Dynamic duos: Sophia Warren and Lena Lepojevic
DoubleVerify's client strategy director ANZ Sophia Warren and account management director APAC, Lena Lepojevic, discuss meeting at the start of DoubleVerify's journey and cementing their friendship on a work trip to Miami.
In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella will each month ask two members of the same organisation that share a professional and personal affiliation, to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly work-from-home world.
L to R: Lena Lepojevic and Sophia Warren
Sophia Warren: Ours is a friendship that began at work.
Lena was one of the first DoubleVerify employees in Australia, and so she quickly became my go-to person while I was on-boarding and navigating my first few weeks with the company.
From the beginning, I admired her. She clearly had the smarts and was incredibly generous with her time. At work, she is very structured, strategic and highly professional, but we also had time to establish the beginnings of a friendship which we cemented at a work conference in Miami (clearly a while ago when business travel was still a thing!). Up until that point we hadn’t spent much time together outside of work, but during that trip we spent a lot of time together, mostly with very little sleep! We soon discovered our shared love of pizza and frankfurters – though not at the same time. From then on, we really bonded personally and I got to see how much fun she was outside of our day-to-day environment.
Although Lena and I work across different parts of the business, we quickly began collaborating and sharing both of our experiences from various parts of the industry to drive more meaningful outcomes for our clients. Lena has a wealth of experience working across multiple agencies and markets and always takes the time to share her knowledge and different perspective, which is refreshing and definitely helps me change my way of thinking, especially considering the fact that I’ve spent most of my career working in tech.
She’s also taught me a few things about time management and leadership. Lena works in an APAC role across multiple time zones and teams across the region. She always leads her team with a fun, vibrant outlook and there’s honestly never a dull moment – whether it’s on Zoom calls or in the office, which is hopefully returning soon.
I miss being in the office with Lena. Globally, DoubleVerify is a big company. However, the Australian office is smaller and has more of a start-up feel, so it’s extremely valuable to have someone who I can lean on for support and take the occasional breaks or an afternoon chocolate fix with.
Like most friendships ours is built on a solid foundation made up of our love for dogs, memes and cocktails, and we often spend time catching up out of the office for dinner. Lockdown was tough in that respect, as we live in different LGA’s and weren’t able to catch up in real life until recently. It’s fabulous to finally be able to have dinner again; and almost as fabulous to be reunited with her dog Oscar for whom I’m the official puppy sitter.
Lena Lepojevic: We met at work almost three years ago when Sophia joined our small (but fast growing) team. I was straight away drawn to Soph and her charismatic, radiant and charming demeanour. She made an immediate impact and brought a fun and vibrant energy to our office, along with some very impressive work playlists. She’s our nominated office DJ to this day.
Soph has a real ease about her and we began to work seamlessly together straight away. She’s passionate, strategic and collaborative and would always make time to sit down and strategise and work closely with me to find the best approach for our clients.
We’re alike in that we both like to work hard and get the job done, but I’ve learned a lot from Soph about finding and bringing the positive in situations and embracing the moment. As the more serious of the two, she’s shown me that going with the flow and being spontaneous can deliver some great results and opportunities.
We began the transition from work colleagues to personal friends during a work trip overseas and have been growing closer ever since. Soph is now the designated puppy sitter for my dog Oscar and he’s just as big a fan of her as I am! I think our friendship comes down to the way in which we are able to be honest with each other as well as always being there to support each other when needed. Joining a business together when it was first launching in the Australian market came with its own unique challenges and I’m honestly proud of the way that we were able to navigate it and achieve some wonderful results together.
Living in completely opposite sides of Sydney to each other has meant going many months without being able to see one another during lockdown. While this has been tough, we made plans to see each as soon as we were able to! I’m really looking forward to being back in the office together soon.
Sophia on Lena
Most memorable moment with Lena: It would have to be that Miami conference where we travelled together for the first time, got lost in multiple time zones and agreed that it was never too early for pizza.
Best word to describe Lena: Invigorating
Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour Lena has: Lena literally never misses a beat, she’s always super organised and brings structure to any projects which is great for the team but it has definitely forced me to bring some calm to my chaos.
Lena on Sophia
Most memorable moment with Sophia: It would be the same as Soph. I really enjoyed being able to participate in such a fantastic conference together and having Soph by my side to bring the energy through some serious jetlag and participate in breakfast pizzas made the trip that much better.
Best word to describe Sophia: Effervescent
Most annoying habit or endearing behaviour Sophia has: Soph is just so full of life and I have never not seen her smiling! Her positive attitude and the ability to really make the most of and enjoy every moment is infectious and has helped bring out this side of myself as well.
If you and a colleague would like to submit your story to Dynamic duos, please email anna@mumbrella.com.au.
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