Theme: High. Higher. Highest.

2020 is a leap year with Olympic spirit - so we aim high, try to reach higher, and hope to achieve our highest dreams.
х Do we start 2020 with our heads up high?
x With high goals and high expectations?
х How high will science and architecture reach?
х What is our life in the city: high quality and high speed, or high risks and high blood pressure?
x What does our high connectivity mean?
х Which high hills will we conquer even on high heels?
х Do we need to shout higher to be heard?
x And how high do we need to stand in order to be seen?
Let us remind all that the women's high jump world record belongs to a Bulgarian for 32 years now!

National Palace of Culture
1, Bulgaria Square
Sofia, Sofia-Grad, 1463
Bulgaria

Atanas Skatov

Vegan High Mountain Climber

Dr. Atanas Skatov is a radiant guy with a long braid, a person of high integrity and firm resolutions, who endlessly loves nature and Bulgarian folklore dances. He is an entomologist and the Green Person of Bulgaria for 2019. His achievements are mind-blowing: Atanas is the first and only Bulgarian vegan to climb within 6 years and 9 months the Seven highest summits on the continent and 11 summits above 8000 m; the first and only Bulgarian to climb within one year, in 140 days 4 summits above 8000 m; the first and only Bulgarian to climb Mount Everest twice – through the North and South ridge; the first Bulgarian to attack 3 summits above 8000 m within 23 days – Anapurna, Dhaulagiri and Makalu in May 2016. He has completed the fastest Bulgarian climbing of a summit above 8000 m – Makalu (8481 m) in 94 hours – with only one overnight sleep at the base camp and a world record until May 2019. Between expeditions Atanas Skatov is a skillful writer of 5 published books.

Blagovest Belev

Cryptocurrencies Pioneer

Blagovest Belev is one of the pioneers in the field of cryptocurrencies in Bulgaria. He brought to life the first bitcoin conference in Bulgaria - CoinWisdom Sofia. Blagovest has a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Business Administration from the American University in Bulgaria. His entrepreneurial spirit encouraged him to launch a variety of highly successful projects: he founded the first Bulgarian cryptocurrency investment fund, he co-founded Tavex Gold & Exchange, he participated in the launch of the Bulgarian Bitcoin Association and the Balkan Blockchain Association. He also took part in founding the local chapter of the Entrepreneurs‘ Organization. Blagovest’s leading professional interests lie within the field of philosophy and history of money, investment strategies and various applications of the blockchain technology. What is more interesting is that his personal hobbies revolve around improvisational theatre and psychology.

Boryana Uzunova

Ecological Technocrat

She is intelligent, ambitious and young. Recognised as one of the most talented „30 Under 30“ entrepreneurs by Forbes Bulgaria for 2019, Boryana works in the fields of ecology and technology to mitigate the negative impact of the fashion industry - our Planet’s second biggest polluter, through facilitating its transition towards a more conscious and circular model. During her Junior year at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology she creates MorphX - a technology aiming to mitigate the impact of mass fashion production through enabling brands to produce on-demand perfect-fit apparel in a timely and cost-efficient manner. The next step is the Kool and Konscious platform - the biggest marketplace for conscious fashion, while going a step further gathering the most transparent and revolutionary value chain players – from suppliers of circular textiles, to organic colorants, plastic-free packaging, textile afterlife management and more.

David Bolinsky

3D Medical Animator

David Bolinsky is the father of 3D medical animation. His groundbreaking 8-minute film "The Inner Life of the Cell", watched by more than 20 mln people worldwide, introduced an entirely new way of visualising molecular and cellular biology. A visionary and a charismatic dreamer, who transforms boring science classes into attractive experiences, David is helping students to easily connect learned facts in Molecular and Cellular Biology. In a project for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation he worked on the creation of an educational animated interactive online biology course for US Community Colleges. Students can literally “fly” into the models of a neurone, bacterial and plant cell, move the proteins, add and remove substances and see what the results are. Virtual and augmented reality are new fields of development for animated education. Currently David Bolinsky and his team are creating the first Molecular and Cellular Biology course on Insects, for students in secondary school.

David Carvalho

Architectural & Industrial Design

Throughout his career he has always been keen on starting something that seems impossible for the rest. And he doesn't only start it, he leads it to the best possible outcome. David's path to Pininfarina in Turin, begins from France, where he was born, goes through California, and then through several international companies, all the while starting his own business and the first cybernetic studiо. He is a master in creative design and digital transformation, and in his new role he is to discover new horizons of digital design and innovative customer experience through new business models. In a nutshell: his goal is to generate interactive human-machine experiences without robotisation of the mind. David supports the idea that these ‘new to the world’ experiences will be adopted quickly and will lead to the sustainable development and use of information and data, which will ultimately help people to reach even higher in their dreams and goals.

Iain Jackson

Conservation Activist

Iain Jackson has made nature conservation his profession, his cause and his passion for much of his life. His journey of exploration and discovery started in Canada and has led him to Japan, Kenya, Thailand and many places in between. He has worked with large mammals such as tigers and elephants on two continents, has a deep interest in the global black-market wild life trade and a particular passion for working with traditional communities to empower them. As Conservation Director Iain is playing a key role in shaping the national strategy of WWF Bulgaria and working with experts to protect this “Green Heart of Europe”. His strong belief in Bulgaria’s potential empowers him to look to the future. Through peer mentoring, youth empowerment and engaging with visionary people across various sectors, he wants to encourage Bulgarians to fight for the last of the best of green Europe and become guardians of this country’s natural legacy.

Ilian Iliev

Food Photographer

For a third year in a row Ilian Iliev has won the equivalent of an “Oscar” in the field of culinary photography and publishing. Elitsa Bojinova’s recipes and Ilian’s photographs, presented in the most “delicious” book “The Magic of Chocolate”, have been awarded with the prize Gourmand Best in the World 2019 at the Macao International Book Fair. How did the boy from Montana manage to reach Cambridge? How did a painter become a photo reporter during the war in Kossovo and one of the best food photographers in the world? In his 30-years career Ilian has created 15 exhibitions and 3 fantastic kids whom he calls “my treasures”. He also teaches in the HRC Culinary Academy in Bulgarian and gives numerous master classes in culinary styling and photography all over the world. Ilian has 4 published books, one of them contains only his own author’s recipes. If you ask why he writes his name with a small letter “i” – ilian, in English – well, he just doesn’t want it to be confused with Lilian.

Ivan Zorzetto

Survivor

Ivan Zorzetto is a spirit without boundaries as he is on the road and in the air for more than 250 days/year. His dreams and plans are most vivid and whirling in his mind while he is up in the sky, flying above the clouds. 11 years at his desk as a hotel receptionist gave him plenty of knowledge about human nature. And encouraged him to start an international consulting career to help turn every project into a success story. He has the soul of a musician (like all Italians do), and he is a free spirit riding his bike whenever he has private time for himself. "The test in my life caused a great restart and brought me even bigger thirst for emotions, dedication to people and transformation. I believe that everything happens for a reason and the future success of a person is based on his actions today.“ With the help of his violin Ivan Zorzetto will take us on a journey into a world of impossible challenges. And high achievements.

Katerina Mikhailova

5-year-old

Even before she turned 3 Katerina was already deeply fascinated with the piano. Her musical journey started in Miami with her first teacher, Miss Carmen. In Sofia, Bulgaria Katy continued with the lessons, adding the violin to her “toys” - an instrument she fell in love with from first sight. Today, 5 years old, this young lady holds her beloved violin with elegance and confidence, and does not let go of it even while sleeping! When Katerina starts playing she is able to refute any form of skepticism. And she does it on both instruments – the piano and the violin. Her talent is appreciated by professor Stoyka Milanova, the world-renowned violinist. At TEDxVitosha we will hear Katy perform a part of her initial repertoire. The guests will be amazed at the ease with which this 5-year-old subdues the strings and keys in order to recreate emotions and feelings in a way only a truly great artist does.

Kiril Petkov

Biovegan probiotics

When you graduate from Harvard Business School as a student of Michael Porter, all roads turn into highways. Kiril Petkov, however, decided to take the road back home and to make his American dream come true in Bulgaria. He created ProViotic, the world’s only biovegan probiotic. Oprah Winfrey started taking it, Novak Djokovic, as a vegan tennis player, also became a client. The Wall Street Journal wrote an article about it and things took off. Today the product is being sold in more than 4500 pharmacies in the US. Kiril stayed connected to Harvard. In 2007 within the Department of Economy at Sofia University he initiated the so-called Harvard courses. This is a free program for 60 students per annum selected from a pool of 240 applicants. Then Kiril donated 500,000 leva to create a Center for Applied Research and Innovations at the Faculty of Biology. In thе spring of 2019 he was awarded the big prize Honorable Bulgarians.

Miroluba Benatova

Investigative Journalist

Miroluba Benatova is probably the most awarded investigative reporter in Bulgaria. After her impactful 50 documentaries she was named “Reporter of the Decade” at bTV. As well as one of the 100 most influential women in Bulgaria. At bTV Miroluba investigated the participation of Bulgarians in the traffic of cocaine, and the fraudulent ways gypsies use to milk the Dutch social security system. Her findings about kidney traffic brought her global recognition and a prize from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in the USA. At Nova TV she investigated the routines of organised beggars in Sweden, as well as the Bulgarian participation in the prostitution business in Brussels. For the last 2 years Miroluba Benatova has been practicing parachute jumping and free falling. Today all Bulgaria is aware that for a couple of months, after being forced to quit Nova TV, she has become a licensed taxi driver. Today she is practicing her journalistic skills as a hobby.

Myladie Stoumbou

Regional Executive

She manages global scale projects, inspires multinational teams in constantly changing circumstances, delivers seminars on socially significant subjects, all the while being a wife, a mother, a traveler and a passionate photographer. Her name is Myladie Stoumbou and she specialises in building and transforming diverse high performance teams, as well as in assisting businesses to leverage opportunities from the 4th industrial revolution and current exponential technologies. She is also known as a “technology evangelist” because for her it is important that valuable information in a given technological field reaches as many professionals as possible through different communicational channels. The TEDx format is not foreign for Myladie – she is an international keynote speaker addressing topics such as women leadership, future of work, social inclusion and development of digital skills. She is also a mentor for Women on Top, a NGO supporting young women in their first career steps.

Shi Heng YI

Master Shaolin Temple Europe

For more than 30 years, Master Shi Heng Yi has been studying and practicing the interaction between mind and body. His strength is the ability to smoothly combine this knowledge with physical exercises and to practice Martial art –Kung Fu and Qi Gong. He has an academic background but he prefers to live at the Shaolin Temple Europe, Monastery located in Otterberg, Germany. Since 2010 he has been taking care of the settlement and he personifies the sustainable development and spreading the Shaolin culture and philosophy. As a contemporary monk, Master Yi holds a smartphone in the folds of his clothes as he sees no contradiction between living together with ancient knowledge and high technology. “The universal law of being successful and happy at the same time means finding the balance”, says master Yi. And as for flying – yes, he really can do it! He only needs a stick and a little space. We expect him to fly-in and share about the Shaolin way at TEDxVitosha 2020.

Shuangyi Li

Painter, musician, writer

Shuangyi Li, raised in rural China, was forced to drop out of middle school at 13 and in a Mandarin-only environment, taught herself English by memorizing Shakespeare plays and listening to the BBC. Her imagination and personal philosophy gave her the focus to surmount her difficult circumstances and learn about the wider world through English language literature. She immersed herself in mastering the Guzheng, an ancient Chinese musical instrument and challenged her tenacity on unforgiving 100-kilometer bicycle rides in the Guizhou Mountains, always seeking to move the balance between the impossible and the attainable. A chance encounter on the bus forever changed her life, providing an off-ramp from the bridge she had built herself out of China through self-examination and determined study. After graduating from one of the most academically rigorous American colleges, Shuangyi is on to the next chapter of her life, continuing her search for meaning and change.

Sofyia Kalinova

Lawyer

In 2015, at a ceremony in Japan, Sofiya Kalinova was recognised as one of the Ten most Outstanding Young Persons of the world. As one of the founders of the European Deaf Students’ Union, and later its President, she continued to uphold the rights of deaf people, in particular deaf students in Europe. Her substantial research on the conditions of education for deaf students and their rights in various European countries, was published in a “Handbook for Deaf Students in Europe”. Today the young lady specializes in Ireland's oldest law school to become the first deaf lawyer in the country to be able to plead at the courts. Sofiya is an inspiration for all people with disabilities to which the system refuses a decent realisation. She is a bright example that the obstacles could be overcome with persistence and solid arguments. Sofiya will be giving her TEDxVitosha talk in her native language, the beautiful Bulgarian Sign Language, which she loves and promotes with all her heart.

Tea Kuseva

Producer International Events

When we hear that a young Bulgarian is employed by one of the FAANG companies, we say “Well done”. When that Bulgarian turns out to be a woman successfully worked for both Google and Apple, it’s a remarkable achievement! Well, Tea Kuseva has experienced both the sweet and the sour of being inside these tech giants. After graduating from the Anglo-American School of Sofia, she studied at Regent’s University London specialising in Event Management. Highly ambitious and dedicated to her studies, she becomes the recipient of the “Best Event Management Student” award. Her determination helps her land her first job at Google. After learning the ropes, she moves on to become an International Event Producer at Apple, a position compelling her to cross the Atlantic every few months. She soon learns that career dedication almost certainly brings opportunities for professional growth; however, very often these come at a price. Sacrifices in other aspects of one’s life are inevitable.

Tsvetelina Nikolova

Master Sc. in Wine Management

Tsvetelina Nikolova is the Managing Director of Katarzyna Estate and Belizza Wineries, as well as Platinum Brands – a wine and high-alcohol drinks distributor. She is the youngest Bulgarian with "Master of Science in Wine Management" in the extremely prestigious OIV (International Organization of Vine and Wine). Inspired from the world experience and the things she learned there, Tsvetelina devotes her creative energy to the vision of placing Bulgaria on the world wine map. "Wine is art, music, love, an emotion with which you must live in your heart and tell its story with passion. That's the way things work", Tsvetelina admits. And she "dresses" her love in a book. In 2018 she released - in Bulgarian and in English - a richly illustrated "bible of Bulgarian wines and traditions" - "Wines of Bulgaria".

Victoria Georgieva

Musician

The beautiful green-eyed girl from coastal Varna didn’t win Bulgaria’s X-factor but she definitely conquered the hearts of us all. Now she is embarking on an epic musical journey to Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. This is yet another proof that when you nourish your undeniable talent with great effort and persistence, it inevitably pays off. The young musician thrilled the audience with an amazing performance during the Melboss Open Music Forum in Madrid, Spain. She was selected among more than 500 candidates to present live her song "I Wanna Know", written specifically for her and produced in Los Angeles with the team working with Zayn and other well-known artists in the global music market. From the front row, she was genuinely applauded by the 13 Grammy winner, producer and sound engineer Rafa Sardina, who has worked with artists like Lady Gaga, Elvis Costello, Beyonce, Placido Domingo, Stevie Wonder.