Paula Joanna Tkaczyk
I currently live and work in Denmark as a cost consultant at a firm that provides commercial management services to the construction industry. I have many hobbies outside of work, but my main one is yoga; I try to do that five times per week. I also go stand-up paddling and meet my friends by the water to swim and have a picnic. I read a lot and currently, I’m dedicating my spare time to learning Danish.
“Well-designed spaces are helping people function better, be happier and be more productive. It's about giving people a chance to spend their time as they like and in the places they really enjoy.”
Ready to breathe new life into the built environment
Paula Joanna Tkaczyk defines success as flexibility. To her, that means having the time to do what she really loves and working in the field that she enjoys. And looking at her current life and work situation, it seems as though she has already achieved that.
Paula lives in Copenhagen, where she works for KOSMOS, a leader in the international construction arena. The company provides specialist commercial management services such as business commercial strategy, cost estimating and planning, risk management and more. Her role as a cost consultant involves regularly dealing with financial analysis and financial management offers and ensuring her clients get the best value for their projects.
Paula came to IE University to study the Master in Business for Architecture and Design. She’s always believed in the ability of well-designed spaces to help people “function better, be happier and be more productive.” Through the program, she had the chance to nurture that view, all while building new skills and exploring innovative design approaches to the built environment. For Paula, what matters is enabling people to relax and find community—with their environment being a key piece of the puzzle: “It's about giving people a chance to spend their time as they like and in the places they really enjoy.”
“For me, success is flexibility; having the time to do what I really love and working in the field that I really enjoy.”
Paula loved the diversity she experienced in the Master in Business for Architecture and Design, referencing both the variety of subjects covered as well as the makeup of its faculty and student body. She credits her professors for her boundless motivation, saying that they “inspired” her through several practical, in-depth courses: those in strategy, marketing, project management, business development and operations management particularly stand out. “It opened my eyes to how much work and knowledge is actually necessary to run such an enterprise,” she notes.
Reflecting on her time in her program, Paula now sees that what IE University really gave her was a new grasp of what she needs to feel fulfilled in life. She learned to approach her career from a different angle and with a broader perspective, but she also gained new insight into the best ways to contribute and give back to the architectural industry. Going through the Master in Business for Architecture and Design, she says, gave her all the answers that she was looking for.
For anyone thinking about building a career in the architectural field, Paula considers it essential to know why they want to be part of it. The industry is wide open with opportunities and she encourages future Master in Business for Architecture and Design students to think about the changes they want to see in the built environment. “There’s so much impact that can be made,” she says. And she’s already starting to make her own!
