Kate Pribytkova, head of operations at Dubai photography start-up self.space, moved from Switzerland to Dubai in 2018, newly out of university. After stints in hotel revenue management, the Russian pavilion at Expo 2020 and freelance events production, she joined the founding team of this AI-powered self-portrait studio in Al Quoz’s Goshi Warehouse City.
At 29, she earns Dh20,000 ($5,445) a month and is saving for a first property.
What has your career path been like?
I studied hospitality and revenue management in Switzerland and moved to Dubai right after university. I'd been with Marriott during my internships and when I moved here. When it was proposed I try revenue management, I kind of accidentally got into it, loved it and stayed for a few years. There was a postgraduate training programme where you rotate around the hotel to get a quicker path to growth. I completed that and then moved to headquarters for revenue management until 2021.
After that, I got a proposition to join Expo, which I did as international communications director for the Russian pavilion, all the way through.
After that, I did some freelance events work, then joined a production company, and that's how I met the founders of self.space.
What was your first salary?
I came to Dubai a few months before my graduate programme started and interned at The Ritz-Carlton JBR in reservations. The salary was between Dh2,000 and Dh2,500, but accommodation and a canteen were provided by the hotel.
During the graduate programme, it grew to around Dh3,200 to Dh3,500, because the programme had an additional salary component.
Tell us about your current role
I'm head of operations at self.space and I make Dh20,000 a month. We are a start-up. The idea is simple: we give people a chance to have great professional photographs without the awkwardness or difficulty of booking a shoot. People come in, click a button, take their own portrait and our AI algorithm retouches the image. You get your photos about five minutes after you finish the session.
Since I've been here from the beginning, it's easier to say what I haven't done. From sourcing the first mirror to designing the mobile studio, building the team, managing the entire construction of our flagship studio, through to operational management, B2B collaborations, overseeing content and social media, and liaising with our finance director and lawyers – it is the full start-up experience. But primarily my role is managing the studio, hospitality and making sure people are happy.
Do you manage to save?
I'm saving around 70 per cent of what I earn right now. We agreed that for the time being my husband, as a gentleman, handles most things, and I take out a lot of what I earn and just pile it up for the down payment, to get into real estate.
Do you invest in anything?
Frankly, I'm not very savvy with modern investment things like crypto. I am good with money, which is perhaps why they hired me. I'm thinking of investing a little in stocks and we are discussing how we want to build our portfolio.
But before all that, I just want to save up for the apartment. I don't play with this money – I'm very safe, very conservative. Once you feel settled, once you have the car and the place sorted, then you can take on different risk ratios and longer-term strategies.
Do you have any debt?
Not personally. As a family, our apartment and my husband's vehicle are on loans, but I have never taken out a loan in my own name.
I always felt it was crucial to have a safety net. When you are young and you don't earn much, you focus on building that net. My parents paid for my education, so there was no education loan. That meant I sometimes took a longer route to things I wanted – I got my first car at 24 – but I felt more comfortable owning things I have.
Especially early in my career, when things like Covid happened and made it clear that safety is an illusion, that mindset only got stronger.
Growing up, were you taught to manage money?
My father taught me in one simple way. He fixed the amount of money he gave me during university and said: “You can spend it all in one day and eat off noodles, or you can be smart about it.” He let me play around with that decision.
I graduated with a couple of thousand euros saved up after four years. Crumbs, but crumbs by crumbs.
What are your biggest monthly outgoings?
We budget as a family. My husband is in IT, so our household has two incomes. Day to day, we try to live within our means – car maintenance, the usual things everyone spends on.
We do have a small budget out of our combined salaries for entertainment; since we both work a lot, we need to get some fresh air sometimes.
Where we spend more is on holidays. We had a couple of smaller trips that didn't cost much, in order to have one proper one where you can really switch off – we fulfilled our dream of going to Japan recently.
How do you track your spending?
Through a simple Excel. We set it up about a year and a half ago, and now we have a general sense of what we spend across different categories.
We don't stress over small fluctuations – if one of us spends Dh500 more than the month before, we don't panic. We only have a discussion if we want to redirect something large.
I was lucky to marry someone who is also rational with money. If either of us wants to do something big, we talk about it and do it only when we are comfortable.
What are your financial goals?
In the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, there is a concept called “the rat race”. My general goal is to get out of the rat race – to always have the opportunity of doing what I do now because I love it, not because I have to survive on it.
Our family goal is to have enough assets to cover our basic needs, so that if one of us decided to step back or retire, it would not be a worry. By the time my husband turns 40, our dream is to have household asset wealth – not pure cash savings – of $1 million. That could be partly in property, partly in stocks, or other things. Once you reach that, even a conservative return of four or five per cent gives you a really solid cushion.
My parents gave me a start in life without a loan hanging over my head. The least I can do is pay that forward to my future children.
