Today, we continue the conversation with sisters Lina & Petia Yanchulova, who\u2019s lives demonstrate that not even a communist regime can stop a dream.\xa0 Their story is what\u2019s possible if you continue following the thread of your life!\xa0 I have decided to read Lina\u2019s words directly - to introduce them to you all bc I was so impacted when she sent it to me.
Their story in Lina\u2019s words:\xa0
"My dearest Tzvetelina, take a look at this letter - someone must have thought it's trash and tossed it out but I remembered what you wrote to me a long time ago, that you are looking for a way to leave Bulgaria. Looks to me like a recruiting letter to play volleyball in an American university. This may be your chance." \u2013 This from a snail mail letter from my Cyprian pen pal, with whom I was practicing English, would change my life forever.\xa0
Many things were heavily restricted in communist Bulgaria but the authorities could not stop a childhood dream, even if it was a crazy, impossible dream.
At 17, I went to the United States, alone, to attend the University of Idaho on a volleyball scholarship. Three years later, Petia joined at the University of San Diego (another fun story!) and when I graduated from college, I moved to San Diego to join my sister. The year was 1996, the first time beach volleyball was played in the Olympics. Watching the competition from my couch, I started formulating yet another, even more daring dream... could it be possible to play in the Olympics?\xa0
In our first few international tournaments in 1998, we got completely crushed on the court - leaving us to sleep on the streets of Marseille w no money for hotels. It was a new sport, requiring a lot of time to learn but I was working full time to support a family and Petia was still a full time student. With only 7 international tournaments under our belts, we\xa0 started the year 2000 ranked #73 in the World. To qualify for the Sydney Olympics, we needed to pass 50 other more experienced, better trained and funded teams in less than two months time to make the qualification cut off.\xa0
Playing on Bondi Beach in the Olympics was a dream come true. After the Sydney Olympic dream, we were joined by Mom and Dad in the United States as we continued to compete on the international tour, qualifying for and finishing 9th in Athens 2004.
The dreams didn't stop there, I rebuilt myself from a divorce and bankruptcy to marrying the man of my dreams and raising a wonderful family with three children, while also building a real estate business and starting a foundation with my husband.\xa0
Petia kept reaching for the stars, re-kindling a childhood dream of hers to become an Astronomer, which took her on a 12 year journey to start college all over again from scratch and defend a Ph.D. in AstroPhysics - just days before giving birth to her second baby boy. She received an invitation to join the prestigious Space Telescope Science Institute at John Hopkins University, the home of the Hubble Space Telescope, studying interstellar dust particles that can gives us hints of the origins of the Universe as well as a glimpse of where we may be headed.\xa0
Contact Lina:
\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/linataylorint
\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Instagram: @linataylor
\xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0 \xa0Twitter: @linataylor
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