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Dovilė’s relationship with Sweden began in the eleventh grade. The girl studied in an ordinary Swedish school for one school year, where the lessons were taught in Swedish and she lived with a Swedish family. He arrived without knowing Swedish, so he simply felt thrown into a foreign language environment, where he had to learn to swim himself.
It all ended with his return to Sweden to study after high school. After studying, he unexpectedly received an offer to do a six-month internship at a Swiss bank and those six months turned into nine years: four years working in a bank and then in a business consulting firm. Although the official working language at work was English, I had to reproduce and expand my knowledge of German at school, so I learned another language.
– You left very young and were not in Lithuania for 14 years. Did you stay in touch with your homeland during that time?
– I missed my parents, I wanted to communicate more often with my family, but it was not easy to return, even though we seem to be close. Even so, I had to balance travel with work, even on weekends I couldn’t impulsively go out. It used to be that I only flew on weekends, and on the first flight I go straight to work on Monday. It was frustrating, but she wanted to extend her stay as long as possible.
I always felt that I wanted to go back to Lithuania, to be closer to my family, but it turned out that my work and my career were in Switzerland. So I sighed that that was my destiny.
It is true that I did not feel alone because there was a man around who was very supportive. He is also Lithuanian, we met him when I studied in Singapore for a year. When I received an offer to work in Switzerland, he also moved.
– He quit his job anyway. How did this happen?
– I did a very prestigious job, it had very good conditions, but at the same time it was very exhausting, complex projects, long working hours. Certainly the work is not from nine to five, sometimes I had to start it on the fifth morning, adjusting to the client’s time zones.
Watching a man work, he, as a marketer, touring in the environment of startups, small businesses, I began to think about what I could try myself. For about a year and a half, I devoted all my evenings and weekends to this search.
My husband and I created a video blog about how he was doing those searches. Later, we started announcing 21-day challenges: meditation, sugar fasting, etc.
The last straw was when one day I passed out and was seriously injured; I had to go to the hospital to stitch up a wound.
At the same time, I kept working, even though I’d hit several breaking points when it seemed like I couldn’t anymore. I was bored, work was not joyous and exhausting. The last straw was when one day I passed out and was seriously injured; I had to go to the hospital to stitch up a wound. At the time, he was just curating a very tedious project. I was able to go to Singapore for it, but I refused; I said I couldn’t do it because I was barely standing on my own two feet.
Then my husband and I went on vacation to Bali for two weeks, and a few months later I left work and went to Bali for half a year.
– What attracted you to Bali?
– First of all, we wanted to reduce the cost of living: living in Switzerland is expensive. Second, we wanted a community of people to draw inspiration from. We were staying in a city where people who worked online were gathered, so it was common in cafes to see people in front of the computer.
There were many different events and trainings in the city, and our goal was to meet as many people as possible. I even find myself in a 21 day challenge: meeting a new person every day. After talking to them, I always asked them how they live here, what they live from, I tried to learn from them. I wanted to create a work activity that I would not continue.
And the time has come when, surrounded by these people, for the first time in my life, I felt that I could too. That I am no worse than them. Perhaps my career has been different so far, but I have a huge body of knowledge, I have gone through many projects whose themes and areas have always been new.
And that set me free. I thought: even if we only have to eat pasta for a while, we will eat pasta, but we will do what gives us satisfaction. Knowing that you are out of your comfort zone is very enriching, so I felt very firm.
Personal album photo album / Dovilė Sinkė
Half a year later, when we returned to Switzerland, we charged for free for the information that we had previously shared, and people kept buying because what we offered was tested in practice and effectively. People even received a separate book that instructed them on how to do one or the other 21-day challenge. Together, we also began providing marketing services to “start” an online business.
– Why did you return to Lithuania?
– When we got back from Bali, I knew he was waiting. It was a long-awaited and planned pregnancy. She wanted to give birth in Switzerland, because, having lived there for so many years, she knew how the healthcare system works, and in Lithuania everything should be explained from scratch. However, after giving birth we decided to return to Lithuania. The man always wanted to go back and I too felt safe after Bali.
Even though our new businesses didn’t come out long enough yet, I felt like everything would be fine. My daughter was born during the quarantine, so there were challenges, but that did not stop us from returning to Lithuania in August, as we had planned.
I lived with the idea of going back for about a year, I lived with this idea, so it is not difficult for me to live in Lithuania again. I look at everything in a very positive way. I know that some things will not work here as in Switzerland, which is a model country in the field of public transport, in terms of bureaucracy. In Switzerland, if it is said, that is the case. This is not always the case in Lithuania, but I decided not to resent anyone, because it was my decision to return, I want to live in Lithuania, I want to be closer to my family and for my daughter to grow up seeing her grandparents more often.
– And you did not come back empty, but with the rubberma.lt project?
– I already knew a year ago that when I returned to Lithuania I would start this project, so I was preparing for it. My idea is to create a community for mothers, especially since I felt like a mother long before I got pregnant. I waited for this event longer than I expected, I had to be treated. So I saw very well that the job I was working for was not flexible for the family, especially if they wanted to pursue a career.
I decided not to resent anyone, because it was my decision to return, I want to live in Lithuania.
When communicating with other moms, I realized that most feel similar to me, especially in Lithuania, where maternity leave is quite long and there is time to think about what I really want. Many mothers want to change their field of activity after the birth of a child or start their activities, work more flexibly, more freely, but they lack knowledge, support, community.
In Bali, I realized for myself how strong community support can be. See other people’s examples and see for yourself: if you did, so did I. There are really such communities abroad for active mothers, I thought Lithuanian mothers deserve to have such a community too.
Personal album photo album / Dovilė Sinkė
The platform connects moms who want to start their own business or individual activity, want to get ideas and understand what they could do, or who already have businesses but want to take them to the next level, attract more customers. I also invite those who already have experience and can be mentors. They will also discover the benefits of this community for themselves.
Several individual courses are popular now, but I focus on continuity because then the person grows more. That is why I set up a membership. We have prepared courses for our members on the platform with experts in various fields. Each month there will be a course on a new topic: how to formalize your business, how to use social media, engage in marketing, etc. Topics are chosen to be relevant to both those just starting out and those already in business. At the end of the month, there is an opportunity to ask questions of the expert during a remote conference.
We will also organize various events, so far in a virtual space, and then my dream is to meet in interesting places, present successful and inspiring mothers who can share practical advice. Finally, each mom has her own profile, everyone can see other moms, write messages to them, ask for advice, there is a separate forum where they can discuss. It is a safe space to grow and improve.
Why am I doing this? Like everyone else, you want to leave something in this world. And I had that thought.
I really believe in this idea, this project came from my heart. My dream a year later was to meet up at a one-year platform event and hear that at least some moms have changed their lives. That would be my greatest achievement.
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