In recent months I present myself as a civic entrepreneur or "someone who dares to be entrepreneurial in the part of society that most need it: our communities." My passion is to initiate and develop projects which deliver long-lasting change in attitudes and perception. I strive to share knowledge and experience from person to person, city to city, and country to country.
I am currently the NowWeMOVE Campaign Manager with the International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA). As such I am responsible to manage and scale up all NowWeMOVE activities and events such as: MOVE Week, No Elevators Day, International School Sport Day, NowWeBike - cross-border cycling tour.
I am also the founder of Bulgarian based organizations - WOW Gym functional training gym (www.wowgym.bg) and the BG Be Active Association (www.bgbeactive.org)
I am a proud board member of the Placemaking Europe
I hold BA of Economics, MBA of International Trade, Certifications in Personnel management; Inbound and digital marketing, non-formal education training, group fitness training, social media marketing; Finance.
Which additional experience/skills can people of Placemaking Europe reach out personally to you for?
Health-enhancing physical activity promotion and campaigns; marketing, functional fitness; strategy and opportunity identification; youth work;
Which experience/skills can people of Placemaking Europe reach out to your organisation for?
Event organization and coordination; Advocacy for physical activity; Capacity building in the topics - campaigns implementation; organizational management; youth work; Fitness testing, community engagement in different projects!
Describe one of the projects you are most proud of
The Spot is a project aimed at the deliberate shaping of public, in most cases park environments, in 20 Bulgarian cities, to facilitate more physical activity, social interactions and pride in the own city.
Through the project, BGBA supported 20 NGO organizations, and their local communities with the opportunity to improve a local public space through the methods of placemaking. The Spot is supported by the Coca Cola Foundation.
We are proud of the project because we managed to prove that placemaking is a concept that could be delivered in almost any social situation, in our case even in urbanized areas with a population of 3000 people.
Some data from the specially commissioned survey indicates the long-term benefits of the approach such as:
*Close to 100% of the surveyed people shared that after the renovation of the place they feel more inclined to get together, share time, do things together, play sport and meet just for socializing on the Spot.
* The social effect of the "Spots" is significant both on a community and personal level to the surveyed people - on average, over 70% of them are visiting the Spot several times a month and more often.
* The intention of more than two-thirds (70%) of the respondents is to maintain and develop the ""Spots in the future and 80% of them wish to participate in the future in the implementation of such projects.
*76% of the partners say the attitude of the local residents has changed throughout the project implementation;
* 72% of the local residents assess the renovation as positive;
* 76% of the local residents state the place is convenient for community gatherings;
* 84% of the surveyed people answered that the project has made their area more likable and friendly to the local communities
