Everyone at Blue Wheel knows Ana Gavrilovska, likely for one of three reasons:
- She’s been here since the beginning (she was one of our founder’s first hires)
- She is the Queen of Custom Slack Emojis™
- She has compiled a running list of band names based on various work conversations
Ana has worked at Blue Wheel since 2013. She was an intern twice and was then hired on full-time. Since then, she’s held a few different content roles, which she’s enjoyed exploring. “My role here has mainly evolved in a lateral way as I’ve never been interested in managing people or overseeing projects,” Ana says. “I see myself as a worker and I enjoy working on numerous tasks at a time.”
Ana has been with Blue Wheel since there were just a handful of employees, and is now part of our growing team of 80+ Blue Wheelers! (Yes, we’re still hiring.) Unsurprisingly, then, her favorite Blue Wheel YOOCI value is Open To Change. “In my time at the company, I’ve seen every possible type of change as well as been open to how my own role has changed and continues to evolve.”
Her current title is Content & Social Media Writer/Specialist, but she’d prefer to be known as just a Writer. “I prefer Writer because writing is my first love and the way that I forge a personal connection to my work.”
As a fellow content specialist, I know how hard it can be to describe your job to someone who’s not in marketing — like your grandparents. Ana offers her best basic description: “I might say something like, ‘You know those pamphlets you see at the doctor’s office? Someone has to write those, or at least compile them. That’s what I do, except the words themselves are all digital, on a screen rather than printed.’”
Ana is also known for her writing outside of work; she was recently recognized as a winner of the 2021 Gilda Awards in Literary Arts for her work in Arts Criticism. She often writes about jazz music.
An avid reader, Ana sets the goal to read 70 books per year. To reach that goal, she takes advantage of reading any chance she can — even at work! “Those who have known me since The Before Times (when we worked in a physical office) will likely recall my habit of walking around with a book in hand,” says Ana. As a former desk neighbor of hers, I can attest to the fact that she was always reading, including while:
- Filling up the Brita pitcher
- Raising or lowering her standing desk
- Getting more coffee
- Warming up her lunch in the microwave
- Walking anywhere in the building
Out of the 11 books currently on her nightstand, Ana is currently reading Storm by George R. Stewart. “It is quite possibly the very first eco-novel or climate novel, the second-strangest book ever written about a storm, and a likely inspiration for the National Weather Service’s naming system for hurricanes and tropical storms,” she says. “It’s one of the earliest books to treat a weather phenomenon like a protagonist and I’m really into it so far.”
Note to self: start a book club Slack channel with Ana so I can find out the first-strangest book ever written about a storm.
Want book recommendations from cool co-workers like Ana? We’re hiring!
