Follow the exclusive Sustainia video series Leader of the Week – former CNN news anchor Ralitsa Vassileva interviews international mindsetters and asks them how to make sustainability work and address new market realities.

Leader of the Week,
Introduction

Ralitsa Vassileva hosts Leader of the Week featuring video interviews with outstanding people driving the new agenda in sustainability. Every week the former CNN news anchor talks to a leader, expert or newsmaker about their success, how they achieved it and what drives their passion.

These conversations inform, provoke and inspire about what is possible in the next 1,000 days.

Leader of the Week is part of The Sustainian’s mission to break the language barrier in sustainability. Too often important ideas get buried in jargon, their vital potential never fulfilled. The Sustainian makes it easier to find innovative ideas transforming environmental, social and economic problems into profitable opportunities. We do that in a language that people can relate to. We also listen to your feedback, so that we can grow and improve for our readership.

Ralitsa’s first guest is New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, and commentator who writes pageturners about the most complex and challenging issues of our time from globalization to global warming. The American columnist is the author of six bestsellers. While his book “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution—And How It Can Renew America” was on Barack Obama’s summer reading list in 2008, it’s unlikely that Friedman’s writing will end up on Donald Trump’s bookshelf! You’ll know why when you watch his candid interview.

A True Global Citizen

Ralitsa is an internationally recognized journalist who joined Sustainia in April 2018. Previously she worked for more than 20 years as an anchor for CNN International providing daily and breaking news for CNN’s global audience. Based in the US, she also reported from key spots around the world. She has conducted live interviews with world leaders on international events and crises, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, and entrepreneurs Richard Branson and Ted Turner.

Ralitsa’s work has been featured in CNN’s Award winning coverage, including Peabody for Coverage of the Arab Spring, DuPont Columbia University Award for the Tsunami Disaster in South Asia, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Award for September 11 events. The American University in Bulgaria awarded her with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree for contributions to journalism.

Ralitsa is a cross-cultural navigator — grew up in Bulgaria, spent formative years in India, and built a successful career in America. She has raised a son, practices yoga and dabbles in painting. She is now hoping to find out what makes Danes the happiest people on earth. Stay tuned!