My Story and Passion

I grew up in Bulgaria in a family of academics; both of my parents earned PhDs. From a young age, I was athletic and enjoyed movement, but pursuing sports professionally didn’t fit the mold of what success was “supposed” to look like. I excelled academically and did what was expected making A’s, earning degrees with honors, building a ‘good’ corporate career, and climbing the ladder. 

My family moved to the United States in 1992 when my dad was invited to be an exchange scientist at the University of Georgia. I attended high school in Athens, GA, where I skipped 2 grade levels and graduated as a salutatorian. I earned my BBA and MBA in Finance with the highest honors at the University of Georgia and Georgia State University, respectively, and built a successful career in corporate finance, even landing my dream job with Merrill Lynch in NYC. 

Between growing up with high expectations, being the older sister who is expected to set a good example, strict responsibilities from a young age, being bullied at school for being a nerd and having a big butt, relocating to a different country at age 15 and losing my father to lung cancer when I was 19, I grew with discipline, beyond-my-age responsibilities and was typically wiser for my age.    

By the time I was 39, I fit the mold of ‘success’. I had a successful career. A good title. Salary. Bonus. Benefits. Family. Beautiful home in the suburbs. Nice car. I proudly slept 3-4 hours a night as I was a super woman (who needs sleep?!?). I was exhausted, stressed, and anxious. I rushed around and pretended to have some sort of balance between family and professional life.  

My entire life, I was told I am too curious, too passionate, too loud, too playful. I tried hard to fit in and be validated.  

I knew what I knew. I didn’t know life could be in any way different.  

In 2012, I discovered Classical Pilates. It was different from the intense fitness I knew and taught for over 20 years as a side gig. I knew intensity, pushing, sweating. Pilates required me to slow down. To think how I move. Even though my initial reaction was not one of thrill, there was something intriguing about the method. I decided to learn more about it, and, in 2013, I completed a 600-hour Romana’s Pilates Classical Certification.  

Pilates did not only miracles for my body. It literally changed my life. My alone time spent in practice allowed my mind to quiet and my intuition to speak up. And my intuition was very clear: go after what you have always been longing for - teach movement.

In August 2016, I handed in my resignation and left a 17-year corporate career. I founded Rebellious, a bold declaration to honoring your truth. My Rebellious studio began as a fitness-based Classical Pilates studio and quickly evolved as I followed the profound transformation my clients and I were experiencing. 

My same curiosity, passion, and enthusiasm, which were frequently subdued by the world, led me into the world of consciousness and mindset, energy, emotional health, and spirituality. A world I had no idea existed.  

My nerdiness, for which I was once mocked, led me to find a profound truth about the wisdom our body holds, to masters and mentors who expanded my mind and vision to seeing the world through a completely different lens to peace, to calm, to thriving, to a completely different understanding of what is possible.

What I discovered on the other side of that changed everything - not just how I feel ... how I see myself, how I move through the world, and what I now know is possible.

I published my first book, Mind and Body: How to Live with Positivity, Passion and Purpose, in 2021. As I was writing the book, the vision of The Angelova Method was born.  

Today, The Angelova Method™ is the direct result of that journey - and of a decade of working with leaders and professionals who are ready for the same shift.