"Never allow fears to destroy your vision, prejudices to prevent you from growth, cruelty to embrace your heart, greed to haunt your mind, or tumble to shade your flare". Andrea Čordaš chose not to adhere to the social norm. She refused to let her surroundings (politics, tradition, polarised views) dictate her life or career. She grew up in Mostar and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Management with the highest honours from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Subsequently she earned her Master of Arts in International Relations with merit from the Central European University. Early on in her life, she was characterized as a highly intellectual and curious young lady who had many interests from science-fiction to medicine. With a strong passion for reading, learning, exploring, she found it difficult to decide where to go with her career until she realised that she can make the biggest impact by helping founders build and grow companies.

Today, she is regarded by the community as a resilient, responsible and reliable leader who approaches every life challenge with integrity, dedication and effective strategy. She is a venture partner, startup advisor and tech entrepreneurship enthusiast experienced in building and growing businesses, with one key ingredient she values and nurtures: diversity.

She helped establish and grow the Herzegovina Association of Entrepreneurs, while her name is also closely related to SPARK and NSoft in Mostar. and Hellen’s Rock. She helped build new start-ups from scratch, later accelerating more than 35 tech startups and partnering with more than 40 organizations worldwide.

Countering the “binary way” of thinking that is overly prevalent in the world she grew up, she proved that both profit, and true human values can co-exist. While we all are being brought up and taught to go down the convenient life-path, her advice for everyone is to choose risk over security for its vast benefits. See what you can learn from an incredible woman who challenges the taboo topics and shows through her work that opportunities ensue from abandoning clichés and embracing diversity.