We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eva Staronova a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Eva thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I am eternally grateful to my parents for giving me both, strong wings to soar into the heights of my dreams, and solid roots to always remember where I came from. This balance has been the foundation of everything I have achieved.

Together, my mom and dad gave me the courage to chase opportunities far and wide, but also the grounding to stay true to my values and heritage. Their influence has shaped not just my career, but the person I strive to be every day.

Eva , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am involved in several industries that reflect my multifaceted passions and career journey. In the natural product sector, I co-founded a rose water brand that focuses on creating sustainable, high-quality products using Bulgarian rose water. Our aim is to promote natural beauty and wellness while honoring traditional craftsmanship.

However, my true passion lies in the non-profit sector, where I have been active since 2006. That year, I founded the +421 (Plus421) Foundation in New York City, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing cultural and economic ties between Slovakia and the United States. Our mission is to showcase Slovakia’s cultural heritage and create opportunities for meaningful interaction between the two nations. Through events like Slovak Fashion Night during New York Fashion Week and The Glass Button Awards, we provide young Slovak artists and designers with scholarships and global platforms to present their work.

What sets me apart? I believe it’s my ability to connect people and bridge diverse worlds. I thrive on creating spaces that inspire collaboration, innovation, and growth, both in my for-profit and non-profit endeavors.

My ultimate goal is to elevate others—connecting them with meaningful opportunities and creating experiences that enrich lives. Whether it’s through natural products that promote wellness or my NGO initiatives. I strive to make the world a more beautiful and connected place. Even the smallest acts of kindness can ripple outward and create lasting change!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A profound lesson I had to unlearn was tying my self-worth to external validation and learning instead to stand firmly in my truth and light, no matter the pressures around me. This wasn’t a one-time revelation but a recurring practice that I’ve had to embrace and refine over the years.

There have been moments in my journey where the weight of outside expectations or societal norms threatened to overshadow my inner voice. Early in my modeling career, for example, I often found myself being molded to fit others’ visions, sometimes at the expense of my own authenticity. Similarly, in other professional and personal settings, I faced pressures to conform or suppress my true self in order to meet perceived standards or please others.

Over time, I realized that dimming my light to fit into others’ narratives only left me feeling diminished and disconnected. It took conscious effort to redefine my self-worth—not by external measures of success, but by how aligned I felt with my own values, passions, and truth.

One of the hardest yet most rewarding aspects of this lesson has been learning to say ‘no’ to opportunities or relationships that don’t honor my authenticity, even if they seemed promising on the surface. It’s an ongoing journey, but every step I take toward standing in my truth strengthens my resolve and deepens my sense of freedom.

This lesson has taught me that self-worth isn’t something we earn or seek externally—it’s a state of being, cultivated through self-respect and an unwavering commitment to our own light.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My journey to resilience began when I was just 16 years old and left the familiar comfort of Slovakia to live as an exchange student in the United States. I researched opportunities available to me at the time, applied for the AFS program, and was fortunate to be selected. My parents, with unwavering faith, bought my flight ticket and sent me to a world unknown to me.

I adapted quickly and found a sense of home in America, but it wasn’t without challenges. I missed my family, my language, and the familiarity of my culture. There were moments of loneliness and self-doubt, but I kept moving forward.

One unexpected twist in my story came when my host mom, Bridget, encouraged me to pursue modeling. It was an exciting, yet daunting, new path that came with its own hurdles. Balancing my education with modeling was no easy feat. There were times when agencies pressured me with ultimatums: pursue the supermodel track and put my studies on hold or risk losing opportunities altogether.

Choosing to prioritize my education while still pursuing my modeling career was a tough decision and something’s had to give, but it taught me the power of staying true to my values and having faith in my journey. That experience of navigating the crossroads of ambition and authenticity shaped me immensely, I think. It taught me that resilience is not about the absence of challenges, but about pushing forward with integrity, even when the road ahead is uncertain.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.drinkrosevibes.com
• Instagram: @drinkrosevibes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Plus421Foundation/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eva-staronova-85653332
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@plus421foundation9

Image Credits

Monika Lacekova, Dominika Hrnčiříková