Tihomir Ivanov

Sofia Writing Challenge organizes creative writing classes, workshops, microadventures and other literary events in English. As a co-founder, I've part of the core team since the very beginning. I'm in charge of developing and running the website, marketing, sales and community management. I spearheaded the launch of the Sofia Writing Challenge and its first three editions – Short Story, Poetry, and Scriptwriting, all of which sold out.

The English Meetup Club is the first and longest-running English speaking club in Sofia. At our weekly meetup, people form around the world can get together around a friendly table, practice their spoken English, share their stories, discuss different topics and play board games. The English Meetup Club has been growing very steadily since it launched and today attracts locals and foreigners alike. We've had visitors and special guests from all continents, and almost every edition since 2018 has sold out.

At Part Time Language & Culture Center, we work with children, adults and companies to help them become better at communication in English and bring them closer to other nations' cultures. I personally specialize in working with adults and companies, training teachers and developing and improving English teaching/learning systems. In 2020, I developed an innovative online system for teaching English as a second language (ESL). This completely new approach to teaching and learning enabled us to shorten the duration of each course by 33% and at the same time give students significantly more time to speak compared to a traditional course and help them achieve even better results than before. This also boosted our revenue on all levels – per student, per course and per year – and gave us a strong competitive edge.

As a freelance photographer, I've mainly shot company events, as well as corporate profile photos, fashion sessions and personal and artistic events. Here are some of the companies and organizations I've worked with: HP, Marsh, Telerik, Paysafe, Mnemonica, Forton, Facility Optimum, Advance Address Valuations, Next Consult, Eleven, Power of Youth, ICT Media, Niproruda, Asarel Medet, Metso, Coves, Acta Verba, Smarkethink, Bulgarian Centre of Women in Technology, Move BG, Vintage Sofia, Vanilla Kitchen, "Based on Actual Events" Organisation, etc.

I helped VMware's Bulgarian office kick off their employer branding blog on Prowly. I wrote articles about their new office in Sofia and their staff, did interviews with senior-level VMware employees and managers from Bulgaria and the USA, covered the Bulgarian edition of RADIO (their largest annual internal conference), and also collaborated with them on video content.

Since Acta Verba is a small agency, I was in charge of several clients end to end in the areas of account management, PR, advertising, employer branding, event management and even internal communications. This included activities such as pitching, daily communication with clients, communication with partners and external contributors, planning and consulting, executing plans, as well as reporting.

My responsibilities revolved around creating, editing and managing content (text, images, video) for Secure Group's new website and the corporate blog, as well as for social media channels and events. I was also part of the team developing the marketing frontend and backend of the website (UX, lead and customer acquisition, marketing automation). My job covered every aspect of the company's inbound marketing efforts.

DELATEK, now positioned as Secure Group, is Secure Group's R&D arm in Bulgaria. Soon after it was set up, I was put in charge of creating and managing employer-branding related content to turn DELATEK from an unknown company into a preferred IT employer. Within a year, I helped the company grow from 10 to 50+ employees. For many of the new hirees, the content-based image of the company was highly important for deciding to join the team. We also developed a successful referral program.

I was responsible for the strategic and marketing development of all online assets and activities of ICT Media, part of Economedia, such as websites, social media channels, and various one-off and annual projects. I managed a team of three online editors and an outsourced team of web developers and worked tightly with the Sales Department and the editors-in-chief at the company.

On a project basis, I did the entire research for the Bulgarian part of PMR's annual report "Telecommunications market in Central Europe", published in English. The draft usually takes about 40-50 pages, while the final report is some 70 pages or more.

For about two years, I provided my copywriting and translation services as an external contributor under civil and copyright contracts.

I contributed to Computerworld Bulgaria, Computerworld Entrepreneurship, and Computerworld Career Zone.

I taught English, levels A1-B2. I worked with both adults and high school students.

I covered Hungarian business and economy news in English.