Droppe Adds Kristina Raiko as B2B Sales Representative

Droppe—the one-stop shop for all your wholesale—has announced the appointment of Kristina Raiko as its new B2B Sales Representative. Kristina’s role is an important one to enable the business to grow, and she brings diverse experience in international business and accounting to help her achieve it.

“I was looking for an opportunity to use different languages and help with the internationalization of a company. I saw Droppe as a startup, and I knew there would be good opportunities for that.”

Kristina describes herself as being very outgoing and says her first couple of months at Droppe have been great for connecting her with new people, despite it being a virtual workplace.

“When I started, there were only eight people at Droppe. It was really nice to get to know the people because in some of the big organizations I worked in before, it wasn’t so easy. You don't get to know everybody, or at least not well. But now, I feel like I know everybody personally, even though we work via the internet.”

Kristina’s mother is Mexican and her father is Finnish, so she has an innate global understanding of the world. Add to that, she has a Master’s degree in International Business and sees herself being able to expand the global reach of Droppe in her time with the company. For now, she’s more than happy building up her skills and understanding at Droppe and recognizes that it will take time to build and grow.

Kristina is a passionate musician and has been writing, recording, and uploading songs since she was 15. She works at Droppe four days a week and dedicates a lot of her free time to pursue her music.

“I’m writing pop and EDM songs in English, and also a bit in Spanish too. I’ve been writing for music producers around the world, I'm doing Troubadour gigs with my guitar, and also sometimes gigs with the artists I've written music with as well. I have about 25 songs out at the moment, and more to come.”

Kristina says that while music is her passion, she likes working in other fields to broaden her skills and knowledge. She also gets inspiration from other areas of her life for her music as well.

“It gives me the space to write songs about something that just popped into my mind, like ideas or phrases, from hanging out with someone or just being somewhere. I’ll quite often notice something and write it down on my phone.”

Always one to push her boundaries, Kristina has traveled extensively throughout Europe, including an exchange in Nice, France. She’s also been to Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand, and Asia is next on her bucket list.

“I like to put myself in situations where I have to do stuff that I wouldn’t normally like to do. My exchange was something very new to me, and it went really well. I was surprised by how easy it is to get to know a whole new bunch of people in such a short time. I realized that I can do whatever I want if I want it enough.”

Check our Kristina's music here!

More announcements from Droppe

Team announcement

Welcome Droppe’s UX Designer: Anastasia Ianovskaia

Anastasia Ianovskaia joined Droppe—the European industrial wholesale marketplace company—in March 2022 as its first UX designer, but she got her start in her career as an elf. Yes, you read that correctly. Originally from Russia, Anastasia moved to Finland with her family when she was eleven years old. Later, after graduating from the international business school, she felt confused about what she wanted to do professionally and decided to move to North Finland to figure things out. It was there that she picked up a job as one of Santa Claus’ jolly little helpers. “That was a really awesome experience, actually. It gave me some time and space to actually think things out and determine what I wanted to do,” she said. And although her time in the north pole led her to the career she has today, Anastasia admits that she has only recently been able to listen to Christmas music again. After two years in North Finland, Anastasia moved to Helenski to attend university. She was still unsure what she wanted to study but at the same time, her friend asked if she could make a poster for his event. “I opened Photoshop for the first time in my life, and I realized that was the thing that I really wanted to do. And shortly after that, I applied to study design at SkillBox, which is an online university.” At first, Anastasia struggled to secure a position because there was a stigma around online college degrees. But after the COVID-19 pandemic, remote studies became more normalized. While applying to jobs, she was most interested in working at a startup “because of the missions behind them and the people who stand behind these ideas.” She also felt that it was much more exciting than working at larger corporations, due to the way that you are able to collaborate with the whole team and the scope of responsibility. Anastasia found her way to Droppe after learning about its impressive growth that was achieved completely bootstrapped, something quite rare for a tech startup, so she sent in an application. “I got contacted by Henrik, my colleague and one of the co-founders of Droppe. We went through the interview process and just the way he told me about how the business worked and why they are changing the game made me feel like I really wanted to join the team even more.” Although Anastasia only started at Droppe couple months ago, she is already working full speed ahead on a customer journey map that will be used to track and see user problems and touchpoints, and understand what kind of the solutions Droppe can create to improve its marketplace and solve the everyday customers' problem. When working on a task, Anastasia's first step is always to put herself in the user's shoes. “The whole user experience design train of thought is to think from the point of view of the user. So firstly I think, how do they feel? What do they think? What do they say and how do they work? What problem do they have and how are we going to solve it?” Since beginning her work at Droppe, one of her favorite parts of the company has been the culture. “I've worked in a lot of different places, and for me, it's never about the basic stuff like salary, benefits et cetera. But it's always been about the team culture,” Anastasia said. “Now, I've gotten the opportunity to get to know my colleagues and the Droppe team has welcomed me so warmly. They’ve helped me a lot during my first month…It's also cool that even though we are working mostly remotely, we're still super flexible and always make ourselves available for each other.” When Anastasia is not working, she loves clearing her head. “I really love yoga and meditation. It has helped me a lot with always keeping on track as my mind is always racing,” she said. In addition, she is an avid reader of fantasy novels and her favorite series is Harry Potter. “One of my dreams is to visit Great Britain and go on the tour where all the Harry Potter movies were filmed and also visit the museums.” Lastly, she loves to hike mountains, and although there aren't many in Finland, she has traveled to Norway to climb and view its landscape. Now, Anastasia couldn't be happier with where her career has taken her. “Basically, this is just that my dream job and my dream team combined, so it feels really good and it motivates me to work. It's really awesome.”

Team announcement

Meet Uche Ohanwe, B2B Sales Representative at Droppe

Uche Ohanwe has been interested in sales and the art of negotiation from a very young age. “When I was nine, I wanted to sell ice cream on my own and make it a business. I've always been doing things which are more or less sales. My first real job was at 16 doing telemarketing…all of my friends hated it, but I loved it, because I was good at it.” Uche recently joined Finnish online industrial wholesale marketplace Droppe as B2B sales representative. He wanted to challenge himself in a new industry, and having flexible work options attracted him to Droppe. “I wanted a job where I can work from home, or work from abroad. That is really necessary for me, because the winters are so cold in Finland. I don't really feel like I am at my best at this time of the year - I need to get my vitamin D.” A seasoned traveller, Uche has been to large parts of Europe and Asia. He lived in Hong Kong for six months on an internship with the Finland Chamber of Commerce, and says it’s his favorite country so far. “They call it the New York of Asia. There are so many cultures there, from the US to the UK and all over. You get everything…there’s the high high skyscrapers, the great views and the rooftops in the city. You can take a 30 minute train and you'll be up in the mountains, looking at the ocean and the skyline, or take a 30 minute ride to the other side, where you go to the beach and see the clear water. It's awesome.” Uche’s the first to admit he’s not naturally drawn to the tech industry, and says he never saw himself joining a technology company like Droppe. However, he’s quickly found that there’s plenty to like about it. “The world of technology is opening up more to me, and I'm really enjoying it. This might be a path that's gonna stay with me for a long time. As long as I love sales, and the product is good, and it's impactful and helping other people such as at Droppe…it's also not always about the product, but adapting to the product you’re selling and to the audience as well.” Outside of work, Uche likes to engage his brain by reading up on cryptocurrencies and property investing. He’s an avid reader, and says his favorite book is the famous financial intelligence guide, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. Uche also ran a side business with his brother in the last Finnish summer, where he’d rent out jet skis outside of his regular work hours. His drive to work hard and further himself creates a passion for self development. However, Uche says he’s mindful of giving himself a balance between work and life. “I like to give it my all and I have to watch myself so that I don't overwork - it can really sneak up from behind you, and you don't notice it. But I try to reward myself after succeeding, which keeps me sane, and I also try not to take the failures too seriously.”

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