Profile: Nina Milkova Ilieva

About Nina Milkova Ilieva : Nina Ilieva is a first generation immigrant in US, currently having both European and US citizenship, educated, worked and lived on both continents makes her consider herself a global citizen. As such,she understands the importance of tolerance and diversity, which is lacking sometimes in more traditional and conservatives societies. Her work initially was focused on the ethnically segregated Roma communities in Bulgaria and South-Eastern Europe, as a case study for solving issues with existing ethnically segregated communities in Europe. Another topic she consider relevant to her work and generation, is the impact of technology, which is reshaping and disrupting our world in all aspects, opening unprecedented possibilities to redefine the boundaries of our profession, such as: materials, fabrication, construction processes, art and architecture. Her work explores innovation in technology and design, by finding more sustainable ways to innovate and generate profits. One of her favorite quotes, is Bill Gates Commencements speech in Harvard , which summarizes very well the main goal of our society and profession, which is to make the world a better place for the next generations. “….. I learned a lot here in Harvard about new ideas in economics and politics. I got great exposure to the advances being made in the sciences. But humanity’s greatest advances are not in these discoveries-but in how these discoveries are applied to reduce inequity…reducing inequity is the highest human achievement, This task is open-ended. It can never be finished. But a conscious effort to answer this challenge will change the world……. ”