Yuliyana Plevnelieva ( bg, Юлияна Юриева Плевнелиева; born 28 January 1975) is a Bulgarian journalist and

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 ...

from 2012 until 2017. She is the ex-wife of former Bulgarian President

Rosen Plevneliev Rosen Asenov Plevneliev ( bg, Росен Асенов Плевнелиев ; born 14 May 1964) is a Bulgarian politician who was the 4th President of Bulgaria, holding the position from January 2012 to January 2017. He was the Minister of Region ...

, whom she divorced in 2017.

Biography

Plevnelieva was born on 28 January 1975. She graduated from Second English High School in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

and studied law at

New Bulgarian University New Bulgarian University ( bg, Нов български университет, also known and abbreviated as НБУ, NBU) is a private university based in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Its campus is in the western district of the city, known ...

(NBU) in

. She also attended

City University of Seattle City University of Seattle (CityU) is a private university in Seattle, Washington. In 2016–17, CityU enrolled 6,755 students worldwide. The university consists of the School of Business and Management, The School of Education and Leadership, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for finance during the 2000s. In 2000, she married

, who is eleven years older than her. It was her first marriage and Plevneliev's second. The couple had three sons: Philip (born 2000), Asen (born 2001) and Pavel (born 2006). Their eldest son, Philip, died from heart disease in 2015. Plevnelieva worked as a coordinator for the Bulgarian IDLO Alumni Association from August 2003 to September 2004. In 2004, Plevnelieva was hired by

Economedia Economedia is the largest publisher of business media in Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans ...

, a business media company. (The Plevneliev family were close friends with businessman

Ivo Prokopiev Ivo Prokopiev ( bg, Иво Прокопиев) (born July 10, 1971) is a Bulgarian entrepreneur, publisher and opinion leader with strong public commitment. He is the founder and co-owner of three Bulgarian groups of companies – A Data Pro, A ...

, the owner of Economedia). She continued her work at

while serving as First Lady of Bulgaria. Her stories were published in ''

Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

'', a weekly newspaper published by Economedia. Soon after her husband assumed the presidency, Plevnelieva left Economedia to establish her own company. During her husband's presidency, Yuliyana Plevnelieva general eschewed the role official and unofficial protocols of first lady, instead focusing on her family and career. For example, Plevnelieva did not grant a single interview during her years in the role. In October 2017, Plevnelieva and Plevneliev announced their divorce after 17 years amid speculation of an affair by the former president. Former President married his third wife, Desislava Banova, shortly after the divorce was finalized. After the divorce Plevnelieva got back her maiden name - Yordanova.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plevnelieva, Yuliyana Living people 1975 births Journalists from Sofia First Ladies of Bulgaria New Bulgarian University alumni