PETOŠEVIĆ PEOPLE: Q&A with Jelena Radević

Senior Trademark and Patent Paralegal Jelena Radević has been part of our Montenegro team for 15 years. Jelena handles trademark prosecution and maintenance, patent annuity payments and translations. We asked Jelena about her work, her interests and hobbies, things most people don’t know about her, and much more.

1. How did you start your career in IP?

   It was not exactly planned. I was 22 years old and fresh out of college. I thought I would work in IP until I found a job more related to my degree (English Language and Literature and Education and Pedagogy). Little did I know that I would fall in love with the field and our firm, especially the people, and still be here 15 years later.

2. What is the most challenging aspect of your work?

   It is challenging to stop thinking about my work and to stop worrying if I have missed a deadline.

3. What do you most enjoy doing at work?

   Working on cases from start to finish and communicating with clients about them. The more difficult the case, the better.

4. What would you be working in, if you weren’t working in IP?

   I would probably be teaching, but I am not sure how much I would like that job now.

5. What was the first job you’ve ever had?

   My first real job was at PETOŠEVIĆ. I did some part-time work during college – I taught English, I worked at the grocery store and I attended seminars as part of the organization crew at a local firm.

6. What is your favorite thing to do when you are not working?

   I like to be outdoors with my family, a picnic in the park or an easy hike around the many hills surrounding Podgorica. Most people today have a busy lifestyle and spend a lot of time indoors, so being in the nature contributes to our mental and physical well-being.

7. What book did you read last?

   Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography “Born to Run”.

8. What is your favorite song/music at the moment?

   Good old rock and roll.

9. What is your favorite dish of all time?

   Kačamak — a traditional Montenegrin dish made from potato and cheese, usually served with homemade yoghurt. The dish is made with a kind of cheese produced only in the small northern town of Kolašin. This cheese is layered in slices as thin as paper and this is what makes kačamak so stretchy and delicious.

10. If you could meet anyone in the world, from the past or present, who would it be and why?

    The younger me would have said James Joyce, Virginia Woolf or Friedrich Nietzsche. The present me would like to have a long coffee with David Bowie and Salvador Dalí. I simply find them both so fascinating, eccentric and ahead of their time, I dare say even out of this world.

11. What was your favorite subject in school and why?

    My two favorites were biology and art.

12. What did you want to be when growing up?

    A vet or a painter.

13. Tell us three things most people don’t know about you.

    I cannot pronounce the letter L properly, and while it is not noticeable when I speak English, in Montenegrin or any other Slavic language my L phoneme sounds very funny.

    I have a tremor, a neurological disorder that makes my hands shake. As Sheldon Cooper from series “Big Bang Theory” would say – “I am not crazy, my mom had me tested”. I have been tested indeed, and I am not predisposed to any serious illness. It is just a condition that makes me look like I am nervous when I am not at all. It is who I am, I have learned to live with it, and despite this condition I am very good at things that require precision with hands.

    I am interested in environmental protection and tend to stick to the three Rs – recycle, reuse, reduce. My entire family volunteers at a local NGO, with which we do bird ringing, bird watching, and help out with monitoring certain species.

14. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?

    To dive professionally.

15. What is your biggest frustration about the world around you?

    The total neglect of our planet. I am also frustrated by human greed and the insatiable need for power and material things that disregards all obstacles, including hunger, poverty and even the life of another human being.

16. What is the most important thing you have learned in the last five years?

    I have learned to be patient and not to stress about things that are out of my hands.

17. What do you wish you could have told yourself at age 13?

    Read more!

18. What cities/countries have you lived in?

    I have only lived in Podgorica, but I like to travel and explore and I strive to do it as often as I can.

19. If you could live in another country of the 30+ countries where PETOŠEVIĆ operates, which would you pick and why?

    Croatia — I know it is not far from Montenegro, but I love Croatian islands and peninsulas. There is also a slight difference in their mentality and culture that I like. It is on one of the Croatian islands that I picture myself getting old.

20. If someone came to your city for 24 hours, where would you take them?

    I would take them to see the ruins of the ancient town of Duklja. We would then go for a stroll along the sunny banks of the many mountain rivers running through Podgorica, and for a small hike on the Dajbabe hill to see the entire town at nightfall.