The generation that doesn’t wait to grow up
An 18-year-old student from Sofia turns national grief into action—creating an interactive map that visualizes more than 180,000 traffic accidents across Bulgaria. His project doesn’t just track crashes; it keeps public attention from fading and reminds institutions that every number represents a life.
A teenager from the Srednogorie region thinks train stations deserve better than paper timetables. He creates a free app and digital boards that give passengers real-time information on train arrivals and departures.
A young woman from Sofia turns her fashion brand into a mission—supporting girls from disadvantaged backgrounds and women who have survived violence, proving that fashion can be an act of empathy.
A 17-year-old scientist develops a fire-resistant coating that withstands over 2,000°C, with the potential to make transportation and construction safer and more sustainable. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old artist from Gabrovo—with more than 500 awards and exhibitions around the world—uses her art to speak about children caught in war, reminding us that the world needs not only technology but compassion.
These are just a few of the young people recognized in the 20 Under 20 initiative—those who don’t wait to grow up to make a difference. Behind them stand two slightly older kindred spirits—just as curious, driven, and convinced that change starts with each of us.
Yuliy Yuliev and Emil Todorov are two friends who, back in high school, decided that education shouldn’t end with the school bell. They began small—organizing peer-to-peer sessions where older students shared advice on applying to universities, choosing majors, and learning skills like teamwork and public speaking. From these first events, something bigger was born: a community.
Today, in their late twenties, Yuliy and Emil work in very different fields—Yuliy teaches business ethics at the American University in Bulgaria and develops ventures in digital finance, while Emil runs his own software company—but their most enduring project remains the same: bringing together young people who believe they can make Bulgaria a better place to live and work.
From the Summer Leadership Academy and Benjamin Franklin’s Legacy program to monthly training sessions with the U.S. Embassy’s Youth Council and American Spaces, the Road to Success podcast, and now 20 Under 20, every initiative they lead carries the same spirit: creating space for young people who want to learn, act, and change the world around them.
“We bring together people who otherwise would never meet,” says Emil.
It sounds simple, but that’s how everything begins.
The beginning: one ball, one idea
Their first meeting couldn’t have been more ordinary: it happened during PE class.
Yuliy was in 11th grade, Emil in 8th. A shuffled schedule put them on the same football field, and, a few weeks later, at the first student event Yuliy organized with friends at Sofia’s Second English Language High School “Thomas Jefferson.” The idea was simple: older students helping younger ones navigate college applications, majors, and choices beyond the classroom.
At first, Emil was one of the attendees, listening, asking questions, soaking it all in. Soon, he started helping with the logistics, then running workshops himself. The two quickly became the engines behind many student initiatives—the kind of people who don’t wait for a stage to be given to them; they build it themselves.
Within just a few years, their events grew beyond the school walls, attracting students from other Sofia high schools and later from across the country. What began as a handful of peer sessions became their first real training programs in leadership and personal development.
When they graduated, their paths naturally intertwined. Both chose the American University in Bulgaria, even sharing a dorm room for a year. Yuliy studied political science, psychology, and philosophy; Emil studied political science, literature, and psychology. Later, Yuliy earned a PhD in philosophy from Sofia University.
Between lectures, exams, and early business experiments, they kept organizing workshops for high school students and inventing new ways to help young people gain confidence and practical skills. Today, Yuliy and Emil run organizations that do exactly what they started doing as teenagers but on a national scale: creating opportunities for personal growth, leadership, and entrepreneurial thinking.
For them, it’s not a hobby or a side project. It’s a way to improve the world around them—and to show that when two young people refuse to lose their drive to help others, the impact can reach thousands.
Making education interesting
“We make education interesting because Bulgaria deserves it.”
That’s the opening line on the website of their Association for Informal Education and Entrepreneurship—and Yuliy and Emil prove it every day through the programs they run. For them, learning isn’t about memorizing facts; it’s about experiences that engage both the mind and the heart.
Over the years, they have created dozens of workshops and programs that show how people learn best by doing, not by rote. Participants tackle real-world challenges, build their own projects, and push past their comfort zones. Along the way, they are joined by guest speakers from business, academia, and the nonprofit world—people who don’t lecture but share hard-won lessons from experience.
Through Benjamin Franklin’s Legacy, more than 300 students have practiced decision-making under pressure and learned to defend ideas and work as a team. At the Bulgarian-Macedonian Student Forum, young people from both sides of the border discuss democracy, free markets, and new technologies—and discover that ideas have no nationality. And at Bulgaria’s first Podcast Conference for Students, held in 2021, thirty participants learned how a podcast is born, from the first topic to the first published episode.
The lessons from all these programs culminate in their most ambitious project yet: the Summer Leadership Academy. Launched three years ago, it has become something of a summer laboratory for the future. Ninety high-schoolers from across Bulgaria spend five days on the AUBG campus in Blagoevgrad, learning not just about leadership, but about confidence, self-awareness, and collaboration. The program is supported by the America for Bulgaria Foundation, which provides scholarships for half of the participants so that talent, not finances, determines opportunity.
Mornings begin with lectures on financial literacy, ethics, critical thinking, and public speaking; afternoons bring simulations, debates, and sports.
“All of us on the core team have been athletes since we were kids,” says Yuliy. “We’ve seen how sports build discipline, persistence, and drive. Without physical energy, it’s hard to have mental energy to push forward.”
Each day ends with something different: from evening discussions to “reflections,” small-group talks where participants share what they have learned and what they would like to change.
“We’re always trying to improve things,” says Emil. “We never think something’s perfect. There’s always room to grow.”
About twenty people help run the Academy each year—most of them alumni from previous programs who have returned as mentors. Here, learning comes full circle as former participants return to guide the next generation.
From training to community
Every program Yuliy and Emil run with their team starts the same way—with strangers who arrive a little unsure and leave with new friends and a sense of possibility. Over time, these encounters evolve into something more than courses: a space where young people learn to think critically, act with confidence, and care for their communities.
“Our goal was never to run just another project,” says Yuliy. “We wanted to build a community of like-minded people—those who think, act, and believe that Bulgaria can be a better place.”
That community now has a life of its own. Alumni of their programs go on to create new opportunities for others. Like the two participants who designed a weekend experience giving high-schoolers a taste of university life before applying; or the pair who launched entrepreneurship and media-literacy workshops in smaller towns; or the teams organizing charity drives for children’s homes and youth-led forums connecting peers across the country.
“These are people who look for solutions,” says Emil. “Bulgaria, and the world, need more of them.”
Today, their alumni network exceeds 5,000 people. Among them are future entrepreneurs, teachers, researchers, and civic leaders. What unites them is a simple feeling: that you’re not alone, that there are others who want to make the world a bit better, one small step at a time. And at the heart of this network stand two friends, different in many ways, but united by one belief: that change starts with action.
The optimist and the realist
Yuliy and Emil often joke that they are complete opposites—and that’s exactly what makes them work.
“I’m the optimistic, energetic type,” Yuliy says. “I come up with crazy ideas, and Emil’s the one who brings me back to earth and thinks practically.”
Emil smiles: “I’m a realist with a touch of pessimism. If we hadn’t met, I probably wouldn’t have done much. I overthink and see the obstacles first.”
Yuliy nods: “And if I were alone, I’d probably jump from idea to idea without finishing anything.”
“We balance each other out,” says Emil.
Their partnership isn’t about competition but mutual respect and rhythm. Maybe that’s why the community around them keeps growing—it’s built on the same principle: different people, same direction.
A community for the future
Yuliy and Emil don’t talk about success in grand terms. For them, it’s not about personal ambition; it only matters when it lifts others, too.
That’s the idea behind 20 Under 20, their newest initiative celebrating young people with impressive achievements and something deeper—a conscious sense of care for the world around them.
Among the finalists are students using technology to save lives, teens making transport more accessible, and artists turning creativity into empathy. What unites them is not just talent, but the desire to be useful.
To Yuliy and Emil, that’s the real Bulgarian Dream—not just to succeed, but to bring others up with you.
“My current mission is to pursue the Bulgarian Dream and prove that success can be achieved through hard work and dedication,” Emil writes on his LinkedIn profile.
There’s something quietly powerful in those words: the future doesn’t belong to the flawless, but to those who care—for themselves, for others, and for the communities they build together.
Two friends who once started with a simple school project now inspire a generation to see that change isn’t born of grand gestures, but of the small, deliberate things you do every day.
Believe in what Emil and Yuliy do? Join them. Whether as a mentor, a partner, or someone who simply cares, your support can help spark the next story that changes a life.
