I was born...
... in Communist Bulgaria in the early 80s on a Monday afternoon. It was summertime. And summers are what I remember from my childhood when I roamed the fields around my village, talked to goats and pigs and dreamt alone under the grapevines while my grandparents were taking their afternoon nap. I love Nature....
My mother took me to a singing competition where I competed with 3000 other kids for 100 places to enter into the Children's Choir of the Bulgarian National Radio - one of the best choirs in my country. I still remember the pale blue color on the walls of the room where I auditioned, but little did I know about the new phase in my life I was entering into. For the next 10 years I sang and travelled the world. I love travelling....
Communism fell and instead of Russian, I went on to study English intensively in a public high school. We had semi-heated rooms, missing teachers, old and outdated textbooks, no labs, no excursions...yet curiosity survived in some of us. I kept mine alive by reading and writing. I love writing...
College came along. With two parents engineers and their incessant warning that I should not become one, how could I resist the forbidden fruit?!? I went on to become an engineer. More specifically - an electrical engineer. I learned to speak the language of maths and ultimately got hooked to electromagnetic wave propagation, antennas and microwave engineering because of the professor who taught me this course. I remember sitting in a huge, depressingly empty hall at 7am on a winter morning with a cup of hot tea in my hands in a vain attempt to warm my frozen fingers, listening... The next thing I knew the lecture was over. I love the magic of storytelling....
It was that time of our lives when particular choices had to be made. I chose to go to graduate school to hear some more about radio waves and what we can do with them. I wanted a taste of the real world of academia - research, paper writing, conferences. I love the spirit of academia....
I got married, moved to India and stayed in an academic environment but not as a researcher. I knew at that point that I want to write about science and support it in other creative ways.. So I started to learn how to communicate and promote science. I love experiments....
Moving to the Netherlands offered me a great opportunity to become the communications officer of a large research project at the University of Groningen. In the coming 4 years, I got most of what I desire from a job: day to day experiences topped with a pinch of diversity, intellectual freedom and discussions, colleagues that appreciate a good laugh, the satisfaction of a job well done at the end of each day, and a sense of commitment and motivation that springs from inside unassisted. I love my professional journey...
...which took me next to my dream city, London where I joined a leading research project at University College London as their communications manager. I threw myself into work with passion and enthusiasm. I was surrounded by iconic institutions like the Royal Society and the Science Museum and I could learn from some of the best science communicatiors at the BBC. Next to this stimulating environment I had a fantastic PI who provided me with trust and freedom needed to support any creative endeavour. Working at UCL has offered me the best days of my career so far, but personal circumstances aligned such that I had to move to the USA much sooner than I anticipated...you can't love life if you can't accept its challenges...
I'm now in sunny California. I love the outdoors, the mountains and the year-round possibility to be among nature. I also joined GROWTH - a large international project in astronomy - as their communications & program coordinator. I also joined part time the Communications & Education Team at Caltech/IPAC. Both of my working environments offer opportunities for science communication in a variety of forms. While at GROWTH I really lead any communication effort from concept to final product, at IPAC, I am lucky enough to work with a seasoned team of graphic designers, visualization scientists, multimedia producers, web developers and lead communications experts that support NASA EPO efforts. New adventures in the New World...