Generation M, UMD’s young leaders program, announces the election of its third Board of Directors. The mission and goal of Generation M is aligned with those of UMD and especially focus on the education, empowerment and professional development of young Macedonians worldwide. Generation M aims to bring together and highlight young people of Macedonian heritage through both social and professional events from networking mixers to leadership conferences in the USA and Canada through a web of student chapters at a number of universities.
“I am more than happy to be part of a team that can educate our young professionals in the diaspora, and help equip them with the knowledge necessary to effectively advocate for our culture, identity, and Motherland. We look forward to a year of hard work, expansion, and success with this exceptional team of individuals,” said Kristina Dimitrievski, a newly elected global co-chair for Generation M, who participated in the 2nd Birthright Macedonia program in 2016.
Petar Petrovski, also a new global co-chair, said “We’re excited to have a blend of experienced GenM-ers and an incoming group of fantastic go-getters leading the way this year. We plan on being the team that takes Generation M’s excellent work to date to both drive tremendous member growth and inspire purposeful engagement on subjects that matter the most.”
“These young Macedonians will set the tone of Generation M, UMD and our community for years to come – many nonprofit organizations worry about succession, and we, at UMD, are encouraging more young people to get involved to pass the torch to them – I look forward to one day my own children being active in Generation M and partaking in Birthright Macedonia,” said UMD Chairman Stojan Nikolov.
The members of the newly elected Board are as follows:
– Kristina Dimitrievski, Global Co-Chair
– Petar Petrovski, Global Co-Chair
– Filip Simeski, Board Secretary
– Natasha Carovska, Chair for US Operations
– Luka Petrusevski, Chair for Canadian Operations
– Emilija Dimitrievski, Vice-Chair for Canadian Operations
Short biographies of the new Board members are included below. To follow their activities or learn how to get involved, please visit their web-site www.GenerationM.org or follow them on social media @GenMacedonia.
Kristina Dimitrievski
Kristina Dimitrievski is a first-generation Macedonian-Canadian from Toronto. Since her involvement with Generation M as its Chair of Canadian Operations in 2015, countless doors have been opened up for her, including the opportunity to organize events around Canada such as networking mixers, Birthright Macedonia info sessions, two Canadian-Macedonian Leadership Conferences. Kristina participated in UMD’s Birthright Macedonia Program as an intern for the Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Investments in Skopje, Macedonia.
One of her passions has always been to help Macedonian youth all over the globe reach their highest potential and professional goals, whatever they may be, and assist them in tying their achievements back to Macedonia to help their Motherland move forward.
She graduated from the University of Guelph-Humber in 2017 with a B.S. in Kinesiology and danced in the Macedonian folklore group, Ensemble Makedonka, for almost a decade. Last but certainly not least, she is a proud dog mom of Cento the Sarplaninec, and you can follow him on instagram at @CentoFromThe6ix.
Petar Petrovski
Petar Petrovski earned his degree from DePaul University with a major in Finance and minor in IT, and will be working in the field of investment management. His plan is to one day use his experience and knowledge to further the Macedonian cause and empower Macedonian youngsters around the world. Helping him along the way is his beautiful Sarplaninci, who entertain him every time he visits the motherland.
Filip Simeski
Filip Simeski graduated with a ScB in Engineering from Brown University and is currently pursuing a graduate program in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. Growing up in Macedonia, he was strongly influenced by the traditional Macedonian values and had chance to be charmed by the rich traditions and history of the people. He hopes to use his knowledge to help Macedonia become a more modern, technologically-advanced country and inspire youth of Macedonian heritage to professionally develop. In his free time, he likes to hike the NorCal parks, swim, read or dance anything from waltz to pravoto.
Natasha Carovska
Natasha Carovska was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from Otis College of Art and Design with a BFA in Digital Media. She currently worsk in West Hollywood in film distribution while actively participating in art contests and various art galleries in California, one of which includes the Guinness World Records’ Largest Display of Chalk Pavement Art located in Pasadena. Moreover, she works as a Teacher’s Assistant for Ryman Arts, a non-profit organization aimed to inspire and teach young artists of the future.
Luka Petrusevski
Macedonian, Canadian, son, student, leader, and hopeful. These are the identities, given to him by circumstance and experience, which he has learned to accept throughout his life. Luka was born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, a city built on the back of a storied culture and history. However, as people come to know him, they realize that his “home” is not Windsor. Rather, Macedonia is the place that he has learned to identify with. An identity forged twenty-one years ago when his parents made the daring move to start a new beginning by immigrating to Canada.
The virtues of working hard and helping others are two things that his parents instilled in him. As a result, the difficulty in finding a balance between academics and extracurricular activity is a challenge that Luka embraced throughout his life. His passion to help the less fortunate and succeed academically pushed him to find a balance between the two. He is proud to be able to say that he has been actively involved with Generation M and the United Macedonian Diaspora, which have allowed him to help and give back to the community, while allowing the time to pursue an education.
With his recent graduation from the University of Western Ontario with an honors specialization in psychology, he is excited for the next step as he moves on to law school at Western. This legal education will allow him to better pursue interests in humanitarian and international law, and thus allow him to impact the very same processes that have shaped his life. He aims to bring comfort and service to those who are seeking new beginnings—the very same beginnings that his parents pursued.
Emilija Dimitrievski
Emilija Dimitrievski has been involved in Generation M since it’s Canadian launch in January 2015. She has been apart of the Toronto Macedonian community through various outlets over the last decade, specifically having participated in folklore group Ensemble Makedonka, youth group MYNET, the Ladies Auxiliary, and choir.
Emilija is going into her second year of studies at the University of Toronto, and is working towards a BA in Political Science and Sociology. With her education, she hopes to enter the world of diplomacy and advocate for Macedonian rights as she makes sure to include her heritage in everything she does.