My Adobe Life: Natasa Suvakov’s Creative Proposal

No two career journeys at Adobe are alike, and sometimes the surprise turns and stops along the way make for the most rewarding experiences. In our series “My Adobe Life,” we explore some of these diverse stories, asking employees to share their best insights, advice and lessons learned along the way.
Natasa Suvakov didn’t let a small detail—the fact that Adobe didn’t actually have a suitable position for her at the time—stop her from getting hired. She figured out the right person to approach, prepared a convincing proposal—and soon found herself working here. If that isn’t living the Adobe value of being innovative, what is?

Natasa has been with Adobe for three years now, working as a Legal Specialist in the Maidenhead office. She qualified as a solicitor with Adobe in January 2016.

A Successful Business Proposal

After completing a three-year, undergraduate degree in Law (LLB), Natasa passed the bar exams to become a barrister and accepted a position with a law firm in Central London.

“After a year there, I wanted more diversified experience, and I applied for an internship at Adobe,” she said.

Natasa completed the three-month internship and loved the work, but her education still had a gap: In the UK, a solicitor must undergo a two-year “training contract” at a host firm. She still needed that part of her education, but Adobe didn’t participate in the program.

“I started looking for training programs with other firms, but I couldn’t get Adobe off my mind,” she said.

That’s when her confidence and creative proposal paid off.

“I emailed Christian Keim, the head of Legal in EMEA, and asked if Adobe would consider offering a training contract,” she said. “I gave him a business proposal, and they decided to take me on as their first trainee.”

Are you wondering what was in that effective proposal?

“My email simply contained a little background as to what a training contract is, together with what Adobe’s and my obligations would be,” Natasa said.

“I described the benefits to Adobe,” she continued. “I kept it short, so it didn’t seem like a potential burden on Christian and Adobe. Then, once we met for coffee, I provided more details.”

“We were pleased when Natasa approached us, as it allowed Adobe to add a new development path into the EMEA Legal team,” Christian said. “Given the great experience we had with her, we’ve now taken on our next trainee.”

Two Years Later…

Today, Natasa supports the UK and Netherlands on all commercial transactions.

“This involves drafting and reviewing direct sales agreements, among other types of consulting and outsourcing documents,” she explained. “I also negotiate with customers in order to finalize a contract, which involves daily dealings with internal stakeholders such as Sales, the Deal Desk, Revenue Recognition, Finance and others.”

Watch a two-minute video of Natasa sharing insights into her experiences with Adobe and more: