Marina Tsvetanova – Mrs. Bulgaria 2019 – holds a degree in Television Journalism from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at Sofia University and she is very happy about this because it was a dream come true for her. When she applied, she had to take several entrance exams. Her professional career is connected with the television program Sadeben Spor (“Court Dispute”) on Nova TV, where she worked for two years before the concept of the show was changed. She has also worked in quite a few editorial offices. At the same time, for more than 15 years she has devoted herself to the international and Bulgarian fashion industry. In addition to working as a model – she won the title Mrs. Bulgaria 2019 – and being the owner of beauty pageants with international licenses, she is also a member of international judging panels for similar events. To this day, she continues to represent Bulgaria on the international fashion scene. Most recently, she attended the Venice Film Festival, where she was a special guest.
Last but not least, she has many years of experience organizing a wide range of large-scale events. These include celebrations for personal occasions – weddings and christenings – as well as charity balls, major award ceremonies and pageants, including international ones, organized in Bulgaria together with Mrs. Megi Savova, owner of Mrs. Bulgaria and Mrs. Universe.
Thus, having built up experience and established a network of contacts, Mrs. Bulgaria 2019 Marina Tsvetanova decided to establish her own company – Crown Events.
Speaking exclusively to BANKER, Mrs. Bulgaria 2019 shared details about the four key events that Crown Events is preparing to organize.
The first will take place on Aviation Day – October 17. Crown Events is one of the main organizers of an air show at Gorna Oryahovitsa Airport, where small private aircraft will be presented for sale. A similar event was held in 2025 and attracted enormous interest, with an audience of 5 000 people.
For the upcoming air show on October 17, representatives of the political elite and foreign guests have been invited, and President Iliana Iotova has also confirmed her attendance.
The second event will take place on October 27, when the Celebrity of the Year awards ceremony will be held. The event has a history of more than 10 years, and until recently its owner was PR professional and producer Hristiyan Gyoshev. Starting this year, however, the prestigious awards will be organized by Crown Events.
As part of the competition, the most prominent names will be recognized in more than 15 categories – actress, actor, male singer, female singer, TV personality, TV presenter, and others.
The third event will take place on November 3 and is one of the largest events connected with Bulgarian business – the National Business Awards. It will be held at the Astoria Hotel and hosted by Niki Kunchev.
The awards will recognize the most successful entrepreneurs who, through their innovations and achievements – not only during the current year but also in previous years – have contributed to the business community and attracted attention.
In addition to a business dinner, the organizers from Crown Events intend to make the National Business Awards an event that brings together the most successful inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs from different sectors, allowing them to get to know one another and exchange experience and ideas.
After that, Crown Events will take the initiative to organize monthly business meetings with the aim of creating a business club – a core group of the most entrepreneurial people – whose members can benefit one another and support each other.
Marina Tsvetanova acknowledges that there are Bulgarian companies that are internationally recognized, but that nobody talks about them in Bulgaria. That is why her goal is to use the events she organizes to showcase the hidden treasures of Bulgarian entrepreneurship and innovation.
“These successful Bulgarian specialists are working on global projects, and we want Bulgaria to learn about them as well,” says the founder of Crown Events.
The fourth event is Model of the Year – the international beauty competition once associated with Donald Trump, the rights to which, after 17 years of legal proceedings, are now in Bulgaria for a period of 10 years.
Crown Events’ idea is to select, as part of the competition, the Bulgarian representative for two upcoming international competitions – in China and Japan.
The casting for the girls will take place on October 20. The requirement is that they be Bulgarian professional models who have worked with fashion agencies – in Bulgaria or abroad.
“We have fantastic girls, but in Bulgaria we don’t have the same culture and traditions surrounding modeling competitions as, for example, in South America or Russia, where governments support their contestants and a girl goes to compete with a team of 20, 30 or 40 people,” comments Mrs. Bulgaria 2019.
She reveals that the upcoming casting on October 20 will be somewhat different. There will be something that has never been done before – the casting will be filmed, and the excitement will also be conveyed to the viewers.
The jury will have to select 20 girls, and each candidate will be interviewed.
“For a model, it’s not only about the ability to present clothes. Girls often have to give interviews and hold conversations. They are taught how to conduct themselves in society so that they truly become a role model – someone to look up to in every respect,” Marina Tsvetanova points out.
She gives an example from her own experience as a member of the international jury at Miss Universe 2025. The competition was won by Miss Mexico. Before that, during a press conference, one of the Asian organizers of the competition behaved very disrespectfully toward Miss Mexico – he insulted her, and when she objected, he ordered her to be quiet and sit down. She then stood up and left the room. All the other girls followed her without hesitation.
Miss Mexico subsequently won the Miss Universe competition, but not so much because she was the most beautiful, but because she became an inspiration – an example of how to stand up for yourself.
As part of all four events, a charity campaign will also be announced. Marina Tsvetanova explains that it will raise funds for the neonatology department at The Hospital for Children’s Diseases “Prof. Ivan Mitev”.
Mrs. Bulgaria 2019 says that over the past 15–20 years, the percentage of premature babies in Bulgaria has increased by 50 percent, while the conditions in which the doctors work – or, as she calls them, “the angels in white coats” – have certainly not improved by the same percentage. Quite the opposite: both the equipment and the incubators are old. There are also no dedicated ambulances for premature babies.
“My daughter was born prematurely – two months early – and, as strange as it may sound, what saved her was the fact that she was born early on a Sunday morning. There were almost no scheduled births at that time, and that was why the only ambulance for premature babies was available and could take my daughter to the hospital.
There, at The Hospital for Children’s Diseases “Prof. Ivan Mitev”, the neonatology department was full, and I saw with my own eyes babies weighing 600, 700 and 800 grams fighting for their lives.
“They took tremendous care of my daughter. She was in a coma for several months, and I was even advised not to say that I had given birth because she supposedly would not survive. Thank God, today she is alive and healthy, and she studies at the National School of Dance Arts, where she travels around the world performing with her class in Bulgarian folk dancing. She loves going to school and, out of excitement, even gets up two hours early. She has friends, and when I come home, half of her class is visiting us,” Marina Tsvetanova says, unable to hide her excitement when talking about her daughter and her friends.
She then returns to the subject of the neonatology department at The Hospital for Children’s Diseases “Prof. Ivan Mitev”, to her pain over the shortage of ambulances for premature babies, and to her appeal: “Let’s help!”
She then clarifies that she does not want our conversation to take a sad turn, so we quickly change the subject and return
to Crown Events. Why now?
“It was the most logical step for me to start my own company. I dare say, as immodest as it may sound, that I have worked with the best people in the various areas of event organization – from catering to sound production – not only in the Bulgarian market but internationally as well. I have organized numerous events for other companies, so in fact I was late in creating Crown Events.”
The reason, she admits, is that she is involved in two other businesses – one is a medical center and the other is a beauty salon.
She then adds that she has already authorized another person to manage the second venture because, as she herself acknowledges,“You can’t have it both ways” or as we say in Bulgarian “You can’t carry too many watermelons under one arm.”
“I work with beauty in all its aspects. Starting with health, moving through external beauty, and finally reaching its projection into all possible kinds of events,” Marina Tsvetanova explains.
Regarding the medical center, she admits that it was a project she joined at the last moment after being invited by people close to her.
With the aim of developing the clinic, she was offered the position of commercial director, relying on her talent for being able to find common ground with everyone. “My life has unfolded in such a way that I’ve met all kinds of people, and I can get along with anyone,” Tsvetanova modestly notes.
During the conversation, it becomes clear that her parents strongly encouraged her to learn languages, and today she is able to converse fluently with business partners in English, Russian and Spanish.
But when asked about the medical center, she admits that putting together a new team of doctors was one of the most difficult things she has ever done. She never believed that, as someone who does not come from the medical profession, she would be able to persuade the best doctors to trust her. But she was wrong.
The clinic is currently expanding and moving to a new location, where new services and activities will be developed.
Regarding cosmetic procedures at the medical center, Marina Tsvetanova says that the team’s goal is not to rely so heavily on invasive methods, but rather to emphasize natural beauty.
“Major operations can sometimes be life-threatening, and If anyone tells you otherwise, I don’t think they’re right”, warns Mrs. Bulgaria.
She adds that because she also works with young models – 14, 15 and 16 years old – she often talks to them about cosmetic enhancements and plastic surgery. But the number-one topic is healthy eating.
“I’ve noticed that teenage girls tend to go to extremes: either I won’t eat at all, or I’ll eat and I don’t care how I look,” admits Mrs. Bulgaria 2019.
As for herself, she says she makes zero compromises when it comes to nutrition – she does not allow herself to overindulge. She has also noticed that fasting works well for her – she eats nothing from 6 p.m. until noon the following day.
She believes that the most valuable quality that has helped her develop professionally is discipline and organization.
Next comes patience, together with the understanding that if you have the necessary discipline and are hardworking, you will be able to achieve your goals.
Looking back on her professional development, she recalls that Sadeben Spor on Nova TV taught her how valuable it is to be adaptable.
The program had no script, and the situation could change from one minute to the next. With a smile, she admits that she has not completely left television behind. She spent a year filming episodes of Deal or No Deal, and now, on October 13, an episode featuring her will air.
Among the other important qualities, Mrs. Bulgaria 2019 also lists sound judgment. That is why she emphasizes that young girls need to understand that modeling is temporary and that they need to study and develop themselves in other areas as well, so that later in life they can earn their own living.
As for herself, she admits:
“I love challenging myself – doing things that haven’t been done in Bulgaria, or, if they have been done, doing them in a different way. I know that with so many commitments – and with my time divided between my personal and professional life – one of them always suffers. Physically, 24 hours a day aren’t enough for me. For me, there is no Saturday or Sunday, no day or night – my phone is always on.”
Speaking about her hectic daily life, Mrs. Bulgaria 2019 recommends a book by her friend Hristo Dimitrov, founder of the Bulgare Ensemble. The book is titled Theory of Alternative Loss, in which he describes seven or eight different circles that each of us is part of throughout our lives.
“When you’re good at one of them, the others suffer. I really recommend that you read it because it explains how to combine these things and how, at some point, in order to be at peace with ourselves, we need to stop,” Marina Tsvetanova advises.
She has no intention of slowing down. For her birthday, she has planned just three days to unwind and recharge before returning to her usual schedule.
But she is in high spirits because she genuinely enjoys organizing events. She loves being there for people during some of the happiest moments of their lives – their special celebrations.
