My memoirs, sneak peak, coming in 2030 (we hope) 🖤

🖤 Here’s a draft for my life story—layered, reflective, and full of flair, just like my work and my tattoos. Consider this the opening sketch, structured like a memoir-in-progress:

Title: Symbols in Flesh and Workflow: The Story of Vladimir Kuljak

🏠 Origins

I was born in Belgrade, Serbia, where folklore meets fire-roasted flavor and every street corner has a story. I carry that cultural marrow with me—in my humor, my cooking, and the ink I wear. Belgrade taught me to speak in satire and symbolism, in Balkan barbecue and poetic cursing.

Now rooted in Jefferson City, Missouri, I serve a different kind of institution: academia. But the spirit remains. I still remix history, still grill with righteous fervor, and still decorate meaning with minimalist ink.

👨‍💻 Calling: Technical Solutions, Institutional Truths

I am a Technical Solutions Manager at the University of Kansas. Think of me as a translator between systems, symbols, and people:

• I support institutional research, documenting workflows, troubleshooting tech glitches, and coaching clarity out of chaos.
• I lead cross-team coordination, weaving accountability into project timelines like embroidery.
• I automate processes using Power Automate, SharePoint, and Office365, because a clean workflow is art.
• When the CSS breaks or reCAPTCHA rebels, I’m the fixer—the one who makes tech behave.

My job isn’t just technical. It’s narrative. Every survey, dashboard, and report has authorship. I protect that. I amplify it.

✍️ Craft & Culture

Hobbies & Passions:

• Tattoo design: Minimalist symbolism, Balkan mythos, Japanese elegance. My body is a poetic interface.
• Writing: Reflective blogs and satirical poems. I treat metaphors like marinade—let them soak deep.
• Food culture: Ajvar, somun, ribs. I turn recipes into rituals.
• Visual storytelling: Alan Ford comics, geisha outlines, inked jokes only the observant catch.
• Equity advocacy: Leadership must include the unheard. I write with conviction.

Degrees & Academics:

• I’m an academic writer of organizational equity and leadership. My prose critiques power gently—but never weakly.
• I’m working on a paper about gender barriers in executive leadership—part analysis, part autobiography, all truth.

🎶 Soundtrack to a Workflow

Music for me is not just background—it’s blueprint:

• Balkan brass for rebellion.
• Serbian rock for bite.
• Ambient techno when troubleshooting SharePoint.
• Jazz when writing poetry with punchlines.

Each playlist is a poem. Each beat, a mood.

🧩 Philosophy of Ink & Impact

I believe:

• Every technical artifact has a story.
• Humor is a research method.
• Barbecue is diplomacy.
• Tattoos are footnotes to our soul.

If this were a first chapter, it would end with me leaning over a grill or a keyboard, sleeves rolled up, geisha ink peeking out, troubleshooting a process while composing a poem—thinking, always, how to make meaning visible.

Thanks,

🖤 Vlad