Whether you’re fresh out of college or making a career change, navigating the corporate culture can sometimes be tricky. Just imagine trying to understand countless company policies, work procedures, and your coworkers’ personalities. Though it can be a hard task, if you feel appreciated for your efforts — it’s definitely worth it.

But when you work hard on an idea and share it with your boss only to see them present it as their own, that’s a whole other story. Well, sometimes the best way to stand up for yourself is to simply outsmart them. And that’s exactly what Cristina Sevcenco did. One day, this 25-year-old woman working in the marketing industry noticed that her manager was taking credit for her work.

Cristina posted a video on TikTok sharing her experience. The creator revealed she decided to add a watermark, a hidden line of text that shows she owns her work, to all of the presentations she makes. Her clip quickly went viral and amassed more than 3.7M views. Many of her followers asked her to share how she did it, so make sure to read about her tutorial right below.

Cristina Sevcenco, a 25-year-old woman working in the marketing industry, revealed how she caught her manager taking credit for her work

Image credits: glamxcriss

She decided to add hidden watermarks in her presentations to make it impossible for others to steal her ideas

Image credits: cristinasevcenco

We managed to get in touch with Cristina who was kind enough to have a little chat with us. The content creator told Bored Panda she has been working in marketing since she turned 19. “I am super passionate about my work and pretty much everything that has to do with social media,” she said.

“As a fresh university graduate with no previous experience, my feelings got hurt multiple times in the beginning. But again, corporate doesn’t care about feelings.” She revealed that her first employer forced her to sign an NDA, which was the reason why she could not talk about anything that happened to her during their collaboration for two years.

“When the NDA expired, I used all the frustration that was built up in me and tried to put it into something,” Cristina explained how she came up with the idea to share these informative videos on TikTok.

Her followers were eager to know how she did it, so Cristina created a tutorial on TikTok

Thousands of users thought her clips were extremely relevant. And it’s no surprise when you think about how many sneaky managers who resort to such harmful behaviors are out there. “Many people are going through this and nobody is talking about it.”

“I read most of the comments, and people were so happy that I decided to post this because they always felt like they were alone. More often than not, stuff like this happens in the corporate industry. People claim it’s their work when, in fact, they don’t know the very first thing about it, except what you can see in the presentation.”

In the corporate world, stealing others’ work happens everywhere — in all parts of the globe, in all companies. “I think this is happening because managers know how easy it is to fire someone. I mean, they did that to me. They do these things to many, many people,” Cristina told us.

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“They will shut you down with an NDA because they don’t want you to talk about how you were treated there.” She asks you, dear readers, have you ever wondered why company and employee review platforms are always under anonymity? “These big companies use their lawyers to have us quiet so they can use the ‘their performance was lower than we expected’ as the lie for the upcoming employee,” the creator explained.

You can watch the full video right over here

@cristinasevcenco Reply to @agnent so basically add a hidden layer underneath the background and LOCK IN ASPECT RATIO. Did you know this? #ppt #corporate #businesstok ♬ original sound – Cristina Sevcenco

Image credits: cristinasevcenco

When asked how people should deal with toxic bosses, Christina was completely honest and said she’s not sure whether we can. According to her, some managers, especially those that drive change and performance, are usually the worst ones. There even was a time when a superior asked her: “What am I paying you for?”

People like that “believe the company is theirs. And we can’t change that.” However, she would like to recommend “setting boundaries from the start and sticking up for yourself.”

When employers and the management show a complete lack of respect for their staff, it affects their wellbeing. Employees who have to live through situations like these can feel emotionally and physically drained. And when people are not energized, motivated, or content with their work, it makes it hard to lead a fulfilling life.

If this sounds familiar to you, try to talk about what is going on. “If you repeatedly fail to make [the managers] understand, start looking for another job. Life is too short to be treated less than what is common sense.” Christina advised you not to be afraid: “You are not alone! Speak your truth. Getting fired is far better than losing yourself.”

Many people appreciated her efforts and even started sharing their own suggestions in the comments

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