Desislava Radeva ( bg, Десислава Радева) is a Bulgarian public figure and the current

First Lady of Bulgaria First Lady of Bulgaria () is an unofficial honorific applied to the wife of the president of Bulgaria. Officially, her term as first lady is concurrent with her husband's term in office. The first lady often accompanies the head of state during s ...

since January 2017, being the wife of President Rumen Radev.

Early life and career

Official welcome ceremony was held for Bulgarian President Rumen Radev 6

Born Desislava Gencheva in

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a pop ...

on 9 July 1969, she studied at the Geo Milev English Language School for secondary school before going on to the

University of National and World Economy The University of National and World Economy ( bg, Университет за национално и световно стопанство) is a university in Sofia, Bulgaria. Notable alumni of the university are five Prime Ministers of Bulga ...

in Finance and Credit. She also studied at the University of Forestry, Sofia. In her student years, she worked as an assistant to the Minister of Agriculture Rumen Hristov. She continued her career as an office manager in TV shows such as ''Kanaleto'' and ''Hushove''. She was subsequently responsible for public relations at the Bulgarian Music Company. Later, she became an assistant to the general manager of

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...

in Bulgaria. In 2016, she took an active part in the November

2016 Bulgarian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Bulgaria on 6 November 2016, alongside a referendum on changes to the electoral system and political party funding. The second round was held on 13 November 2016, resulting in the victory of Rumen Radev. Ele ...

, campaigning for her then partner Rumen Radev. In 2017, she founded a non-profit association called the "Living Water of Bulgaria", which carries out activities in the public interest.

Personal life

Radeva married her current husband in 2016. She was previously married to Georgi Svilenski, a Bulgarian engineer, and Member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). She has one son from her 13-year marriage to Svilenski. Besides her native

Bulgarian language Bulgarian (, ; bg, label=none, български, bălgarski, ) is an Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians. Along with the closely related Macedonian l ...

, she is also fluent in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and Russian languages. She is a

Bulgarian Orthodox The Bulgarian Orthodox Church ( bg, Българска православна църква, translit=Balgarska pravoslavna tsarkva), legally the Patriarchate of Bulgaria ( bg, Българска патриаршия, links=no, translit=Balgarsk ...

Honour

Foreign honour

* : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit (30 January 2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radeva, Desislava 1969 births Living people First Ladies of Bulgaria People from Burgas University of National and World Economy alumni