Vanya Zlateva- Executive Director

Vanya fell in love with BEST’s mission as soon as she attended one of our competitions. With a master’s degree focused on Marketing and Business planning, as well as over 13 years of professional experience in various fields – media, e-commerce, digital marketing, sales, she wanted to apply her skills and knowledge in a way that would support Bulgarian youth. Vanya is a very results-driven and her self-starter personality has helped her launch and expand a number of different companies – magazines, an online store, a digital agency, etc. Her international experience has taught her the importance of foreign language skills, as well as critical thinking, public speaking and self-initiative and she sees BEST as a place where she can help young people foster that through the power of speech and debate. When she’s not dealing with the numerous responsibilities she has when it comes to running our community, she enjoys reading, yoga and swimming.

Tereza Todorova - Project Manager

Tereza has been part of BEST since 2017, when she attended her very first tournament and fell in love with debates immediately. As time passed, she found herself not only interested in debating but also in the art of public speaking, and she found that being part of a team is something really rewarding. That’s the thing that inspired her to be a Student Leader in 2019 and later on a coach of her team in 2021. She joined the Management team in 2022 as the first-ever Debate Program Assistant and became a Project Manager in 2023. Apart from BEST, she is a final-year Chemistry student at Sofia University. She has a lovely dog called Tina and enjoys making art.

Desislava Taseva - Business Development Manager

Desislava is a second year student at the American University in Bulgaria. She has been part of BEST for six years and on the Management team leading the Student Leader program for the past two years. She has many passions, with writing poetry being one of her biggest ones. Her favorite thing in life is her chunky cat, Tsonka.

Tournament Administration Department

Aleyna Petkova - Tournament Policy Coordinator & Tournament Administrator

Aleyna has been part of BEST for 3 years, dedicating one of them to debate and the other to volunteering as a judge. Currently, she’s pursuing a law degree at the University of National and World Economy. What she loves the most about BEST is the fact that it helps young people and it gives them many opportunities to grow. Competitive debate was the reason why she chose to study law. In her free time, she enjoys painting and drawing.

Stiliyan Tsolov - Tournament Administrator Intern

Stiliyan has been part of BEST since 2023, when he attended his first tournament and got hooked on the concept of Original Oratory immediately. Soon enough, he acquired an interest in debating. The mission of BEST motivated him to become a part of the management team, joining it in 2025. He also has a dog named Kera, she is very cute.

Rules and Policy Department

Ronan McDonnell - Tournament Policy Assistant

Ronan McDonnell is an experienced, 6 year debate competitor and 2 year debate captain and coach from Carlsbad California. He is an avid advocate for speech and debate, self-expression, and critical thinking. Ronan is joining BEST in 2025 as a Rules Coordinator, leading the charge in organising and setting speech and debate rules and expectations for the BEST tournaments. Ronan is a current ETA in Vidin, where he will serve as a Fulbright scholar, English teacher, and Vidin BEST debate coach!

Shivani Kosuri - Tournament Policy Assistant

From North Texas, Shivani Kosuri recently joined the BEST Management Team as a Policy Co-Coordinator. She graduated from SMU in 2025 and is currently a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant and BEST Coach in Sliven. She was drawn to the BEST mission based on her years of experience and passion for empowering students to find their voices through debate and community. Outside of the classroom and debate, she enjoys dancing, traveling, and exploring new cafes. She is extremely excited to work with BEST foundation this year!

Debate Department

Rosen Razpopov - Debate Program Coordinator

Rosen Razpopov is currently a student at AUBG with a double major in Economics and Political Science & International Relations. He has always had a passion for public speaking and debate and was first captivated by BEST’s unique atmosphere during the Spring West tournament in 2022 and has been involved in the foundation’s events ever since. He has competed in multiple categories - Original Oratory, Prose Interpretation and Debate. The latter category is particularly close to his heart and in 2023 he and his team managed to become the Varsity Debate Champions in both Spring West and Nationals. As part of the SL programme in the 2022-2023 school year he has shown strong dedication to BEST’s mission and to his Team Plovdiv, and became a Student Leader of the year in the individual category. He sees his role as a Debate Co-Coordinator in MT as a way to give back to a community, which has continuously helped him grow. In 2025 Rosen was Manager of the Bulgarian National Debate Team and attended the World Schools Debate Championship in Panama, where he also judged on behalf of our delegation. Under his leadership, the team reached quarterfinals and top EFL status.

Maria Todorova - Debate Co-Coordinator

Maria Todorova is a student at the University Carlos 3 in Madrid with a major in Mathematics and Computing. However, one of her biggest passions has always been debate and public speaking. The moment she joined BEST back in 2021, she knew that this was her place. The people, the atmosphere and the thrill of debating captivated her. That’s why she hasn’t missed a BEST event since. Although she has competed in multiple other categories - Original Oratory, Extemporaneous Speech, and Duo Interpretation, her heart belongs to Debate. She has won 5 Varsity Debate Titles and multiple Best Speaker awards, and has been a part of both the BEST Representative Debate Team and the National Debate Team. She has an experience with leadership, due to her roles as an SL and a coach of Team MG Varna, which won multiple Best Team Awards throughout that period. For her being a Debate Co-Coordinator in MT is an opportunity to help young debaters grow and evolve, and guide them towards success, the same way the foundation has guided her.

Bella Srebreva - Debate Program Intern

Bella, now in 11th grade at Plovdiv’s Math School, has been part of BEST since 8th grade. After her first competition, she quickly fell in love with debate. In the 2023/2024 school year, she was the Student Leader of Team Plovdiv, where she helped grow the team and got more students excited about debating. This year, she’s continuing to share her passion by supporting students from other cities as the Debate Intern.

Tsvetelina Boynova - Debate Program Intern

Tsvetelina has been part of BEST since 2023 when she attended the Debate Summer Camp. Since then, she has fallen in love with the power of speech and the community that surrounds it - a place where she developed confidence, critical thinking and creatitity, and found her best friends. Outside of BEST, Tsvetelina is an Alumni Coordinator for the YES Program Bulgaria, where she gets the chance to meet inspiring young people. She attends Sofia university with a major in German, and in her free time she loves to try new hobbies, travel and read books.

Judge Department

Kristina Petrova - Judge Coordinator

Kris has always been an artistic mind, her love for acting lead her to fall in love with BEST, especially duo interpretation and later on debates. She first became a part of BEST as a competitor in 2022, then a student leader and finally, a Judge Coordinator. Kris is very ambitious and passionate about artistry and leadership. Her goals are to always improve herself and anything she works on. Currently she's working on her bachelor's degree in English, in Sofia University. Her special interest is English literature. Kris' motto is "It is the questions that are most odd that lead to breakthroughs".

Selin Ramadan - Judge Coordinator

Selin first joined BEST as a senior in high school, where she quickly fell in love with debate and the community around it. After graduating, she continued her journey with BEST as a judge for two years, helping new generations of students grow through competition. Outside of BEST, she enjoys playing the piano and guitar, and is a passionate concert-goer who never misses a chance to experience live music. She is excited to continue contributing her energy and enthusiasm to the program in the 2025–2026 season!

Speech Department

Maria Hristova - Speech Department Coordinator

Maria is a last-year Accounting and Finance student in Sofia University. She started her BEST journey in 2018 as a competitor. In 2021 she became also a Student Leader for her Stara Zagora team. In 2022 she competed, continued being an SL and became a coach. The BEST spirit brought her back, this time joining the community on the other side as a Coordinator in the newly formed Speech Department, as speech was her true passion while competing. She loves cooking, reggaeton music and traveling.

Samantha Hauff - Speech Department Coordinator

Samantha Hauff is a Fulbright ETA Grantee teaching English as a Foreign Language to grades 8–12 at Petar Bogdan Foreign Language High School in Montana, Bulgaria. She graduated in May 2025 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, Communication Studies, and Creative Writing from Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, U.S.A. This year, she is also serving as Speech Coordinator for the BEST Foundation’s Speech Department. With a background in spoken word poetry and prose and an academic focus on rhetoric, she greatly admires BEST’s mission to strengthen the English-speaking skills of Bulgarian youth—not only conversationally, but also creatively, comedically, and analytically. In this role, she hopes to help students across Bulgaria further develop and expand these skills

Nadezhda Kancheva - Speech Department Intern

Nadezhda was an outstanding competitor in speech for three years and became known amongst the community for her brilliant poetry performances and memorable Duo interpretations. Implementing the skills she gained during her year as a student leader of 51st High School, she's now joining BEST's management team to share her advantageous tips and special tricks with students all over Bulgaria. Nadezhda's passion for expressive public speaking isn't the only evidence of her artistic soul, as she's also dedicated to writing poems, putting on bold makeup, baking chocolate desserts, painting thought-provoking pieces and singing her heart out to rock and jazz records!

Bilyana Bagrayanova - Speech Department Advisor

Bibi has been part of BEST since 2017, first as a competitor, later as an SL, Coach, and after graduation - camp counselor and a judge. She graduated from The Maths and Science High School “Nancho Popovich” in Shumen and is now a fourth-year university student at the Agricultural University in Plovdiv. This is her third year in MT. She first was one of the SL Program Coordinators and then she served as the Judge Program Coordinator for two years!

Kristiyana Kiranska - Speech Department Advisor

Kristiyana has been involved in BEST since 2019. At first she participated with duo and was so amazed at the welcoming community that she decided to join and never leave. She has competed in Duo, Poetry, Prose and Debates and is very dedicated to her BEST team. Kristiyana graduated from the Student Leader Program in 2020-2021 and attended the 2021 Debate Summer Camp. Some of her hobbies include reading in her room, blasting music on the speakers when no one is around, baking and writing short stories and poems. Folk dances are one of her passions, she has been doing them for 12 years now. Kristiyana also has a soft spot for all things BEST and cats related.

Student Leader Department

Vyara Bagryanova - Student Leader Program Coordinator

Vyara has been a part of BEST since 2019. During her five years in BEST, she competed in Prose, Poetry, and Duo. She was a part of the 2021 Debate Summer camp, graduated from the SL program in 2022-2023, and was a Coach during her final year in high school. She graduated from the Maths and Science High School “Nancho Popovich” in Shumen. She is a second-year university student at the University of Food Technology in Plovdiv with a major in Food Technology and Quality. Last year, she was the SL Intern, and this year she is joining the MT as one of the SL Coordinators. She is very excited to help the students with their leadership skills, and she can’t wait to continue being part of this community. Outside of BEST, Vyara is very interested in make-up and because of that she graduated from a professional make-up course. Despite being a proud cat mom, she also loves penguins and otters.

Coach Department

Caroline Cassell - Coach Coordinator

From Woodstock Vermont, Caroline Cassell is an avid fan of hiking, swimming, apple cider, and naturally, speech and debate! They graduated Bates College in 2024. As a current English Teaching Assistant and BEST coach in Smolyan, Caroline joined the BEST Management Team inspired by BEST’s emphasis on community and performance. Caroline is so excited to be connecting coaches with the resources they need for the BEST year ahead!! 

Marketing Department

Mihaela Mihaylova - Marketing Coordinator

Mihaela's journey with BEST started six years ago in FLHS Yordan Radichkov Vidin's BEST Team. She competed in three categories - Poetry, Prose, and Debates throughout the years and she was a Student Leader & Team Coach. Mihaela is now a sophomore at the American University in Bulgaria and her biggest passions are arts like literature and photography, although her major is Political Science and Journalism. She loves learning languages and is a very extroverted person, open to creating new connections and making more friends in the BEST community. Despite being one of the leaders of the Marketing Department, she will continue to take some awesome pics during BEST events and hopes to show how much appreciation and love she has for the community through her photographs. Don't be shy to ask her for a picture of you and your friends anywhere and anytime!

Viktor Zhelyazov - Marketing Coordinator

Viktor has been a part of the BEST Foundation since 2019, since then he enjoys prose and duo even though he has competed in every category. In the 2023-2024 school year, he graduated from the Student Leader program and won the prestigious "Kieselstein family community project of the year award". Now a marketing coordinator for BEST, Viktor is definitely not a swiftie.  

Mihaela Dimitrova - Photography Intern

Mihaela has been part of BEST for a year beginning her journey as a judge before realizing just how much she loved the community and the spirit of every tournament which inspired her to join the management team as a photography intern. For her, every photo is a way to preserve the excitement and memories of each event, and she can’t wait to tell the story of BEST through her camera. Outside of BEST, she is a third-year student at the Technical University of Varna, studying Technological Entrepreneurship and Innovations. She also has a beloved dog named Jack who she adores and in her free time enjoys exploring creative projects and spending time with him.

Yoana Kostova - Graphic Design Intern

Yoana is a graphic designer based in Sofia, Bulgaria. She's been designing for almost 2 years and while she may still be learning, she has grown confident in her ability to create engaging posters, photographs and multimedia work. Yoana loves projects that are challenging, yet mix creativity with purpose. This is precisely why she is excited to work with BEST Foundation. The fun atmosphere and collaborative environment seem like the perfect place for Yoana to grow both her design skills and creative voice.

Fundraising Department

Aylin Ahmedova - Business Development Officer

Aylin has been a part of BEST since 2018. She has competed in every category we have, and loves them equally although some might say Duo (not lingo) holds a special place in her heart. She has been a student leader, a coach, a judge and a camp counselor. This is her second year in MT as a Business Development Officer and she’s thrilled to be back! She is determined to help the foundation thrive so other students can experience its transformative magic too. In her free time she enjoys writing short stories, making obscure collages and singing (badly) in the kitchen.

Kate Buikema - Fundraising Intern

Kate is a current Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at Ekzarh Yosif Foreign Language High School in Razgrad. She graduated in May 2025 from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee with a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature. Kate has 8 years of competitive public speaking experience and knows what a positive impact speech and debate can have on a student’s life. This year, she will be working as a coach and a judge, as well as helping the BEST Foundation to develop and carry out its mission across Bulgaria. When she’s not teaching or coaching, you can find Kate reading, listening to music, or researching her next trip.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Paskal Zhelev - Board Chair

Dr. Paskal Zhelev is an Associate Professor at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) in Sofia, Bulgaria, specializing in international economic relations, international trade, and competitiveness. He has extensive international academic experience, including a Fulbright Visiting Scholar fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the fall of 2015.
Dr. Zhelev serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Journal of International Economics and Politics and sits on the editorial boards of several international journals. A former Vice-Dean at UNWE and Vice-Rector for International Affairs in Kazakhstan, he is actively engaged in international academic networks, including the Management Committee of the Association of Economic Universities of South and East Europe and the Black Sea Region (ASECU).
He has taught at institutions across Europe and Asia, mentoring students in international economics. His expertise in global economic policy and education aligns with the BEST Foundation’s mission to empower young minds.

Julia Lynch - Vice Board Chair

Julia Lynch has been a passionate member of the speech and debate community for almost a decade. As a competitor on the international stage throughout college, she experienced the power that debate and dialogue hold as a means of intercultural communication and understanding. She graduated from the University of Miami in 2020 with a degree in Finance and Business Law. Seeking to combine her love for debate with her background in teaching, Julia joined the BEST Foundation as the Debate Coordinator while serving as a Fulbright-America for Bulgaria English Teaching Assistant in Dobrich in 2021. During her two-year term, she developed a deep connection to BEST and was inspired by the support and dedication of the students and community. Upon her return to the U.S., Julia began her studies at Harvard Law School and enthusiastically joined the BEST Board of Directors in 2023.

Angela Rodel

Angela Rodel came to Bulgaria on a Fulbright grant in 1996, lured by the mystery of Bulgarian voices. Having fallen in love with Bulgarian folk singing and Bulgarian language, she decided to make Bulgaria her permanent home as of 2004. In recent years, she has become a leading translator of Bulgarian literature into English, with seven novels published in the US and UK, as well as plays, poems and essays by leading Bulgarian writers. As of 2015, she has served as executive director of the Bulgarian-American Fulbright Commission. Her exceptional work as a translator contributed to the success of the book "Timeshelter" that earned the prestigious 2023 Booker International Award, solidifying her position as a luminary in the world of literary translation. At her first BEST tournament, she was blown away by the students’ talent, intelligence and artistry – and immensely proud of the Fulbright/ABF ETAs who founded this wonderful organization.

Gabrielle Cascio

Gabrielle first learned about the BEST community in 2019 and has been involved ever since, as both a coach and Student Leader Coordinator. Outside of her involvement in BEST, Gabrielle has served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Sliven and currently works in Washington, D.C. to advocate for international exchange programs. In her spare time, she loves reading fantasy, talking about cheese, and traveling!

Morgan Rowe

Morgan Rowe has been involved in the debate community for over a decade. As a high school student, she competed nationally in the United States in both speech and debate events. During her time at Temple University, she helped coach students and helped run one of the largest high school tournaments in the United States, the Pennsbury Falcon Invitational. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science, Morgan came to Bulgaria to teach English in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria and work on BEST's Management Team as the Tournament Policy Coordinator. She'll often tell people that BEST is THE reason she chose to teach in Bulgaria. She's currently getting her Master's degree in Political Science at the London School of Economics. Outside of BEST, Morgan is an avid reader and enjoys creating and sending cringey memes to anyone and everyone.

Alex Kieselstein

Alex Kieselstein was a two-year Fulbright ETA and BEST Coach at Second English Language School in Sofia. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Kenyon College and a Master's Degree from Middlebury College. Currently, Alex is the Academic Placement Advisor for Humanities fields at the Institute of International Education.

Anjela Deyanska

Anjela is passionate about making education better both in terms of improved access and quality. This and her interest in sustainability in the nonprofit sector brought her to Bulgaria after over a decade in Canada, where she obtained her degrees (Honorary Bachelor's in International Relations and a Masters in Public Policy & Governance from the University of Toronto). Since 2016 she has overseen Fundraising and Development at Teach For Bulgaria, with a specific focus on diversifying sources of private funding to the organization and increasing recurring giving as a way to contribute to organizational sustainability. Anjela believes in BEST's mission and is thrilled to support the organization's efforts so that more and more Bulgarian students can develop critical thinking skills, broaden their horizon by meeting people of diverse backgrounds and join a community of engaged citizens eager to strengthen Bulgaria's democratic future. In her spare time, you will most likely find Anjela reading nonfiction, drawing or being outside, preferably near a sea or an ocean.