Why did I start AssertiveWay.com?

Hi, I’m Ivna Curi. Let me share my story with you.

I’m a hard working Electronic / Electrical Engineer. I worked most of my career in Analytics. My mom, dad, and brother are Engineers. 

To be honest, we struggled with impactful communication. 

It was challenging in the first 2 years of my career but not too damaging. 

But as soon as I became a manager it took a greater toll on my ability to made a difference, to contribute, to advance my vision, my team, and myself! 

I always thought that as long as I was focused on my studies and worked hard, that I’d get ahead in my career, be recognized, and make a difference. I was a shy, awkward, introverted, people-pleasing, social anxious person.

Once I joined corporate life and had my first team, I realized it wasn’t the work that kept me up at night, it was getting the collaboration and support of many people to get ahead, support my team, and also get stuff done. And that included dealing with busy people with different communication styles, competing interests, different personalities, backgrounds, cultures, and agendas.

I saw people that were so indispensable that they were blocked from getting a promotion to another department, people being bullied because they were nice, the smartest and most qualified person get overlooked because they didn’t speak up enough.

Luckily, I had a wonderful boss and mentor early in my career who taught me and pushed me to be more assertive every day. And it changed everything for me and for my team.

My favorite part of work has always been to empower other professionals, so I decided to dedicate my career to empower good professionals in challenging situations to find and use their voice to fulfill their career potential no matter what challenges they face. 

I believe that:

• Successful people communicate assertively.
• You can speak up and be assertive with any personality or background, including introverts, women, and minorities.
• You can be kind, thoughtful, caring, generous and still be assertive, powerful, and decisive.
• To be truly respected you must be assertive.
• If you are “nice” all the time, you cannot be kind or thoughtful all the time.
• You can be kind, generous, polite, caring, soft, gentle, AND assertive.
• The best leaders are assertive.
• The fastest way to build confidence is by learning how to be more assertive because it gives you agency. 

A few more things about me

I’ve had several multi-cultural teams, worked or studied in 6 countries, did a MBA at a top international school (Insead), worked in the corporate world like at Johnson & Johnson and A.T. Kearney management consulting, and now I run my own company. I also studied at the top aeronautical military engineering school in the country. I love to meet interesting people from very different backgrounds, exploring new things, exotic experiences, nature walks, and I want to lead a movement for life skills that make a difference. I’ve also published some of my thoughts at Forbes and taught workshops at Ellevate Network.

My trainings

My assertive communication trainings have been seen by more than 21 thousand students in 152 countries. We are the only company in the world focused solely on developing assertiveness skills at work and in your career.

Here’s what students have said after taking my courses

• “I enjoyed this course and felt empowered by it. Tutor was clear and engaging.” – Adrien M.
• “That was really useful to get through. I feel more energetic to deal with people.” – Yogesh V.
• “Ivna creates a safe and supportive environment to connect and empower one another towards their highest goals and ambitions.” – Natalie M.
• “Good pointers and techniques to be assertive, examples do ring a bell on the behaviors I was doing wrong.” – Pramod P.
• “It is amazing information to upgrade myself in the field to engage our customers and express properly what I want.” – Raja D.
• “This course has definitely enlightened me on my behaviors and my communication type and how I can improve myself. Thank you so much J” – Khyrouma J.
• This course was very informative in showing the different signs of being aggressive, introvert, extrovert – points out how to speak out your beliefs, your opinions in a calm manner. It builds your confidence knowing you aren’t afraid to speak your mind, getting what you want, believing in yourself to get the job done!” – Elizabeth T.

Meet me on our weekly newsletter, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, Linkedin, Quora.

Here are 3 ways you can start right now: