Open Sofia – One big international family
What we do
The Open Sofia project serves the international community living in Bulgaria, foreigners and Bulgarians alike.
We write articles, create videos, organize online and offline events. The platform also shares jobs, real estate listings and rentals, and other essential services for internationals. We work hard to make the community feel at home and provide our members with the most reliable information in English about day-to-day life in Bulgaria, from paperwork to leisure, from culture to relevant news.
Our mission
Our mission is to build a virtual international hometown for everyone loving and living in Bulgaria.
Collaborations
We collaborate with local NGOs, governmental and public associations and businesses to promote each other’s activities and create strong and valuable partnerships.
If you want to collaborate, write to us at [email protected].
Our story
In 2015, Giuseppe created the Facebook group “Foreigners in Sofia & Friends.” He came from Italy to pursue a career in Bulgaria, but as an international in a new country, he wanted to connect with people who shared his experiences and challenges. The Facebook group is now the largest international online community in Bulgaria, connecting more than 30,000 people.
In 2016, the Open Sofia Foundation was created with the mission to support that community through cultural events, social meetups, and collaborations with various NGOs and associations in Sofia and Bulgaria.
In 2020, a team of passionate contributors launched the opensofia.org website. With it, we hope to answer the community’s questions about every aspect of life in Bulgaria: how to settle and find a job, what documents to prepare, where to study Bulgarian, what activities there are to enjoy in English, and more.
Our team
We have a dedicated team of writers, editors, photographers, developers, marketers, designers, business developers, legal advisors and producers. We are always looking for new people that would like to contribute as volunteers. We are now working on expanding the project to other cities in Bulgaria, so wherever you are, you are welcome to join! Open Sofia is unique because we are an international family supporting each other.
Our team members are:
Giuseppe Di Benedetto, Founder
Anastasiia Dehtiarova, Co-founder, Marketing and Partnerships Director
Manuel Gajo, Co-founder
Agita Jaunzeme, Lead Project Manager
Aleksands Eniņš, Tech Team Lead
Amélie Leclercq, Legal Adviser
Denitsa Gugova, Content Consultant
Bozhidar Ivanov, Marketing Intern and Writer
Denitsa Yosifova, Social Media Marketing Intern and Writer
Monika Stoyanova, Assistant Editor
Afif Hosseini, UX Adviser
Hamid Reza Darabi, Security & DevOps Adviser
Scott Green, Editor in Chief and Web Content Manager
Toni P. Lyubenova, Writer and Video Operator
Olena Cytryna, Editor
Gabriella Permaul, Editor and Producer
Marta Valverde Ríos, Writer
Dobrinka Boeva, Writer
Claudia Pecoraro, Writer
Bonnie Theophilova, Producer
Nikolay Mihaylov, Producer
Anna Kerezsi, Writer
Lindsay Martin, Editor
Lina Jarad, Editor and Writer
Alex Yordanov, Writer and Grant Adviser
Atanas Yonkov, IT Adviser
Bocho Bochev, QA Adviser
Andrea Vushkova, Writer
Pierre Chesneau, Videographer and Photographer
Ilias Iatropoulos, Photographer
Veselin Marinov, Videographer and Photographer
Ilina Stanimirova, Writer
Mirela Harizanova, Writer
Finn Bergmann, Tech Intern
