We were lucky to catch up with Anastasiia Filonenko recently and have shared our conversation below.
Anastasiia, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Impostor syndrome is a really nasty thing that hits when you least expect it. The best thing that helps me personally is not those classic “esteem yourself”, “think about your strengths”. It doesn’t work for me. So when I’m hit by it, and I feel like giving up everything, I’m stopped by the guilt that “I can’t quit the project halfway, I committed to it, people are counting on me, no matter what, I’ll finish it, and then, if anything, I’ll go”. And so, day by day, I force myself to just do my work, do it well, as well as I can. And this “routine”, when you want to or not, but you do it, helps to calm yourself down (it’s like white noise for a child), and in the end, when the project finally comes out/you’re praised/some recognition appears/the workload decreases, you breathe out and the “syndrome” lets go, you realize that it’s not all that bad after all, in the end, and I’m actually a competent professional 🙂 So if you’re hit by impostor syndrome, the best thing you can do is just do your work. Ignore that evil voice in your head.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am a creative producer specializing in performance marketing. I’m the person who promotes apps through social networks (Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, AppStore, etc.) and other communication channels. So, my task is to grab attention to the advertisement and compel people to do what the brand needs: click on the link, download the app or else.
I work with various apps, currently focusing on dating and an audio novel app for Tier-1 markets. Static creatives, short videos, 15+ minute stories, UGC – I use all techniques which can help achieve the goal.
The cool thing about this job is that you can test a lot of different concepts and instantly see how the audience reacts to it, unlike, for example, television.
Before this, I was creating content for Facebook that garnered millions of views in Tier-1 markets, so I know how to compete for viewer’s attention. And I worked in TV for 10 years, producing non-scripted projects. It’s an incredible experience to work with real people and their emotions, and then turn tons of material into one great dramatic episode that keeps people glued to their screens.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1 – Human psychology. Understanding how the human brain, consciousness, and subconsciousness work is crucial. Knowing personality types and behavioral patterns is beneficial in all aspects: aiding in client/colleague interactions and understanding dramatic archetypes (as embodying a character significantly increases audience engagement and belief in the story).
It also helps to understand your target audience, their interests, phobias, hobbies, and dislikes, which aids in predicting their behavior and selecting appropriate influence and interaction mechanisms that will enhance the results. For example, a guy who constantly resides in the friend zone won’t be swayed by ads featuring 10/10 girls in the app; he may lack self-confidence and fear such girls, but the concept of “here are regular genuine girls who want relationships/write first” is another matter.
2 – Reading a golden collection of classic world literature. Plot twists, character development, literary techniques – it all contributes to one’s well-readness (or alternative “well-watchedness”) when working with creatives. I’d like to mention that essentially there are only 36 plot situations! This is the theory of basic situations by French theatrical critic Georges Polti. We cannot invent anything new; we can only adapt and iterate, adding our own value, our uniqueness. Therefore, being well-read helps to feel the text, plot twists, techniques because you’ve read the “golden fund,” you know what has been working for centuries.
And, by the way, it also helps in psychology 🙂 The Alice in Wonderland syndrome, the Oedipus complex, the Cinderella complex – many psychological “features” are named and described after characters from literature.
3 – Knowledge of social media and marketing tools. We work with creativity, with the creative process. The same idea can be presented in hundreds of iterations. But it’s necessary to shape it in a way that gets a reaction from the audience. There are quite effective techniques and technologies for this, as well as formats for presenting material. Of course, they don’t guarantee a 100% result – because if there was one always working technique, then we would all be unnecessary 🙂 But there are basic principles that increase, let’s say, the chances of success.
For example, starting with a hook, ending with a call to action. To begin with, present the pain point of the target audience, provide (sell) the solution in the middle, and at the end explain what needs to be done for it (download the app).
The rules for working with content on TV are significantly different from working with content, for example, for Facebook. You need to immediately engage in dynamics, immediately present a vivid situation, otherwise people will just scroll past.
And now with the active spread of AI, it’s also necessary to master using AI in your work! Therefore, digital education is truly critical and necessary for creatives who want to work in the social media or IT sphere.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
I work in the American market from another country. I’m from Ukraine, where there is currently a war. We have constant air raid alerts, shelling, and every day many people, both military and civilian, die. Rocket debris has fallen on residential buildings in my area. When the Russians shell the power plants, we can be without electricity for several hours a day (and sometimes even longer). But despite this, I successfully do my job and manage several projects 🙂
In moments like these, you understand how crucial strong time management skills are and how important it is to clearly focus on and segment your tasks. This is essentially the main thing that a creative person must learn. You can’t wait for inspiration for days and weeks.
If it doesn’t come, take a classic working pattern and play with it. If you don’t feel the strength to force yourself to work, understand what’s best for you: start with something easy to get into the groove and then move on to the difficult tasks, or vice versa—start with the difficult tasks to lighten the load, and then the lighter tasks will follow. Procrastination is useful in small doses; otherwise, it leads to stagnation.
And most importantly, know when to leave on time. If you feel that something isn’t right, you’re suffering, and you’re deteriorating—you have understand either you’re tired and need to take a break, or you’re simply not interested anymore in your job and should switch to something else. But don’t drag yourself along—that will only exhaust you, tarnish your reputation, and cost you a lot to see a therapist 🙂 BTW, therapy is a great way to get unstuck if you don’t know where to go next. Or take the advice to learn human psychology; it makes it much easier to track your needs and requests 🙂
And finally, don’t hesitate to go the extra mile. Take some courses, master an area related to yours but that you don’t know everything about. This isn’t about your employer’s needs or interests; it’s about your growth zone. Invest in yourself, take on tasks where you don’t fully understand, to learn something new. This will allow you to grow not only horizontally in your career but also switch to fields that may turn out to be more promising and interesting. Your development is your responsibility.
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/anastasiafilonenko
Image Credits
https://www.facebook.com/hilyapp/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064392864209 (AmoMama.com)
