BAFF Blogs
Eugenijus Sapel
Country: Lithuania
Last seen in Lithuania: Graduated in Civil Engineering and elected as one of the best 100 technical university graduates in 2011 in Lithuania. As a result participated in an intensive seminar "Presentation of My Idea Is Always Successful", led by CAGR Consulting Group partner Saulius Patašius.
Where in the United States? Minneapolis, MN @ Place
Bio: I am an ambitious and motivated construction engineering graduate from both Coventry University in the UK and Lithuanian VGTU. Currently I am doing my marketing and construction internship in Eco Vida in Spain. I have working experience in network marketing and civil engineering. I am passionate about sports, dancing, and travelling. I am participating in the BAFF Professional Internship Program because I see it as an outstanding opportunity to get the necessary experience for my future business related to green cities, as well as making valuable connections and having fun.
Natalia Jegorova
Country: Estonia
Last seen in the Baltics: Juggling with numerous work assignments
Where in the United States? Washington, DC @ the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Bio: I am a young professional with a diversified background. I have a BA degree in Danish and Japanese languages from the University of Tartu, and I'm almost finished with a master’s degree in International Relations from Tallinn University. My specialization is on International Security, and so far I have worked at or closely with Estonian MFA, MoD and ICDS (International Centre for Defense Studies), situated in Tallinn. Now I am pursuing my career goals and gaining experience as an intern in one of the finest institutions in the field , Center for Strategic and International Studies, in Washington, DC.
Andrius Balciunas
Country: Lithuania
Last seen in Lithuania: discussing with a banker in the currency exchange about whether the US dollar will drop against the euro in the near time.
Where in the United States? New York, NY @ Lloyds TSB Bank
Bio: I was born in a family where everybody got enough attention and care. By 4 years old I already knew who I want to be in my life: a banker, a person whose activities are related to finance, numbers and counting (that's how I imagined a banker then). From my first classes at school I was surrounded by future leaders. Our class won every single competition in the school. Eagerness to be the best in my field of interest didn't fade. By age 15 I started to invest in the Lithuanian stock exchange (now I prefer investing and trading in currencies). Later I started my own business in the field of sales intermediary. In June 2011 I graduated from Vilnius Mykolas Romeris University with a bachelor’s degree in Financial Economics. While studying at the university my colleague and I established the Mykolas Romeris Investors club. I am very happy that the club is doing well while I am in the US.
The process of investing as a whole is a rather new phenomenon in Lithuania. There is a lack of knowledge, and some financial intermediaries use it to fool inexperienced investors. I noticed this while working as a Deputy Director in the Lithuanian Investors Association. I needed to expand my view on certain things in finance and investing, which would be useful for other people as well. And voila! Here is BAFF with an opportunity to get valuable experience in the US (as they say, when a student is ready, the teacher comes). So, here I am, gaining priceless knowledge and experience, which will be useful, not only for individual investing, education of other investors, but also for my master’s studies next year.
Don't be confused—I am not a big materialist. I also like long walks in the city and nature, watching sunrise and sunsets… Please find my impressions and photos in my blog.
There must be a balance in a person's life.
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Indre Telksnyte
Country: Lithuania
Where in the United States? New York, NY @ Seven Stories Press
Bio: Three years at Vilnius University and one year at the University of Belgrade made me realize that I don’t know much about publishing, but I want to do publishing. So logically the following step after graduating university was to find out how to do real publishing, and that’s where BAFF comes into picture. There are two things I have a big passion for – books and traveling. This scholarship gave me the opportunity to satisfy both of them.
I have always been this active girl who wanted to do things and be involved into events happening around. I participated actively in the activities of non-governmental organizations, such as the Red Cross or UVJOSAS, when I was at school. During my university years in Lithuania I volunteered at various cultural events. Later on I won a scholarship to study at University of Belgrade where I not only got some priceless academic knowledge but also gained my first professional experience during an internship in the publishing house ‘Kreativni centar’. That was just the beginning. I want to keep on learning, and I believe that one year of interning at the publishing house ‘Seven Stories Press’ in New York City is the right way to do that.
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Arturs Zanderson
Country: Latvia
Last seen in the Baltics: Improving the public service sector
Where in the United States? San Francisco, CA @ Cleantech Open
Bio: "There are some people who get to do things, and some who get things done". I try to organize my life according to the saying, and tend to ask myself which one of these am I? I always want the answer to be, "The second one!"
After two years of working as a business consultant in PwC and graduating from Riga Technical University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics I have decided to "expand my box" and focus on sustainability and green business ideas. This has become my field of interest, since it is important to use innovative and clean technologies to protect the environment and preserve resources. My goal is to prove to Latvian companies that by changing their approach and way of thinking it is possible to combine being green with being profitable.
There is no better place than the USA to discover the recipe for how to grow great ideas from your parents’ garage to a multi-million dollar corporation. And the BAFF internship gives an actual opportunity to go and experience this wonderful country! I will be having my internship in a company called Cleantech Open, which in their own words "finds, founds & fosters the best cleantech startups on the planet". It is the largest business competition for clean and green technology companies in the world. So I will have the chance to help with the establishment and development of these ideas and bring some of this experience back to Latvia.
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Baiba Dzelme
Country: Latvia
Last seen in Latvia: innovating and inspiring better university-industry relationships
Where in the United States? Big Apple @ Marakon, a management consulting group
Bio: I am extremely happy to have had the chance to study Management of Innovations at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. Everyone can be creative, even the most boring desk clerks or the most bureaucratic governments. I always considered myself as a more analytical person who followed business frameworks and was always very critical of new ideas, but then I got a chance to innovate ice cream as part of my innovation course. It started as a university assignment, but now it is a passion for innovation.
When it comes to the experience of studying, experience of working, or experience of enjoying I always take the most of it. I have had the chance to spend half a year in Kazakhstan for my exchange semester from bachelor studies at Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. During that time I also seized the opportunity to explore and went backpacking to China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. At the moment I already have quite some experience in project management and consulting, both from Latvia and from the Netherlands. Now, thanks to BAFF, I will have the chance to expand my experience horizon and the opportunity to live in the city that never sleeps. In NYC I will be working at Marakon, which is a management consulting firm. I have a genuine interest in business, and I want to help companies to transform by applying creative approaches to problem solving. This is something where I see myself in the future, and after five years hopefully you will find me in my very own boutique consulting firm in Riga, specializing in innovation consulting.
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Toms Jurjaks
Country: Latvia
Last seen in the Baltics: Resting somewhere around with best friends before jumping into The Big Adventure
Where in the United States? Miami, FL @ Avaya inc.
Bio: Toms is full of fun, positive, and loves his active lifestyle. Friends, music, action, and beautiful landscapes are all he needs when he is not working or not being lazy.
Toms finished BA School of Business and Finance and also studied one semester in Antwerp (Belgium). In that time he got the finest experience so far about living abroad and learning something new.
He got connected with telecommunications while working as a key account manager in one of the largest telecommunication companies in Latvia and still finds this industry very interesting. That's why working in Avaya Inc. will be a perfect chance to gain more experience in this field and to be more valuable in Baltics.
Toms is ambitious, and he knows for sure that someday he will be the founder of his own company. The BAFF Professional Internship Program will help to achieve this goal, but right after his return, he will gain more experience working in telecommunications.
Toms found out about BAFF from a friend, and he knew in that moment that he wanted to participate in the program. As he is adventurous, loves to travel and to turn his life upside down, this will be another perfect chance to do so, thanks to BAFF.
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Oskars Atvase
Country: Latvia
Last seen in the Baltics: Piling up firewood at his countryside house
Where in the United States? Hawaii @ SSFM
Bio: As long as he can remember, he has been involved in building and making something new. It did not matter if it was ceramics, wooden things, or other stuff that required handwork, creativity and concentration. That’s why his field of interest as well as education became civil engineering. But he also thinks there is no matter if it’s the world’s greatest engineering product if the engineer doesn’t know how to sell it. So Oskars is looking forward to gaining valuable knowledge and understanding of construction business rules and principles.
Donatas Ceponas
Country: Lithuania
Where in the United States? Honolulu @ SSFM International.
Bio: For the last six years I lived in Vilnius. I finished my master’s degree studies half a year ago. I studied construction engineering for my bachelor’s degree and project management in my master’s program. During my master’s studies I had the amazing possibility to study half of the year in Norway, where I had the possibility to familiarize myself with Norwegian culture and traditions. During my studies I was a member of the international youth organization "AIESEC" and worked in a small architecture company as an architect assistant, engineer. Now I am working in quite a big company as a design engineer, project manager assistant.
I looked for an internship for the past two years and I couldn’t find such a perfect offer as BAFF’s. I applied to BAFF Professional Internship Program, and now I am going to Honolulu, Hawaii. I know it doesn’t sounds very serious – Hawaii, but I am going to gain experience in the project management field in the SSFM International Company, which offers world-class engineering resources specializing in program development and project management.
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Aigars Kupra
Country: Latvia
Last seen in Baltic States: Making his dreams to become true.
Where in the United States? Honolulu, HI @ SSFM International, Inc.
Bio: From an early age mathematics and physics have always attracted Aigars; thus, he decided that Engineering was the exact study course he wanted to pursue in his future career. Aigars graduated from Riga Technical University (RTU) in 2009 with a professional Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering which was followed by pursuing with the Master’s degree studies of Civil Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. Moreover, during his junior year at Riga Technical University, he had the opportunity to supplement his professional knowledge at the Technical University of Denmark through the European student exchange program "Erasmus". Aigar’s professional experience in the field of civil engineering is related to management of construction projects and in both Latvian and international level by having a chance to work for construction projects of the TEC-2 combined-cycle power plant and the new U.S. Embassy compound in Riga, Latvia.
By doing an internship abroad in the SSFM International, Inc. and gaining personal experience in a foreign culture and language in the United States, Aigars hopes to improve my ability to perform well in a global environment which nowadays is so crucial for the free flow of ideas, inspiration and knowledge. For this reason, he believes that BAFF Professional Internship program can broaden his opportunities for professional development with up-to-date tools and knowledge to be competitive and competent in his major field, and abilities to operate internationally, but his civil engineering knowledge, new ideas and previous work experience could make valuable contribution to the business development and social growth to Latvian society upon his return from the United States. Thus, Aigars truly believes that the BAFF Professional Internship program can be his next big step towards working to improve the international collaboration between Latvian and the U.S. foreign engineering experiences.
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Ilze Lagzdina
Country: Latvia
Last seen in the Baltics: Painting the world green
Where in the United States? Trenton, NJ @ TerraCycle
Bio: Ilze = creative, active, optimistic, green thinker.
Ilze started to focus more on "green lifestyle" when writing her Bachelors thesis about Promotion of Ecological Cosmetics. After graduating from the faculty of Social Science in Management, she was asked to help with the marketing activities at a Latvian natural paint company, PaintEco, where she quickly proved herself and became the Creative Director, getting involved in all facets of marketing- from design to guiding the vision and direction of the product. Demonstrating her interest in the business environment in the United States and her passion for eco-style, she became one of the BAFF Professional Internship Program participants.
Starting in June 2011 she will be working for TerraCycle named one of the 100 most innovative companies. TerraCycle specializes in making consumer products from post-consumer materials, turning waste into affordable green products. During her internship she will get her hands- on work in video, product design and PR departments.
Ilze is…
Interested in all things green.
Convinced that beauty is in nuances.
Feels great when she is really busy in the middle of projects or relaxing during an exotic travel after the great work.
Couldn't live without music, cheesecake, or her Mac Book.
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