Vera Arsova was born in Stip, Macedonia. After finishing high school, she moved to Skopje to study computer science at Sts. Kiril and Metodij University. In addition to successfully fulfilling her school assignments, she became the youngest member of the Macedonian Senior Women National Basketball Team at the age of 17. Arsova was one of the brightest young basketball stars at age of 19 that earned her a prestigious sports scholarship to study at the University of Miami at Coral Gables in Florida. She was the first-ever Macedonian to be awarded this type of scholarship in the U.S.
Arsova graduated with academic and sports honors with a degree in Computer Science Majoring in Cryptography and Network Security that launched her professional career with Quest Communication. Her professional experience of over 10 years ranges from telecommunications to finance and insurance working for world known companies such as Barclay’s and AT&T. She has been living in NYC for the past five years and is actively involved in the Macedonian community. Arsova frequently attends cultural and professional events in NYC.
Born to a father from Aegean Macedonia-Kostursko and a mother from SkopskaCrna Gora, Argie N Bellio is a proud Macedonian-American, business executive and entrepreneur that was born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Argie attained his degree in management from Indiana University and MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University. He began his career at Traveler’s Insurance in Indianapolis, returning to Fort Wayne becoming the Director of Marketing and Vice President of Business Development of the local Caldwell Banker. After 7 years, he moved onto other opportunities at Infinia Business Technology and now onto his own venture with 6 Logistics.
His community service and leadership include a six year tenure with St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, two years as board president, board member of the Northern Indiana Better Business Bureau, Macedonian Ball Chairman, Northeast Indiana Entrepreneurship Committee and member and graduate of Leadership Fort Wayne.
Married in 2006 in Skopje, Macedonia, Argie and his wife Biljana (of Skopje, Macedonia) have two sons, Stefan and Darko.
Nikola CuculovskiNikola Cuculovski was born and raised in Skopje, Macedonia. He came to the United States as an exchange student in high school, and upon graduating – decided to pursue higher education in the States. Nikola completed his undergraduate degree at ETSU in Business Administration, double majoring in Marketing Management and General Management with a minor in Digital Media, with which he graduated with highest Honors, Summa Cum Laude. Presently, he is an MBA Student at East Tennessee State University.
Throughout Nikola’s undergraduate career, he served in many leadership roles such as a Parliamentarian for the Honors College, Senator for the Student Government Association, and held several offices for honors and social fraternities. He is a recipient of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. Nikola is currently a graduate assistant for the Office of the Information and Technology on ETSU, and a graduate student advisor for the Marketing Club.
Ana Dukoska was born and raised in Ohrid, Macedonia where she earned her high school diploma in Economics. She completed three years of college with honors in Banking Management at the European University. In 2007, she moved to the U.S. to further her education and professional career. Ana is currently an Office Manager/Bookkeeper at Pope Contracting Inc., a private company specializing in the construction industry.
In regards to her involvement with the Macedonian-American community, together with a friend, Ana founded the Aleksandria Macedonian Folk Dance Ensemble in December 2007 under the auspices of St. Nikola Macedonian Orthodox Church of Totowa, New Jersey. In the last six years, Aleksandria has performed throughout the United States, including at two of UMD’s Global Conferences, as well as at the annual Turkish Festival in Washington, D.C. before an audience of 25,000 people. Ana is currently the Assistant Secretary of the Board of St. Nikola Macedonian Orthodox Church.
Natasha Garrett was born in Skopje, Macedonia. She came to the United States as an undergraduate student at La Roche College, Pittsburgh PA. She obtained her Master’s degree in English Literature from Duquesne University and her PhD in Social and Comparative Analysis in Education from the University of Pittsburgh. She is currently the Director of International Student Services at La Roche College. Dr. Garrett is very active in the global Pittsburgh community. She has served as a translator and interpreter, as a volunteer to welcome recent U.S. citizens and as a liaison between international students and their respective national/ethnic groups in the area. She regularly presents at regional and national conferences on topics related to international education and cross-cultural communication. She is a member of the Advisory Board of GlobalPittsburgh and a published translator of Macedonian poetry. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and son.
Gjorgji Gjeorgjievski was born and raised in Skopje, Macedonia, with roots from Galichnik, Skopje and Debar. In 2004, he moved to New Haven, Connecticut to attend Yale University, where he studied Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. During his senior year, Microsoft recruited him onto their SQL Server team. In 2012, Gjorgji received a Master of Science in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington.
Currently, Gjorgji is a Software Engineer at the Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, WA working on developing the next generation of in-memory database engines. He travels back to Macedonia yearly to visit his family, all of whom still live there.
Mishko Josifov is the first UMD representative in Florida and a proud Macedonian that lives in Miami.He is very passionate about Macedonia and strongly believes that we can all work together united to promote our beautiful homeland and people from all the corners of the world. He is highly honored and privileged to have an opportunity to representa great organization like UMD and his homeland with passion and dedication in the state of Florida.
Born and raised in Kavadarci, Macedonia, Josifov graduated in Marketing Management from the PrilepFaculty of Economics in 2006 and decided to move to Orlando, Florida where he successfully completed a Tourism and Hospitality Management program at the University of Central Florida.He is a licensed Real estate sales associate for Prudential Florida Realty and Bloomberg certified professional for Level III data that Wall Street Professionals get, with future CFA-Financial Advisor aspirations.Currently, he is enrolled in the Masters Program in International Finance at Florida International University, where he is a member of the Center for Leadership and Student Ambassadors.
In regards to her involvement with the Macedonian-American community, together with a friend, Ana founded the Aleksandria Macedonian Folk Dance Ensemble in December 2007 under the auspices of St. Nikola Macedonian Orthodox Church of Totowa, New Jersey. In the last six years, Aleksandria has performed throughout the United States, including at two of UMD’s Global Conferences, as well as at the annual Turkish Festival in Washington, D.C. before an audience of 25,000 people. Ana is currently the Assistant Secretary of the Board of St. Nikola Macedonian Orthodox Church.
Marija Malinovska was born and raised in Bitola, Macedonia, where she finished economics at Jane Sandanski High School. Malinovska attended the Faculty of Economics in Prilep for a year before moving to the United States in 2006. For five years, she worked as the marketing and social media coordinator at Maria’s Italian Kitchen. She continued her education at Los Angeles Valley College, where she served as a mathematics-teaching assistant for six years. Receiving a full scholarship, Malinovska transferred to University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), where she earned her Bachelor’s in Global Studies and German.
Currently, Malinovska works for Jaurique Law Group, and has started the very selective JD SCLAE Program at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. Her long-time goal is to design a business plan for empowering women in developing countries through micro financing. Malinovska is a huge proponent of reforms for more sound and sustainable education in Macedonia. She has been a member of MENSA since 2000, and is a winner of the Business Plan Writing Competition through the SE Europe Committee. Malinovska is fluent in Macedonian, English, German, Spanish and Vlach and enjoys reading and traveling.
Konstantin Nakovski was born in Skopje, Macedonia with parental connections to Tetovo and Bitola. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 13 with his whole family. Nakovski has obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and is close to completing his Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Akron. Nakovski has supported his local Macedonian Community in Ohio since his immigration there and has been a member of UMD since the beginning.
Nakovski is a Mechanical Engineer with experience in design, testing and manufacturing of different consumer and industrial products. Nakovski has worked in the research and development department of several engineering companies mainly as a Mechanical Engineer. He has served as the Program Chair of the local section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and as the President, Vice President and Secretary to the Student Society in the past. In addition, Nakovski has been affiliated with the Society of Automotive Engineers, Formula SAE (FSAE) design team, and the SAE Super Mileage Vehicle (SMV).
Aleksandra Nasteska was born and raised in Skopje, the Republic of Macedonia, where she first became outspoken in the women’s rights movement at 14 years old, participating in UN-organized public panels on the status of women and girls in Macedonia and the Balkan region.
She began honing her strategic planning and public relations skills while working as a correspondent and assistant producer for youth culture shows at national television networks, and creative associate in world-renowned advertising agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann Erickson, and Ogilvy & Mather.
Some of her recent engagements include: co-founder and communications director of the nation-wide sustainability campaign for Earth Summit 2012, We Canada; founder of the startup Vancouver Heartbeat, a multimedia project that explored local culture with focus on social and environmental change; member of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Youth Steering Committee for the International Children and Youth Conference Tunza 2011; and headline speaker in 12 universities on the Canada-wide tour Dialogues and Action for Earth Summit 2012.During this tour Aleksandra was the opening speaker for Dr. David Suzuki, Jeanne Sauvé executive director Désiée McGraw, and international author and activist Severn Cullis-Suzuki.
Robert Pasquale
– UMD Australia Treasurer – 
Robert Pasquale
– UMD Australia Treasurer –
Robert Pasquale has a background in banking and finance working in the industry for seven years prior to changing careers to become a pizza chef. In 2010, Pasquale opened up his own pizzeria Café Slice of Italy located in Perth, Australia where he was born. Pasquale’s father was born in Molise, Italy, and his mother in Prilep, Macedonia. His mother moved here when she was a teenager and always taught Pasquale and his siblings never to forget the struggles and challenges Macedonians faced, in particular in communist Yugoslavia and Aegean Macedonia (in present day Greece).
What inspired Pasquale to get more actively involved in the Australian-Macedonian community and UMD was when he learned that his grandparents (Baba and Dedo) and others like them were threatened repeatedly for calling themselves “Makedonci” (Macedonian). Pasquale is one of the founders of UMD’s Western Australian Operations based in Perth, which started during the summer of 2010. Co-coordinating both the 2011 Macedonia Food Festival and 2012 International Food Festival, Pasquale has been highly involved in all Australian UMD operations including supporting the UMD Sydney launch and the Canberra Diaspora research project as well as many other UMD fundraising activities. In 2012, he established the UMD Perth Office based out of Edith Cowan University with the first UMD Australian Internship Program.