[ep 080] Andrea Mestrovic on transparency and courageousness in life & business

Powerhouse is one way to describe Andrea Mestrovic, who has had a long and accomplished career across various disciplines: sales & marketing, brand, public relations, consumer packaged goods, and journalism. She's held top positions at companies and brands like Shared Vision Magazine, International Cellars, the Kanke Group, Oak Bay Marine Group, Olivia Palermo, Kit and Ace, and the Mark Anthony Group, before striking out with business partners to launch Very Polite Agency. 

To date, the agency has worked on Hootsuite’s rebrand and with clients Amazon Canada, Mackage, La Mer, Bosa Properties, Fairmont Pacific Rim, Canada Goods. They recently launched two of their own brands, a carbonated sake drink called Billion Trillion and Maater Cosmetics. For many years, she has also closely worked with @lululemon founder Chip Wilson, running his personal public relations.

Andrea was born in Dubrovnik, Croatia, and also spent time living in Bosnia, Serbia, and Macedonia—her father had been a soccer coach and a well known one back then. She spent much of her childhood in Sarajevo, but because of the Bosnian war, became a child of war and fled with her family to Canada—eventually settling in Vancouver. Becoming a dentist was an idea drilled into her, but she found herself drawn to liberal arts, too, ending up with biochem & communications degrees. 

After university, she landed her first job at a conscious consumer magazine group, kickstarting an admirable career in multiple industries. 

In this conversation, we explore being a child of war and how it shaped her perspective & her approach to opportunities; her experience integrating into life in Canada as a pre-teen; why sales is the basis of good marketing; her first crack at starting a PR agency in her mid-twenties; what she learned about successful negotiation while at the Kanke Group; what her agency partners have brought to her life; things things she learned from Chip Wilson on being a better leader & human; what she wants her daughters to know about her; and much more.

[TIMESTAMPS]

5:46 - Her childhood 

8:16 - Her parents 

9:57 - What she was like as a child/teen

19:51 - What life skills her parents have taught her

21:21 - Her early career 

28:11 - PR side hustle

34:15 - What she's learned about successful negotiation 

40:18 - Her side hustle in fashion journalism

44:32 - Her experience at Kit & Ace

51:35 - What has Chip Wilson taught her about being a better business person, leader, and human

56:01 - The perfect amount of transparency as a public figure/brand

59:56 - What Very Polite Agency stands for

01:07:47- What have her business partners brought to her life

01:09:54 - Their two new brands

01:17:00 - What she misses most about the cultures lived in as a child

01:21:48 - Having a courageous spirit

01:23:22 - What would she like people to truly know about her

01:26:17 - What she wants her daughters to know about her

01:28:33 - Final question 

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