Tatijana Rapp, owner of marketing and PR agency Festa - Idea Woman

(Photo: lična arhiva)

She used to work at the National Theater and Madlenianum, the first private opera house in Serbia, and organized a number of various, mainly cultural events throughout her career. Tatijana Rapp today owns the marketing and PR agency Festa, but she signs herself as "Idea Woman" instead of "Director", and former maybe describes this 41-year-old lady from Belgrade the best.

When you learn how to organize people in a theater, then everything else is easy, Tatijana believed. And then she had to organize as many as five fashion shows in one day during the Belgrade Fashion Week.

- Everybody wants to sit in the front row, many people think of themselves as VIPs, and you have to give a diplomatic answer that the capacity of that famous first row is limited - Tatijana Rapp starts telling her story for eKapija.

New Belgrade

New Belgrade is the center of her world. Although she has traveled a lot and visited destinations most people can only dream of seeing, she says that this part of the capital city has a special place in her life.

- I remember when the area around Sava Center was an empty space, a meadow.

Although she was only seven at the time, Tatijana also remembers the first concerts ever held at Sava Center. She has always been a regular visitor of all cultural events.

(Photo: lična arhiva)

The basic organizational skills she acquired in the secondary school later helped her a lot in both academic education and business.

Practically everything she was taught at the faculty she already knew from the secondary school - the history of film, the history of theater...

As a kid, she was successfully engaged in acting. She finds that experience very useful in her current business. Acting helped her learn how to communicate and impose herself on others.

She graduated from the Faculty of Drama Arts (FDU) in Belgrade, earning the title of Theater and Radio Producer.

Career

Our interlocutor says she loves the fact that she has done so many different things in her life. She got an internship at the National Theater immediately upon graduation and was probably the first intern ever to be paid.

She explains that she would not have assumed any of the positions she has held if there hadn't been for recommendations. That is why she believes that the most valuable in acting, marketing and PR are contacts.

(Photo: lična arhiva)

She got a job at Madlenianum on a recommendation and held the position of Program Organizer for six years. Then she worked as an assistant professor at BK Academy. She finds work with young people and mutual development of creativity through case studies priceless.

Tika from C Market

Marketing has always been attractive to her. Without some significant previous experience, she started working at Radio B92, in the Marketing Department.

Thanks to her enthusiasm and persistence, she persuaded Tika Todorovic, marketing director of C Market, the strongest retailer in Serbia at the time, to advertise on Radio B92.

The moment she realized she was not satisfied and that other agencies cannot offer her some more favorable terms, she stepped into the world of private business. In spite of a crisis, she opened the PR agency Festa in 2008 and has remained its trademark to date.

Creative associates

(Photo: lična arhiva)

When choosing associates, she finds creativity the most important, followed by professionalism and responsibility.

- I do not see myself as an "one woman show", meaning that I need a team I can rely on.

She learned to appreciate teamwork in all companies she has worked for. To underline that every individual is important, she picturesquely describes: "If you are not at good terms with a cleaning lady at the theater, the stage will not be clean and your rehearsal may end in a disaster."

However, she is as independent as one can be.

Maintaining a balance between private and business life

Just like most successful people, Tatijana Rapp believes that business successes must be kept in balance with a harmonious private life.

Her social life is quite rich. She is a regular at theater premieres, she loves concerts, and you can often see her at fashion shows as well.

She still has enough energy to go to cafes, nightclubs... Her New Year's resolution is to spend more time in the nature. That is why she will join mountain hikers this spring.

She believes that her real successes are ahead. The moment she gets her own family she will consider herself complete.

Jelena Djelic