Write your Own Rules: Irina Polukeeva

L'Officiel Arabia: What are your priorities and goals in life?

Irina Polukeeva: Since I have passed the age of being teenager, it has become clearly to me, that I prioritise and value my personal growth, such as career and self-realization. Both have been always similar to me, as in my opinion they complement each other. There are three generic magical priorities: health, relationships, and purpose. For me purpose is the first one, meaning to get the dream job or start your own business (what I am doing already and focus on that), secondly, it is enjoying of excellent health to live a long life, to have high levels energy and vitality as well as to be free from pain and illness. And lastly, the relationships, that shape our life are another important priority to me, because building the future together is easier, more enjoyable, and more productive.

My life goal is to change our society in a better way, by bringing innovations, providing possibilities and give chance to people to take opportunities. As a tool for such improvements, I can say with the confidence, that it is entrepreneurial mindset. It is the mode of thinking, that helps you to achieve your goals, while you are transforming other people life.

L'OA: Who has inspired you the most in your life?

IP: Every person has a mother and a father, but just very few of them can consider their parents as an inspiration. In my life, my mother has inspired me in most ways. She has been always only one, who motivates as well as supports me to achieve my goals and points out my mistakes or told me how to fix them if I had already made them. She has been never let me alone and gives me the lesson of practical life. I was taught by her, how to keep smile on my face always, no matter what, are the circumstances are, and it gives me strengths and resistance to face all the problems and never give up on something I believe in, even if I have hard times.

L'OA: How you define success? What is your take on the ways to achieve long time success?

IP: Success for me is the achievement, of a high position in a specific field or industry, that has been set out and to which the person belongs or works. But prior of that, it is the ability to achieve them, then it is the progress and only after I define success as a full goal’s achievement. Not only last-mentioned point is important for me in that case, but also the actual journey of reaching my attainments, because throughout this period I am getting new knowledge, developing skills, and finding inside myself undiscovered recourses, and I consider it, as success as well. To achieve long time success my approach is to take one step at a time, including the small list of rules, such as strategy, planning, making habit of working toward to the goal and last, but most important one is never doing it for money.

L'OA: Have you ever been to UAE? If yes, how was your experience

IP: I have been travelling to UAE since I was 14 years old. My parents used to love this country a lot and even now, so I was joining them each trip to this magical and wonderful country. Most of the time I was travelling specifically to Dubai, and I remember, how I was shocked to see thriving metropolis with plenty of skyscrapers everywhere around the city, instead of expected at that time by me camels and desert area in most places. Despite the fact, that I have been to the capital of UAE as well as another Emirate-Sharjah, my heart still belongs to Dubai, because the experience, that I have got, was distinguished from the rest of UAE by diversity of activities and events. In Dubai, I never took my eye off even for a little bit, as something interesting and unique were going on around me always, either exciting exhibition somewhere in the middle of desert or simply accidental meeting with celebrities in some casual place.

L'OA: Which new projects are you presently working on?

IP: For the past 6 months I have been working on two exciting projects for myself. One of them is the concierge company “High End” (heendexperiene.com), that was launched few months ago. Me and my partner providing exceptional service for extraordinary customers, offering creation of ultimate experience in London, from the simple restaurant’s reservations to the full organising of the stay there. Later, we are planning our business expansion in the Middle East, Mykonos, and Ibiza due to the attractiveness and opportunities of these market for our industry. This is what I have started to work on already. At the same time, I am developing unique recipes of healthy snacks and smoothies, as another project is to set up my own food company in London with the manufacturing of gluten, dairy free and low in calories products. I would like to bring big selection of the dessert’s substitution to the market, for the women like me, who love sweets, but want to keep slim body shape.