If variety is the spice of life, then Rusudan Topuria already has a pretty full spice rack – and she still wants more. 

Our new Client Partnerships Associate has accumulated an incredible array of experience so early in her career. She has set up a business, worked for a whole host of organisations big and small, completed an intense degree programme, and established and ran several university clubs. 

Now she has joined our A-team as she looks to take the next step in her career – and work with a whole smorgasbord of interesting clients in the process. Her collection of consulting, leadership and digital skills will make artist, entrepreneur and innovator Rusudan a valuable part of the team and she is excited to sample more of professional life.  

This welcome Q&A will reveal more about Rusudan, including: 

• Why honesty was the best policy when it came to persuading her that Hyphen was the right company for her. 

• What inspired her to set up her own award-winning startup while at university. 

• How she balances life as a ‘workaholic’ with other more personal pursuits. 

 

Hyphen: What first appealed to you about the prospect of working for us? 

Rusudan: I remember that I first learned about Hyphen through my university job posting board while I was looking for a new opportunity. I saw the profile for Hyphen and the more I read about the company and the description, the more I liked it. That persuaded me to apply, and I loved it even more in my first interview. 

I worked with bigger, middle-sized and smaller companies, and I’ve come to realise I really don’t like just sticking to and only ever doing one thing – I find it a bit mundane. With Hyphen, I loved the growth mindset and the pure raw honesty in the description of the company values; I appreciate that being that I am a very straightforward person myself. 

Another thing I noted and liked is the diversity within the group. It’s very easy for companies to call themselves diverse but you might see a situation where only three out of, say, a thousand come from different countries. With Hyphen, it’s different because when you look through all of the employees and where they were from, people really do come from all over the world so to be diverse already is a big achievement. 

Hyphen: You mentioned that you have worked for organisations of all shapes and sizes – what do you think you can take from those experiences? 

Rusudan: I feel like learning what you like is just as important as learning what you don’t like because it shows and reaffirms what you want to do and what you’re passionate about for your future. I really think that every success or every failure I’ve had has taught me something. 

I’m the sort of person who always says ‘why not?’ – if I have the capacity to do another project and it comes up and it sounds interesting, I’ll do it. 

When I started university, I went into it with the mentality that I really wanted to use my time well and work in different departments and places because to learn is one thing and theory is one thing, but to actually do it, it’s a completely different thing. Through classes and work, I realised I’m a mathematically minded person, but also a social person, so that’s how I pivoted to consultancy a little bit. 

I tried operations as well because I’m a very precise person – I love figuring out how things work – but at the end of the day, I realised that consultancy was my biggest passion because you have all of these different hats you can put on, and it doesn’t limit you to only one topic so every day will be different.

 

Hyphen: It sounds like variety is a very important thing for you – is that something you asked about during your interviews? How did you find the application process? 

Rusudan: Before my interviews, I had read some articles on the Hyphen website about different projects so that gave me an initial idea. During every step of the process – speaking with Dora first, then Akin and Kamila, and then David, before meeting each of the three founders – I asked about projects the company is working on and that really reaffirmed my belief in this variety. 

I think it was the longest interview process I’ve ever undertaken but it showed me what the actual work and the people in the company would be like, which was really useful. 

Hyphen: You have already met a few people through the interview process but how was it for you to meet the whole group on the recent co-working retreat in Ericeira? 

Rusudan: It was very nice to get to know everyone on the Sunday before the work and sessions began the following day. It can be awkward going into meetings where you don’t really know people so having that informal time together makes it much easier to develop those personal relationships with the rest of the team. 

Having that time together on the retreat makes working together more seamless because you already understand the communication types and they can find out about you as well – I’m looking forward to working with the other departments as well as the Client Partnerships team. 

Hyphen: You took on a lot of different jobs while studying for your degree and yet you also ran several clubs at university – how did you find the time?! Would you describe yourself as someone who pushes yourself a lot? 

Rusudan: I must admit that I’m a bit of a workaholic, which I know a lot of people say but it’s really something that applies to me. I have always been the type of person to do a lot of things, and I think that stems from my curiosity in general. 

I love learning about things, and I want to be a well-rounded person. To do that, you have to make the most of your time because there are only 24 hours in a day, so I use Google Calendar a lot! 

One example was with the American Sign Language Club. I was watching a TV show where one character did the signs for a couple of silly things and I found them to be very funny but I knew there wasn’t a club. I thought it was a nice skill to have because I’ve met in the past some people who weren’t able to speak or communicate other than sign language, and I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a fun hobby and it’s going to be useful so why not indulge in it?’ That probably sums up my general approach! 

Hyphen: You also started your business at university as well, Reciprocities – could you tell us about that? 

Rusudan: It’s a platform for students to connect with each other and sort out exchange housing. This is an issue my friends and I saw when we were looking for accommodation for half a year while we wanted to go on an exchange programme. 

It’s just very difficult to find a cheap apartment for just six months when you study elsewhere and a lot of the time students need to sublet, but subletting is illegal, and you can get into so much trouble. 

Based on that, we came up with the idea to set up Reciprocities and we started working on it. My university had a lot of resources, so eventually we entered a venture lab, taking some additional courses for half a year that helped develop the company and they basically brought up a lot of important questions for developing a startup. 

We participated in that and were the winners of the best undergraduate startup. Out of the 10 finalists – which were chosen from more than 100 ideas – we were the only bachelor team, and we had the most sustainable startup, so that was a nice surprise! 

We continued working on it and that was the topic of my thesis in my university as well. It was a mixture of a research paper and a Capstone project, and we developed fully the website and did all of the research you would do for the business. 

How likely are we to continue with this project? I cannot say for certain because it’s just very difficult to manage time with my other teammates!

 
 
Hyphen: How do you think that experience helped you? 

Rusudan: I think it’s very useful, and I really would recommend all the business-related majors and people working on anything related to business should do and work on a startup, even if they don’t actually mean to have a functioning startup. 

It brings your attention to so many small details and really teaches you how something operates and works from the inside out. I feel like when you’re able to understand the step-by-step processes and dynamics and what is needed to have a functioning company, it really helps with your perspective in the future. 

In startups, you need to be very proactive, and that is also an important skill to have – and I think that’s one of the most important skills I’ve developed working in startups. 

Hyphen: It sounds like you like to keep yourself busy but what do you like to do away from work? 

Rusudan: Although work is very important to me, so are my family and my friends. I try to call my family every day or two, and then I have particular things that I do with particular friends – it’s like killing two birds with one stone. I get to spend time and develop my friendships while also doing something academic or professional or also study meetings and study groups with friends as well. 

I also like to be physically active – I like to go hiking, climbing, and to the gym. Funnily enough, for each activity, I have a friend who I can call to join me so I always have some company while I am doing something.

 
I like to do art, too – I would meet a friend and we would draw for an hour, two hours once a week or once every few weeks. I really like to draw portraits or landscapes, but sometimes I will draw my feelings, which can be super abstract sometimes but it definitely helps me feel better. 

A bit of trash TV is always fun, too – that’s one thing that does stop my brain from working for a while!