Most of you know Ivelina Atanasova as the owner of Matrix Inc. But do you know what is hiding behind the success of the company? Her passion for personal growth, her endless energy, her creativity, and her ability to dig deeper into the roots of her soul so she can bring the best out of it on the surface. And the best part of it is that she can bring the best part out of every person around her.
Read the interview and get to know the deeper part of Ivelina Atanasova. Her passions and how did all of these combined help her shape Matrix into the successful trucking company that it is today.
Tell us about yourself and your passions.
Oh boy, where do I start from… Well, I think of myself as very curious and active person, really energetic, solution-oriented, optimist to the core of my being, hustler and at the same time I have a loving and caring heart that has room for many… and I am humble, LOL! I love to read, study and learn new concepts, grow and evolve, meditate, personal development overall and also love to have fun and I do it through singing, working out (believe it or not, it could be a lot of fun), dancing, making surprises for people or how I call it, thanks to one of my incredible mentors Tony Robbins, I love to create magical moments for people! Oh, I love puzzles and painting too! And most of all, I love being a caring and loving leader for my team and a keeper of the family hearth for my loved ones! In other words, I could be a hand full for others with my energy and passions! 😊))
The story behind her biggest passion…
One of my biggest passions of all time though is personal development, and psychology is what I focused on from a very young age. It started as a way to get out desperation. And the story sounds a little like the Ugly Duckling story, because I was born with a cleft lip. For those of you that like statistic, in the US currently 1 of 1600 babies is born like that and in Bulgaria no more than a 100 babies are born with this abnormality annually. And imagine back in 1983, those number probably have been even lower and we probably didn’t know much about how to treat it. Anyway, this is a facial abnormality that I had live with all my life or up until certain point, when I just forgot about it. So you could imagine growing with “something”, a scar right in the middle of your face. It is tricky. Especially when you are a girl and you want to feel beautiful even more than boys. And that “thing” is right there, in the middle of my face. I thought everyone was seeing IT first and then me. I felt not beautiful enough, not good enough, not Perfect… And when on top of my thoughts and insecurities, I had the bullies around me that were calling me different, “very pleasant” names … you know how painfully honest kids can be. That was the moment when the little girl Ivelina started looking for answers, for deeper meaning of things, for more value to add to myself, because obviously my body “betrayed” me. And that passion started at that young age, when it actually felt like a curse, but later on, the adult woman in me started finding the countless blessings from it. And honestly, every one has their story of being different as a kid, of having crazy dreams and being bullied one way or another. For me it was more physically visible, I thought at the time, and really the deeper scar, the one beyond the physical part, is emotional. And we all have these, one way or another. From that experience, I actually learned so many life lessons and I keep learning from it. Some of them are to appreciate the differences in people, to speak up for those that are insecure to do it for themselves, to be a leader of my own life, to be careful when judging, to let go and accept, but never settle and many more.
The passion…
Now, the version of Ivelina that I am today, after all these years of learning, from the Psychology seminars I went as teenager to the giant Tony Robbins’ events that I participated in relentlessly for almost 2 years, I feel ready and really passionate to give back and be by those that are starting their path, be by their side and be that clear mirror that they need, to see that behind everyone’s achievements, behind anything that anyone ever did in their lives, there is only one person and that is the one in the mirror!
Matrix became a sponsor of the family constellations event at Magura center. What is your connection with the family constellations and what impact did they have on your life?
I learned about Family constellations back in 2017. My godmother invited to be a part of this “event” she called it at that time and back then I was in an interesting place of my life looking for answers and actively trying new things to find them. So, I said Yes and I went to that “event”. To my surprise, the experience I got myself into was exactly what I needed at the moment and I found more answers in one session even just being an observer than I could have found for the past year or so. I didn’t understand the method back then, I don’t think I can fully comprehend it at this point in my life too and what I know for a fact is that it works and it had helped me in moments of my life that were critical to be where I am today. After that first “event”, I keep calling it an event and what it really was, it was an emotional process, deep emotional process, that worked like a magic. So in the following years, I got myself into more processes like this in different roles – as a client that is working on her own topic, as a representative for other people’s topics and as an observer – an all of these roles left an imprint and lead me to deep insights that I’ve never been able to get before that, not at least in the area of family relationships. I learned about my subconscious programing or in other words about how we can be loyal to our ancestors and how that loyalty affects our lives, our decision making process, everything! Family constellations is a method that many people will label different ways, my way of labeling it is – it helps people heal deep emotional transgenerational trauma and it works like magic!
How did it help you overcome your challenges?
Another great question! Well, what I can say is what it did most recently, it helped me heal even more the relationship with my mom. Let’s face it, this is one of the most complicated relationships that we all are in and in the same time, it is the most important one! It is the one that gives you wings!
What made you decide to sponsor this event?
The idea was born during a process that I was in with Elitsa last year, called Primal. And it was born because this was my first time that I got into 5 day, deep emotional process that was lead in Bulgarian. Before that process, I’ve done some work in Bulgarian, but majority of my Personal Development work I did in English with Tony Robbins and Bob Proctor! A little digression, but these are my two favorite mentors and they helped me get out of that interesting place that mentioned earlier, along with Family constellations, coaching and last but not least, the personal therapy that I had with my first “partner in crime”, the Neoreichian analytical body psychotherapist – Denitsa Ilcheva.
I actually recently started a new chapter with her too. I love them all. Each one of them left a huge imprint on my psyche. So during that process, I felt how incredible it is to do my emotional work in my native language, how much closer it gets to my heart when it is done that way and just like that, the idea was born: “How can I bring this to the Bulgarian community in Chicago?” was the question I asked… and you know your brain is like Google, it will answer all the questions that you ask it, so you better be careful what you ask it 😊 Because you shall receive that answer 😊 As soon as I asked that question, I approached Elitsa and briefly mentioned the idea to her to come to Chicago and facilitate something for the Bulgarian community. She felt the energy in the idea and within the next few days we started planning around it.
I decided to sponsor the event because I believe so much in the method and I’ve personally benefited from Elitsa’s work, so I felt how I want to give back to her and to the community as whole! As immigrants, we all have a story and that story usually has some emotional blockages one way or another. Losing our roots is one of the things we all go through when we decide to immigrate, and this happens no matter how happy we are that we are leaving our country. I see this event as a unique opportunity for many of the Bulgarians in US to connect to their roots and grow their wings! I can’t wait to see that happening 😊
How did you decide to become a trucking company owner?
Another fun story right there 😊 Well, I didn’t plan for it. It just happened in an effort to do something meaningful with the 4 trucks that my now ex-husband Vladimir had. One of my friends mentioned to me that there are websites called load boards, where loads are posted and that her friend and her husband are doing that, so “Why don’t you try and see how it works?” were her words. And me being me… I didn’t need much more than that, because at that point of my life, I didn’t have a steady job and I was really looking for opportunities that will allow me to work from anywhere in the world. Vladimir on the other side, was the best person for that project, because he also had time during the week when trucks are on the road, so I looked up a load board, paid for one month and the rest is history! We had an amazing partnership for years and what worked most was our transparency and authenticity. We really wanted to serve in that industry and people felt it. Later on, we split our ways and now he is doing his magic at his own company and I do mine at Matrix with my incredible team, that I love so much
How did your passion for personal growth and spirituality help you shape Matrix into the company it is today?
As Tony Robbins says, “Success is 80% psychology and 20% skills.” Shifting my mindset to become that servant leader, that business owner, not business operator, that detailed oriented financial manager really helped me in managing my business at times of turbulence and at times of great success, because both need management, believe it or not. Knowing my numbers in the business was always my thing, but gaining that additional level of understanding and skills how to read these numbers, keeps Matrix in its stable and growing situation. And that along with understanding people’s psyche and how to work with people in the most respectful, caring and loving way that I am capable at the moment, of course… I credit all of my personal success as leader and human being and all my business success to personal growth, spirituality and of course, my phenomenal parents. Spirituality provides me with numerous tools to handle urgencies and as you know we live in a really quick paced world and those “urgencies” are everywhere. Unless we learn to manage our focus, create strong boundaries and have clear vision, we are exposed like, what I often like to say, Neo in the movie Matrix and that unforgettable scene where he escapes all the bullets coming his way and even have them turn around and shoot back at the shooter! This is what Spirituality and Personal growth helps people achieve – be balanced when times are not, and enjoy the ride 😊And parents… well without them and their love and care, we wouldn’t be here! No matter how many things we blame them for, they are the reason that we are on this Earth and if we are going to blame them for all the “ bad “ things, might as well blame them for all the good they’ve done!!
What’s the outcome for your team and the drivers?
The most important outcome for us as team and for our owner-operators is to bring even more safety, transparency and on time deliveries on US roads, while maximizing revenue for our incredible road knights, loyal and dedicated business partners, respected peers 🙂… our owner operators and brokers!
What’s your advice to the other trucking companies?
I actually don’t feel in a position to give advice to trucking companies, because I see myself as business leader and developer, not necessarily as a trucking expert. And if I have to give an advice to all business owners it would be Serve from your heart, “Business is a spiritual game!” like Tony always says!
What is your future vision now that you have put your passion into your business? What’s your spiritual mission?
You want to know it all! 😊 Well, my plan is to keep growing and evolving and keep bringing even more heart, understanding, and development to Matrix and when it comes to my spiritual mission, I see myself becoming a philanthropist on a much higher scale 😊 This is what I want in my heart! That I know 😊
You already know that Ivelina Atanasova is much more than just a business owner- she is a people person that serves from her heart! If you want to learn more about Matrix don’t hesitate to visit our website www.matrixtrucks.com