Mirela Pascu

Interests and passions

Beyond strategic work, the rest of my time is divided between a few constants: I draw manually, I watch films with substance, I read extensively, I stay in BNI because real things happen there, I defend individual rights because applied Objectivism demands it.

Mirela Pascu in dress with Romanian ethnic print, warm background
Photo: Alina Botica.

Manual illustration

I draw with colored pencils and graphic tablet. Not metaphorically, literally by hand, on paper and on screen. It is the only part of my creative process that remains completely manual, with no AI in between. An antidote to the rest of my work, which passes through trained voices, automated systems, digital flows.

Where the instinct comes from

This passion did not appear in adulthood. My grandmother was involved in the fashion world, and I grew up surrounded by materials, textures, sequins, zippers, and buttons. At five I already knew how to sew, cut, design, and assemble. My first "fashion" project, a collection of clothes for a baby chick, with a vision board on the wall and 5-lei tickets pinned with a needle, was at five and a few months. The full story is on the Professional path page.

My illustrations today sometimes enter client decks, into the Noi Producem Podcast ecosystem, on the editorial pages I sign. They are not a commercial product, they are part of my mental hygiene.

Cinema and series with substance

I seek films and series from which I can extract something, whether a lesson, a good question, or an intellectual challenge. Cheap morality doesn't educate, and fiction without stakes doesn't deserve my time. Below are the titles I return to, that I recommend, and that I always have something to say about.

Speculative fiction and alternative worlds

Drama of power, politics, business, family

Biographies and histories

Crime, suspense, intelligence

Social criticism, journalism, vulnerability

The list grows as I find titles that pass the filter: something to say after watching, evolving or instructive.

Reading

I read with purpose, not as a hobby. The core bibliography I reread periodically:

BNI, the referral network

I stay in BNI because real things happen there, not algorithmic, not viral, not automated. Every week, people who look each other in the eye and send each other verified referrals. Not a network of convenience, a network of trust built over time.

In BNI I see Maxwell's 21 Laws applied weekly, with real stakes. It's one thing to read them, another to see them work at a table with twenty entrepreneurs playing their reputation on every referral.

Civic activism and applied Objectivism

I actively care about defending individual rights. Not as a political partisan, as a consistent Objectivist. The individual is the moral unit. Any system that sacrifices the individual on the altar of "the collective," "the common good," "safety," "the majority" comes into direct conflict with what I read from Rand, with what I sign daily, with what I defend publicly.

On international platforms, especially Bluesky, where my audience is English-speaking and more attentive to philosophical debate, I write articulate pieces on these ideas. It is my territory of intellectual civic activism.

What else coalesces

There are a few areas where I spend time without having formalized them yet into public routines:

Where these interests show