empower yourself!”, in the sense that, as she says, “it encourages each of us to develop our talents, capacities and skills, which are unique and which make us better people and create a better world.”
She ventured into entrepreneurship in her late 20s. She liked, she said, the idea of independent income and cooperation with the people she wanted to work with. It’s true that she didn’t know anything about branding, marketing, finance and taxes, but that didn’t interest her either. She knew what she wanted.
Rene, Tarik and Ines
While still a student working as an English teacher, she recalls, the director of a company approached her and told her that he liked her approach to work. And how good it would be if he founded his own company. And she did it the very next morning. Simply.
She made a big opening party “with the help of friends and celebrities”. The response was great, Rene and Tarik came, they recited “Don’t give up, Ines”, and everyone had fun, while she had a huge pressure in her head because she didn’t know if she would succeed.
Stupidity. Of course her suspicions were unfounded. She has been used to jumping over even the biggest obstacles since she was little.
For example, she became an English teacher even though she did not study English in elementary school. Her parents sent her to private schools, and then to London, Oxford and Vienna. That experience broadened her horizons, so even today she advises parents to send their children to study foreign languages abroad. Well, it won’t happen in Croatia.
“Our education system prepares children for a world that no longer exists. We teach them facts that are just a click away, instead of teaching them critical thinking and how to navigate a world that changes faster than textbooks are printed”, is just one of her words of wisdom from Facebook.
Zara, Paris, 2000.
Here’s another one: “Sickness of 42 days at the expense of the employer is unsustainable. It is a relic of the past that stifles small companies and encourages abuse of the system.”
Or this one, the freshest: “Is there more happiness than rushing with my daughters to a wonder called Sephora while there is unfortunately a bomb threat at school?”
Well, we have reached happiness. And really, “is there more happiness than rushing with my daughters to a wonder called Sephora while there is unfortunately a bomb threat at school?”
Because, “the second closest to us is in Milan/London/Barcelona so I’m off the hook.”
And that’s not all, because Lana Šiljeg is an unusually happy woman, happiness appears to her cyclically: “This happiness reminds me of the first time I walked into Zara in Paris in 2000.”
Prose in 2000 euro jeans. It is worth repeating and publishing in full:
“Is there more happiness than rushing with my daughters to a wonder called Sephora while there is unfortunately a bomb threat at school? The second closest to us is in Milan/London/Barcelona so I’m off the hook. This happiness reminds me of the first time I entered Zara in Paris in 2000. Girls, the queue today is minimal, tolerable.”
Evolution for a more beautiful complexion
Lana Šiljeg, vice president of everything, owner of everything, and now director of Civil Protection. When the alarm rings at school, when you break out in a cold sweat because a lie told over and over can become the truth, don’t go into hiding and don’t let anything surprise you. Ignore all known protocols and take refuge in – Sephora.
At a time when half the country is shaking with fear, Lasna Šiljeg seized the opportunity for “motherly bonding”. Because, really, is there any better luck than rushing to the perfumery with your daughters while police dogs are patrolling the school corridors instead of students.
Lana Šiljeg, entrepreneur and visionary. She sees a shopping opportunity in the bomb – the more of them, the better. While other parents are frantically calling their classmates, she calculates how far Milan is and how close London is. Happy that she is finally “off the hook”. Freed from the hooks of reality, hooked on lip gloss.
Some people remember Paris for the shadows of the Louvre or the smell of linden trees along the Seine, and Lana Šiljeg remembers it for the discount polyester. The other day, when a bomb was reported at school, will be remembered for the trauma and fear, and her daughters for the new highlighter.
Happiness is a relative term. In which, it must be admitted, it is truly difficult to compare anything with entering the Parisian Zara in the year 2000.
It’s nice to know we’ve evolved. Once people ran from bombs to save their lives, today they run to Sephora to save their skin. Because what’s one little threat of an explosion compared to the tragedy of dry lips and the fact that Barcelona is so damn far away.
