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Tamara Peklić | Cross-Cultural Coach

@tamarapeklic

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🌏 Decode East ↔ West communication
🧠 It’s rarely disrespect. It’s culture.
🎓 Cross-cultural communication coach
👇 US Communication Crash Course

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Believe me, being both an overachiever and perfectionist is a tough combination.

I'm slowly unlearning it, but the old programming still likes to have its say. It tells me that my work should speak for itself - and sharing praise might be 'too much'.

Today, I'm challenging that.

I'm stepping back and letting my collectors do the talking 🥹

This isn’t a victory lap. It’s a thank-you note, and perhaps a small reminder to myself that I’m allowed to feel proud of what I create.

Thank you Mariusz, Adam @cud_z_parczewa and Tamara @tamarapeklic for trusting me with your stories, sharing these beautiful words and reminding me why I do this.

I make art that feels like you, and seeing how it makes you feel will always be the most meaningful part. 🎨

My commission book is currently open until 25 October. If you have an idea for something personal, my DMs are open.

#customartwork
#polishartist
#sztukanazamowienie

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Kinez u Chinatown Chicago koji čita ćirilicu!

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This weekend I was at Oktoberfest, and it made me think. 🍺
Munich has a beer. In the Balkans, we have rakija ready every time someone rings the doorbell. 🥃😄

Because let’s be honest, in every decent Balkan home there’s a bottle waiting. For guests, for celebrations, for a cold, for a broken heart. Not having one is almost embarrassing. 😅

But it’s never really about the drink. Just like Oktoberfest isn’t only about beer. It’s about what it carries: hospitality, family, the grandpa who made it himself, the feeling that anyone who walks through your door is welcome.

When you move abroad, these little rituals suddenly matter more. They remind you who you are. And you don’t have to leave them behind to fit in somewhere new. You can raise a Maß in Munich and still keep a bottle of rakija on your shelf. You carry both, and they become part of the new you. 🤍

So tell me: what’s the one thing every home in YOUR culture has to have? 👇
From our conversation on Let’s Have a Kiki with @tamarapeklic where we talked about the traditions we carry with us, and why they matter even more far from home. 🎙️
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I’m Kristina (Kiki) 👋 Sociologist & career coach. 15 years, 3 countries, 4 careers.
I help people who’ve outgrown their life find clarity and build a career that fits who they are now. ✨
👉 DM me REINVENT for a free 30-min call.

#rakija #oktoberfest #balkanlife #munich #lifeabroad expatlife culture identity letshaveakiki

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Should 80% of your friends be other nomads?

In episode 70 of the Nomad Summit Podcast, cross-cultural coach Tamara Peklić shares her 80/20 rule for building a social life abroad: keep the nomad friends who understand the lifestyle, but make sure you’re also creating real connections with locals.
Her advice is simple: don’t “hobby your life out.” Pick one thing you genuinely enjoy, keep showing up, and give relationships time to develop.

Because if you only socialize inside the nomad bubble, are you really experiencing the place you chose to live?

🎧 Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.

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10 je ALI
Balkan edition! Svi volimo da se pokažemo malo bolje nego što stvarno jeste 😉
Ako mene pitate, Tamara jeste bila malo stroga u ocenjivanju- šta biste vi rekli?
Cela epizoda sa Tamarom je na YouTube kanalu 🎙️ Only in America With Mina

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Growing up Slavic, directness isn’t rudeness, it’s respect. ☝️
You say what you mean because hiding it would be the disrespectful move, wasting someone’s time dancing around something they deserve to just hear.

Then you land in a workplace built on a completely different rulebook, somewhere like the US, and that same directness that made you trustworthy back home can land you in an HR conversation. Not because you meant harm. Because bluntness reads as aggression somewhere it was never supposed to.

Here’s what makes it genuinely hard to unlearn, if it’s even the right thing to unlearn: we don’t carry this trait quietly. We carry it with pride. It’s not a flaw we’re managing, it’s part of how honesty is supposed to work where we come from. Being told to soften it can feel like being told to be less honest, not just less blunt.

So the real question isn’t whether to drop the directness. It’s learning where it needs a different wrapper, without ever mistaking the wrapper for the message disappearing.

Where has your directness gotten you in trouble somewhere it was never meant to be a problem?

#crossculturalcommunication #slavic #livingabroad #culturalrules #executivecommunication expatlife directcommunication corporateculture

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Tamara je pogadjala srpske izraze, ja hrvatske!
Sada kao redovan gost svakog meseca pričamo koliko je još Balkan u nama, a šta lako prihvatamo!

Cela epizoda na YouTube kanalu
Only in America With Mina 🎙️

Collaboration with:

@cherrytrader_ – Truck and equipment Trading

@fleetmate.us – Fleet Management

@eatfruitinvest – Agricultural Investments

@chirodadoacademy - chiropractic services world wide!

@x_x_x_express_inc - trucking and logistics, Chicago

@tizitransfer – Woeld wide money Transfers

@dragonrentacarbelgrade – Car Rentals in Belgrade

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Grew up in Croatia. Living the reinvention across borders, both of us.

You’ll say you’re from Croatia before you’ll ever say you’re Slavic. Something about that second word makes people flinch, like it comes with an apology attached.

Had Tamara Peklic back for round two, and we went straight into it, why Croatians distance themselves from being Slavs, even among ourselves.

The thing is: as a global citizen, you get to choose. What you take from every culture you pass through, and what you keep from the one you actually came from. Nobody hands you that permission slip, you just have to decide you’re allowed to write it yourself.

What’s something you’ve quietly adopted from the country you live in now?

#crossculturalcommunication #livingabroad #culturalrules #slavic #croatian

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Two Croatians, two hours, one looong & insightful conversation.

Had Tamara Peklic on Let’s Have a Kiki and we covered everything. 😆
Slavic directness and why it terrifies people who aren’t used to it. Having rakija in the house as basically a cultural institution. The most common misunderstandings that happen when a Balkan way of communicating meets a room that expects something softer.

Thank you @tamarapeklic for having a Kiki with me and arranging this call like real Balkan coffee date: fast, concrete and warm. ☕️

In this video, Tamara introduces what she does and who she works with. Right after that, she breaks down something I think about constantly: the difference between adapting and assimilating. Adapting means you bend. Assimilating means you disappear.

When did you first notice you’d adapted a little too much?

#crossculturalcommunication #croatia #letshaveakiki #reinventingyou #slavic

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Gde god da živite u SAD, nema izgovora da ne iskoristite momenat i zakažete termin da pomognete sebi!

+381 62 8970584 ZAKAŽI NA VREME!

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Chicken skewers shrimp, skewers, sausage corn on a cob and potatoes #bbqcanada #webergrillca

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