#YTILI — Lifetime experience (Part 1: Washington, DC)
I am honored to share an experience of a lifetime. I was nominated by the US Embassy in Bulgaria as a successful entrepreneur with my company Rosey’s mark (we produce specialty food from roses) to represent Bulgaria in the Department of State initiative called Young Transatlantic Innovation Leadership Initiative.
The whole program started on 1st of June 2016 — I took a flight from Sofia through Munich to Washington, DC where we met the Meridian International Center crew — professionals to admire. My trip was delightful from the very beginning as in it the magazine of Lufthansa airline there was an article about rose picking — a pleasant surprise as at the moment it was the Rose Season in Bulgaria, such an important time of the year for us as this special oil-bearing rose blossoms just 3–4 weeks per year at the end of May and beginning of June!
Our first official meeting was at the United States Department of State where we met each other — 45 entrepreneurs from all over Europe.
We were delighted to meet the Ambassador Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs who was very open to our questions and trying to be as close as possible to us literary by seating among us. I was impressed by her as a professional and as a person.
A visit in Washington DC at this time of the year cannot go without election talk. Thanks to Mr. Jonathan Karl, Chief White House Correspondent, ABC News we learned and understood how does it happen to have exactly these 2 candidates as main opponents — a moment of historical importance in US election history.
The most impressive and inspiring person we had the chance to meet in Washington, DC in my opinion was Mr.Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. He is also know as one of the “Fathers of Internet” as he is co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. What impressed me the most was his way of thinking, analytical disruptive, innovative and future oriented thinking.
As part of the official part of YTILI fellowship in DC, we were honored to spend one day at Google where we met part of Google team like Mr.Nicholas Bramble sitting next to Mr.Andrea Glorioso, Counsellor for Digital Economy Delegation of the European Union to the U.S. Mr. Glorioso surprised me with his straight to the point approach and being completely honest for the possibilities and the challenges in European bureaucracy.
When you spend a whole day in Google it is inevitable to make new friends ;)
I would say Google totally “rocks” ;)
Cannot miss to mentioned Washington city has a lot to offer and I recommend everyone to visit it.
This is how our unforgettable experience participating in YTILI program, presenting our own countries, being part of Europe's best entrepreneurs begin. This was the beginning of a lot of friendships among different cultures and the beginning of a lot of future collaborations with a big impact.
