Anna's
Story
Being Different & Unique is a Blessing!
Once We Start Appreciate Who We Are,
the Quality of Our Life Improves
Anna was born in Slovakia and as a child, she had many interests including reading books, playing board games, participating in collective sports such as volleyball, basketball and football. Other activities she loved included tennis, ice-skating and hiking. Anna often said: "We have been given hands and legs so we should use them well!". Having such a dynamic childhood was very fulfilling.
Living in a small town surrounded by beautiful mountains and having grandparents living close to a forest enabled her to create a strong bond with nature. The forest offered the feeling of pure freedom and happiness. When possible, Anna spent hours in the forest observing trees, sitting on the grass or just walking and listening to its melody.
Anna loved people and as a teenager she loved babysitting (it was not a paid activity that time). Mums were glad when Anna helped them and looked after or played with their little ones. Later in life, Anna realised that babysitting naturally increased her level of intuition and understanding of people around. Anna kept saying: "People around us are the most important asset we have in our lives. It is known that we are influenced and become an average of 5 people we spend the most time with. Not many people realise that equally other people are influenced by us too and we should take the responsibility to be the best versions of ourselves and influence them with something extraordinary too!"
Studying medicine was one of Anna's dreams for many years while she was a child/teenager. Her vision of helping and healing many people around her was very strong so she was preparing for this study at university. But the life had different plans for her and Anna could not wait to have her own kids. Studying medicine requires lots of time and Anna, after having her first child at age of 18, knew that it would be extremely difficult to achieve it without neglecting her child. Being keen on having a university degree, studying Mathematics became an easier and more convenient option. Anna was good at Math (she won a few regional math competitions), her approach to solving Math problems was creative and she could understand numbers well. Anna finished her 5 years master degree in Math in Slovakia with a second baby born before her final year. While her kids were little, she was helping out for a few hours a week in a graphic studio where she learned the secrets of Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. Anna fell in love with graphic design.
Anna never dreamed about moving abroad, she was happy in Slovakia. However, sometimes our life brings us surprises. Her husband decided to move to the UK and after some time Anna, wishing to keep the young family together, followed him and moved with kids to the UK. Applying to jobs and sending CVs with zero work experience in the UK & not very fluent English did not bring any success and Anna had to start from zero again. She dreamed becoming a programmer so by deciding to undertake a study at the university in the UK her door to the IT world got open. Her English improved and her hard work brought her First Class degree in Information Systems and Computing at UWL London. In the last year of her study, Anna was offered to stay at the university as a research assistant and later to conduct PhD study with a couple of hours as a teaching assistant. Her PhD research focused on peer-to-peer mobile collaboration. Anna's previous surname was Kocurova so all published papers and thesis were written under that name.
PhD Thesis:
After completing her PhD study, Anna started to look for a job in the IT industry and found a job as a software analyst and developer in a small software company. She liked the company culture, her boss and colleagues. There was no blame policy and this small team has become her second family. She learned a lot in this job, felt supported and appreciated. Being involved in a full lifecycle of placement management systems used by universities, soon Anna has become the main person responsible for the design, implementation and support of two web applications.
After her car accident in 2010, Anna started to reevaluate her own life approach and its quality and audit her inner feelings. Her interests in personal and spiritual development, beliefs that people can expand their potential, and live passionate and fulfilling life took her on a journey of own self development. Reading motivational and self growth books, practising Chi Kung and TaiChi, learning various techniques to improve her life, overcome negative self talks or to break own limiting patterns&beliefs became a part of her daily life. Anna could see how her abilities to motivate, inspire and guide her family members & friends were improved over the time which lead her to a decision to support many others on their journey.
Anna is very creative and her passionate soul is also expressed via her artwork - mainly polymer clay sculpting, painting and pyrography. Creation of lots of posters for free when people asked her, website design for a charity organisation, self-development tools, digital journals and Canva templates only demonstrate her love for graphic design. And although Anna was happy in her full time job, she also wanted to create tools for personal and spiritual development, mainly for women. She started her SangFroid Spirit project with the following idea:
Women dedicate themselves to being loving wives and mothers, and are often very busy with raising kids, creating warm and welcoming homes, and building own career. Most women put themselves and their personal dreams last. My mission was to support women, boost their motivation and confidence. It is important to know how to keep your own cup full and have a passion driven life.
In 2022, Anna has become a certified happiness facilitator/trainer, she collated all her knowledge, experiences and research and designed her own happiness model called 'Like a Diamond'. The happier, the shinier!
Anna believes that:
To create a better world, one has to start with oneself.
"If you think you are too small to make a difference,
try sleeping with a mosquito."
Dalai Lama XIV
Anna believes that:
People should do things which make them happy - many people give up their activities because someone told them that they were not good enough to do them. But it is not about being the best in doing something, it is about having fun, great feeling and joy. I love trying new activities, my aim is to have fun and laugh, and learn something new
Anna believes that:
People should live their own lives (not lives of people seen on social media). Spending too much time on computers & mobile devices by observing photos and lives of other people make your own life shorter and emptier.
Anna believes that:
People should feel good enough - our diversity makes the world an interesting place to live and we are all equal. Each of us has different skills, abilities and qualities. Appreciate and love your uniqueness and you will glow from inside out :)
Learn-as-I-Go Artist
Anna is a creative soul and through her art work she expresses her love to God, people and nature.
Polymer Clay Sculpting, Pyrography, Painting & Junk Journals
