Our team

Elena Hinova

Founder

Elena’s purpose is to inspire leaders, teams and organisations to thrive.

By tapping into their own core, where authentic inner power and wisdom resides, leaders create thriving selves, thriving teams and thriving organisations.

Elena believes authentic thriving leaders inspire significant and sustainable change. Leaders who love what they do, and who continuously do the inner work to be true to their core purpose, not only change themselves, but transform their organisations.

Elena has 15 years experience in transforming organisations in the healthcare, pharma & chemical industries in both Eastern and Western Europe and the UK. She has worked as a human resources director and business development executive, experiencing the tension of constant changes in industry. Elena, having walked the long and steep road of building organisations in the face of significant change and challenges, has the strength and know how to turn these into opportunities for sustainable growth. 

Elena also helps prepare the future generation of leaders by mentoring and teaching Masters and Undergraduate students within University Leadership Programs in both the UK & Bulgaria. 

Elena has an engaging and energetic style. She openly challenges her clients, yet in a delicate manner in a safe environment. 

Elena builds solid and trustworthy relationships, because she believes a deep and authentic connection based on trust is essential for shared transformational journeys.

 Skills & Accreditation

• Master’s degree in Human Resources Management & Development, New Bulgarian University, Sofia Bulgaria
• Master’s degree in Economics, University of National and World Economics, Sofia Bulgaria
• Certified professional Coach, Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), USA
• CORE Wellbeing Dynamics Specialist, Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), USA
• Certificate in Healthcare Leadership, INSEAD France
• Currently pursuing PhD in Holistic Executive Leadership Coaching

Luana Eckhardt

Senior Associate

Luana is passionate about helping organisations create a working environment and culture where its people can thrive in their careers and reach their full potential. 

She believes an inclusive workplace is the first step towards enabling a positive employee journey:  inclusiveness creates a sense of belonging and greater diversity, increases engagement and nurtures employees’ health and well-being. Such an inclusive workplace can be co-created by leaders and their senior teams who genuinely care, ready to lead and transform their organisations to thriving.

Luana offers more than 14 years of cross-culture experience in Human Resources in various industry segments across Western Europe and Emerging Markets, with a proven track-record of leading critical projects, organisational transformations and change initiatives.  She has experienced first-hand how employees are deeply impacted by change and, as a consequence, how their experience positively impacts the business.

As a certified coach she deeply cares about others and shows a high level of emotional intelligence when interacting with people.

Building on her skills and experience, Luana’s purpose is to inspire leaders and personnel to make impactful shifts that lead to individual and organisational health and well-being.  

Skills & Accreditation

• Master’s degree in business administration (Diplom Kauffrau), Germany
• Certified Professional Coach, Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), USA
• Meditation and mindfulness teacher – in training, The Awareness Training Institute and the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley

Katerina Ruseva

Business Development Manager

Katerina embraces change and strongly believes the acceptance of differing opinions is needed in order to generate a positive culture. She herself underwent deep transformation in becoming a better, stronger and more accomplished leader, with the support of Thriving Leadership™, and inspiring her to help others do the same.  

Katerina brings over 15 years  of Logistics Leadership experience, most recently at Cargill as Transport and Logistics Operations Leader for EMEA . Previously at Schenker as CCO for Bulgaria, she led and transformed the team into achieving high performance, which was duly awarded for best commercial team in Europe in 2017, and for outstanding achievements in South East Europe in 2019. Her experience has included delivering high value logistics services and solutions to top enterprises worldwide, encompassing partnering with shipping lines, port authorities, customs and trucking companies. Her other experience includes introduction of new operational models, adoption of technology in support of business goals, to leading marketing and PR campaigns for launching new products and services. Katerina believes in open communication, challenging the conventions, learning from mistakes and passionately celebrating shared achievements.

Skills & Accreditation

• Master’s degree in Slavic Languages, Plovdiv University “Paisij Hilendarski”, Bulgaria
• Specializations in Warsaw University, Poland; Barnet College, UK; 
• Industry certifications from IATA (DG and Cargo), FIATA;

Trifon Dimov

Marketing and Communications Manager

Trifon is passionate about marketing and creativity, helping organizations to optimise their brand in sync with their culture. His professional path has seen him experience a diverse range of marketing and sales roles in a number of IT companies. Currently Trifon leads the Marketing and Communications team in Telelink, aiming to deliver substantial impact in the IT area.   

Trifon started his career at Microsoft in a role focusing on the Education sector in Bulgaria,  charged with the task of guiding its systems through a process of digital transformation. 

Skills & Accreditation

• Master’s Degree in Law, Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski