She sold pencils at the gate of her house at six and a half years old. Nobody had forced her to. She did it because she wanted to. And once Raluca had decided to do something, there was no changing her mind. Three decades and several reinventions later, Raluca Ioana Man is still operating on the same instinct. Find the opportunity, move towards it, and figure out the rest as you go.
Raluca Ioana Man is a strategic business advisor and board consultant working with founders, executives, and scaling companies on business strategy, positioning, and critical decisions. She is the Founder of RSEVEN and the Business Society Accelerator, and is actively involved in the startup ecosystem across multiple markets.
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She grew up in Romania, the only child of parents who were busy with their own work and their own ambitions. That, she says, was a gift, though it didn’t always feel like one. “I was lucky not to be the spoiled only child,” she reflects. She had to learn things for herself and sit with the discomfort of not always having someone to turn to ask for direction. “It’s what stretched me. It’s what gave me a lot of strength, no matter what challenges life puts in front of me.”
Her mother taught philosophy and history at a local university. What she taught her daughter was deep respect for honesty.
“Honesty doesn’t come wrapped in a pink bow. Only those who care about you will be honest with you, even with the things we don’t always want to hear.”
Raluca says.
Her father’s lesson fed a different side of her character. He was an advocate for nurturing creativity and talent, regardless of how difficult life becomes. Both lessons have guided Raluca throughout her journey, both in her career and personal life.
Soon after finishing her MBA, Raluca made the decision to leave her life and comfortable job back in Romania and move to Cyprus. She arrived knowing no one and little more than three words of Greek: kalimera, kalispera, and fraoules. She gave herself six months to a year, and if things didn’t work out, she would return to open her own company. That was the plan. But by September, she had gone back to Romania for one more suitcase and told her family she wasn’t coming back.
In 2017, she founded RSEVEN. The early years, she says, were a roller coaster. A 2018 crisis, then cross-border growth, then a pandemic, then projects built around the Middle East when the war began. With every external shock, she had to redirect. Though every pivot was difficult, she was grateful for the lessons life was throwing her way, for these had not been shared with her back in business school.
“You will never be ready. So just go ahead, but make sure you’re specific on what you do.”
she says.
When asked what it has been like to build as a woman, she says she never faced resistance because she was a woman. She faced it because she looked young. “Too young” for a job. She remained patient. What she refused to do is doubt herself out of a room before she has even entered it. “If I don’t have a seat at the table, I’m bringing my own table and putting it next to yours.”
Her message for the next generation of leaders is not dressed in soft cotton and bubblewrap. “You will get your struggles, and that’s the reality.” Rather than seeking comfort, she wishes for them to believe in themselves, ask for help without shame, use their voices, and stop following the masses. “Be unique. Be a little bit different. Set the trend instead of following, or at least come up with a new idea.”
Raluca Ioana Man is the fourth guest on The Future Makers: Women Building Cyprus. The full episode, including her reflections on power, failure, building across borders, and the values she refuses to compromise on, is available to watch now.
The Future Makers Podcast is a series of in-depth conversations about how future-makers are made, in Cyprus and beyond. Host Annetta Benzar sits down with people who are a leading force in our shared future and looks past the titles. Together, they travel back to the people and moments that shaped them, walk through the choices and challenges they are living through now, and look ahead to the futures they are trying to build.
The first season, Women Building Cyprus, follows women whose lives and decisions are changing what this island can be.
A production of The Future Media.
