"Sense will save the world" - interview with dr. Mariela Hitova

She is in the selection of the Bulgarian edition of Forbes with the most successful and talented female leaders who change reality with their actions and ideas. Dr. Mariela Hitova, co-founder of EuroDerma, in conversation about the lessons learned from life and the talent to make it good.
by TEODORA NIKOLOVA photography MINKO MINEV

The important choices - professional and life, how do you make them - more with reason or more with feelings?

The decisions that define us are sometimes made after deliberation, mistakes, experiences, doubts and options. Along this path, I organized my work entirely in the private sector and never looked back. What's more, I was able to attract and lead more people and convince them that this is the way to feel happily independent and responsible at the same time, in other words, free. Other times, the choices just happen – suddenly it turns out that we made a cardinal decision spontaneously, without feeling tension and hesitation. The man in my life, for example, happened just like that - how can you not believe in the pointing finger of fate then?

Besides meeting him taught you to believe in fate, what else do you learn from the man next to you? What about your sons?

This is a good question and a versatile one. My husband - he is my foundation, window, broken roof - everything I have achieved is with his support, criticism and advice. Honesty, loyalty, ambition, integrity - the qualities that made him the most recognizable person in his field, an example that many follow are priceless, as well as the endless affection that I still feel every single day from our now 30-year-old common life. And for my sons - I really try to take the new, the unknown, the future from them as much as possible, I want to be their close partner in life, not to lag behind (as much as my burden allows) from the invasion of new relationships, opportunities, worldview. It's like I'm succeeding - or so I presumptuously think. I seriously need to ask them.

Modesty really isn't an admired quality anymore. We see the imposition of fictional VIPs against non-publicity characters who touch. I am convinced that they are more.
– DR. MARIELA HITOVA

What is the biggest beauty illusion? And in terms of youth?

The fountain of youth, alas, does not exist for now. I recently read about laboratory experiments that managed to turn back 20 years of the life of cells. So that may also happen and then the fight will be in other directions. The illusion that makes us think that beauty is all about proportions and youth is gradually collapsing. In our country, more slowly, but increasingly, intelligent people who do not live according to the canons of advertising and social media are looking for an improved version of themselves, not an added artificial value. Not to mention that the trend of "less is more" is already taking hold in global networks. Everyone who is involved in aesthetic manipulations should have a leading role here - setting good taste is no easy task.

Will beauty, empathy, or something else save the world?

I would say reason. It defines the categories of beauty, kindness, empathy. Modesty really isn't an admired quality anymore. We see the imposition of fictional VIPs against non-publicity characters who touch. I am convinced that they are more. I've always tried to do a little something for different causes - children without parents, prisoners, the elderly, teenagers who are wandering in their choices, or refugees. Everyone deserves a hand to hold and comfort them.

Is there a place you like to return to again and again?

I will never tire of returning to Tarnovo – my hometown swallows me up every time I see it around a corner. A special feeling of belonging is this - history, pride, memories, people, beginning. The air is light there, the streets are mine, the corners are familiar - a few days are like a rebirth.

Are you a sedentary person or a nomad?

I love my home. I can easily spend a few days at home and not miss going down to the city. After my active day at the clinic, I long to come home and sit with a glass of wine in front of the fireplace or in the yard in the summer. My husband and I have a pretty similar mindset. Therefore, both our house and garden are in muted color harmony, antiques for accent and lots of light. We like to invite friends. Years ago, the boys gathered the children at our house to play and we were equipped with small doors, a basketball hoop and a number of other paraphernalia. Now we usually meet with them on Sunday lunch and share, argue, search, decide - this is the meaning of a good life.

How would you start a conversation about fashion or art?

With the story of an exhibition of shoes at the V&A, where there were amazing samples, or of the opera in summer Verona still under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli, or of Elton John's last concert in Dublin, of Munch at the Albertina Museum - it can start if met a spark in the eye and learned something new, which is always welcome. I like people who are not ashamed to admit that something is unknown to them, they are happy to receive and even more willingly to give knowledge and experience.

Does luxury have anything to do with happiness, and what is it anyway?

If we seek luxury in the conventional sense, we will sink into the spiral of more and more dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction. To define happiness by luxury items is quite immature. Of course we can be happy with something beautiful or pamper ourselves with something expensive, who doesn't enjoy doing that? But it itself is often of temporary or relative value. Luxury for me has long been free time. I try to manage my days in such a way that there is time for sports, piano, meetings, whining, if you will. Just to breathe and go without rushing. To know that my family is by my side and that we love each other. I have everything else.