«I think helping people is my goal” — these words, taken from an interview with Irina Proskurina in 2017, pretty much sum up the main motivation of her entrepreneurial activity.
Irina’s career is a set of clearly defined goals, a vision of performance results, and perseverance.
Today, Irina Proskurina leads multi-faceted business initiatives: she is the founder and CEO of the Forma Models modeling agency, the CEO of the digital marketing agency E-PR, and the CEO of Abroad.Legal, a service that helps people find employment abroad. Each of her projects has a specific mission and focus.
First steps — first success
Of course, Rome was not built in one day — like Irina's stellar career. Born in a small town in the North Caucasus, Irina was a girl from the most ordinary family who wanted to achieve outstanding results in life.
Irina quickly realized that constant employment greatly limits her career choice.
“There is simply no freedom in it,” she says.
And moving to New York at just 19 years old was her first big step towards the freedom she longed for.
Irina's own life experience determines the trajectory of her business development. When she began her modeling career, she struggled to find a quality agency that would help her with castings and new contracts, as well as finding new locations for filming and shows. Years later, Irina founded her own modeling agency Forma Models to bring all her skills and abilities to life in a modeling career.
“As a model from Eastern Europe in the past, I know many beautiful European girls who do not know where to start their modeling journey: what they need to do first to start their journey in the fashion world. I am their first step! I know how difficult and dangerous it is… I want to help. I help them with visas, finding apartments, organizing photo shoots and castings. I help ordinary girls become models…models in New York!”
Needless to say, Forma Models is now a thriving agency, opening doors to talented models from all over the world. Irina takes pride in guiding young girls and guiding them on the right path in their chosen field.
Education is key
While many entrepreneurs specialize in one particular industry, Irina did not want to be limited to only one area of activity. And it was here that education became a real turning point for her. With a bachelor's degree in journalism, Irina received an MBA in marketing.
“It's great to be able to build a business the right way,” comments Irina.
Knowledge and experience gained during my studies, helped Irina bring to life two more entrepreneurial ideas that she had been nurturing for a long time.
One of them is E-PR. Her brainchild has grown into a leading PR agency that helps brands and individuals gain exposure and recognition in the media. Irina and her media team strive to bring value to every client by combining knowledge, experience and creativity in public relations. Today, E-PR is active in 60 countries around the world, and the agency's database contains more than 6,000 media outlets. E-PR media partners include Forbes, The New York Times, GQ, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and Yahoo. Irina's clients, including BMW, Universal Bank, Kiton and LBC Capital, praise the agency for its excellent service and individual approach.
“We are determined to expand the range of our services and become even more useful for our clients.”
Irina makes sure that every member of her agency's team contributes to the development of the business, and this, of course, gives certain results: now E-PR offers a range of services that go far beyond traditional advertising strategies. E-PR professionals take care of SMM, SEO, design and branding of their clients, and even creating a Telegram bot.
Promoting success by connecting people around the world
The third is Irina's no less successful and prosperous entrepreneurial brainchild — Abroad.Legal. This international job search service goes out of its way to deliver real results to its clients. The service has a database of verified employers, a resume writing service, relevant legal assistance, and a solid client support team.
Again, the philosophy of the platform reflects Irina's experience in international employment. As a young girl in a foreign country, Irina learned first hand how confusing and difficult it can be to solve all the problems that can arise when trying to legally work in a new place. And her agency goes out of her way to provide job seekers with a seamless and hassle-free experience in the field.
The Power of Multidisciplinary Experience
For those who are interested in how Irina manages to succeed in all chosen areas — to manage three successful enterprises and maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life — there is good advice — stay focused and look for effective ways to solve the problems that you have to face in the implementation of your plans and ideas.
Irina effectively uses her rich experience in various fields to develop her business and at the same time always stay abreast of international trends in any industry. The networking skills she acquired in PR help Irina find new business partners and expand her client base in all three business areas. In addition, her creativity and adaptability — something Irina learned at the beginning of her modeling career — help her find new solutions to entrepreneurial challenges. And, of course, businesswoman Irina actively uses education, which helps to improve the conduct of internal operations in her companies.
Irina also believes that in order to achieve success, you need to surround yourself with real professionals in all relevant areas.
“Business is strengthened by people who create and enrich it with their knowledge, skills and ideas.”
That is why Irina strives to involve the best talented and highly educated people in her initiatives. And she always strives to learn from others, adopting their experience.
Vision of the future
Irina is convinced that personal and professional growth is impossible without constant efforts, endurance, and sometimes even sacrifices. Her entrepreneurial success was not served on a silver platter — Irina continues to build her business and strives for excellence in everything she does. And she is not going to stop there. She wants to expand the recognition and presence of her companies in the world markets, helping more and more people on their path of professional self-realization.
Irina knows that hard work pays off, and she is actively looking for new ways to turn her ideas, energy and business savvy into the effective solutions it can offer its clients. Without a doubt, Irina's entrepreneurial future is bright and promising — and all thanks to her strong mindset of growth and development.
