Born in February 1991. Romanian.

Being born and raised in a heavily-polluted, industrial town, environmental degradation awareness was for me a given more than a choice. Feeling powerless against the destruction a steel mill was causing, I decided to start at a smaller level, inviting all my friends and family to recycle as much as possible.

I have graduated the Political Science Faculty of SNSPA, specializing in International Relations and European Studies. It was also in Bucharest that issues like environmentalism and social justice took a central role in my life, both at a theoretical level, by studying feminism, and at a more practical one, by working for a local green NGO or standing up publicly for LGBTQ rights.

What determined me to come to IYNF was participating in the series of protests that took place during fall 2013 against a planned gold mine which would destroy five mountains and create a cyanide lake in western Romania. I have learned first-hand that the giant isn’t undefeatable and that it stands no chance against a motivated group of individuals, either organised through a facebook event in the street or through an NGO in an office.