our team

"In 2010, the Greek crisis hit and the country went into freefall. I was left without a job, a car or even medical insurance, and there was little perspective of finding a new job any time soon."

"I remember when I was about 17, my friend asked me what my plans for life were. Sincerely, I had no clue. I had some scattered images in my head of how I imagine myself. Like photographs. The only thing in common, I remember, was that all these images were in some far lands, with unusual landscapes and distant cultures. Living abroad was something I use to fantasize a lot as a kid. It was a constant change and an excitement over new things that attracted me."

“I grew up in a neighbourhood called Nea Smyrni. The first settlers here were refugees from Asia Minor. People in our neighbourhood are proud of where they come from; they respect history because many of their grandparents or great-grandparents were lost or had to emigrate following the end of the conflict between Greece and Turkey.”

"Tess comes from the Byzantine name Theodosia; in ancient Greek, this means “God gives”. It came to me as an inspiration not from Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urberville’s, but from a much more superficial 80s movie with Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith (Tess in this movie); I often joke that a Hollywood movie helped me in my self-marketing effort in a time of need."

"I am a person who loves colors. Whenever I have to choose between a pair of glasses, new clothes, or a new purse, my choice is always the most brightly-colored. This has become instinctive throughout the years, and it is only recently that I realized it is directly related to my native country."

“I was about five, and I was taking part in a school celebration. Dressed in a traditional costume like all the other members of my “troupe”, I was waiting to recite the lines of the poem I had painstakingly learnt by heart. At last, my turn came. But when I stood behind the microphone, my mind went blank and my mouth went dry. Tears welled up in my eyes. Terrified, I glanced over at my classmates who, grouped behind the wings and dressed in their own slightly silly costumes, were waiting to act their part."

"There is a book I like a lot. Its final sentence reads: “It is never too late to have a happy childhood”. I was in my early twenties when I read it and my childhood had been relatively happy. But I tend to take stuff written in books very seriously. Why had the author chosen to end a book about an improbable love story with this sentence?

It was around that time that I started to travel."

“In the induction program for my Master’s degree, I had to join a team and carry out some outdoor activities with them. Naturally, when it came out that I had acrophobia, I was the one assigned to abseil down a cliff. When the time came to step off the edge, I froze in front of everyone. It was the most embarrassing moment, of my life..."

"It must have been at the end of middle school when I discovered graffiti, although my fascination with drawing and the arts had been with me a lot longer. My new hobby began stealing ‘precious’ time I could have used for studying for school. I realised that action had to be taken..."

"Although I loved Greece, when I moved back here after spending so much time away, I didn’t feel that I belonged in the country that I loved. The people confused me – I really didn’t understand them – and I thought about getting out again. I changed jobs over and over before I realized that it wasn’t the right job I was looking for, it was the change itself, the feeling of travelling within my own life."