The Calina Deacu Fellowship was created in loving memory of my grandmother, Calina Deacu, whose quiet strength and wisdom shaped the values passed down through generations in my family. She taught my father—and through him, me—that raising a child is not an act of ownership but a duty of love:

 

“We brought you up because that’s our duty to our parents for bringing us up, but it’s up to you to search for your own happiness, whatever that means to you.”

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Inspired by this spirit, the Fellowship supports individuals who find themselves at a crossroads—seeking to combine their diverse skills, experiences, and passions into a Personal Business Model that allows them to do what they love, be financially sustainable, and create meaningful impact in the world.

 

During this pilot phase, I am personally mentoring selected participants at no financial cost, offering time, tools, and reflective space to co-design their next steps toward purpose-driven livelihoods. The program draws on my own experience as a social entrepreneur developing a business model that aims to solve social issues and create social value in a financially sustainable way, as well as my ongoing research at the Research Institute for Sustainability at GFZ (RIFS), where I work on making this new definition of “business” (“An entity that solves social issues and creates social value in a financially sustainable way.”) become mainstream.

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The Fellowship also seeks to raise awareness that gender equity begins at home. By examining the “Invisible Backpacks” we each carry—our inherited beliefs, expectations, and emotional legacies—we can better understand how they shape our views on gender, work, and happiness, and begin to heal towards true equity.

 

Through honoring my grandmother’s legacy, this Fellowship celebrates the power of love as a form of intergenerational activism—reminding us that when we choose to live authentically and courageously, we also honor those who made that freedom possible.