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I was raised in Transylvania, a “mystical” region of Romania, by wonderful parents who encouraged me to pursue my passion as an actress, especially my mom after my father, unfortunately passed way at an early age. As a child, I very much enjoyed reciting poetry, dancing or simply “performing” before audiences during festive events. Most of all, I loved watching movies as I was fascinated by the emotional impact actors had on our hearts and minds and I developed my craft to the point where I began making movies in my homeland. However, it was always my dream to follow my career path and move from the land of Dracula (Transylvania) to the City of Angels (Hollywood).

Despite this dream, I was always somewhat “pragmatic” about the odds of becoming a successful actor so after graduating from a Mathematics-Informatics high school I enrolled at the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in Faculty Management; however, I never abandoned my passion to become a meaningful actor and I continued to take as many acting classes as possible in addition to my regular college curriculum. Eventually, casting agencies in Bucharest brought me offers for commercials and advertising photo campaigns during my free time between classes.

I loved working before the camera so much that after obtaining my university degree, I enrolled at Spiru Haret University, a prestigious drama academy in Bucharest. Soon, thereafter, I landed my first lead role as “Mona” in Bobby Paunescu’s “Pioneer Palace” which was selected for the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. After attending the Festival, I knew that the United States of America was the place I hoped to be for the rest of my life, and I’ve been working here as an actor since then on a 01 Visa.

I’ve been in LA since 1984. I spent 35 years in advertising as a photographer, producer, copywriter and director. I watched a film by George Motz’s called “Hamburger America.” about 10 years ago. His film inspired me to begin grinding my own burger meat and developing my own burger blend.

In March 2019, I was laid off from my ad agency and decided to start my burger pop-up business. I literally rolled my griddle from my house to the sidewalk at Palms & Sepulveda in West LA. From there I eventually starting doing pop-ups at local breweries and eventually adding catered events for parties and TV shows. In September 2019 I was featured on “The Burger Show” and attend the 2019 Food and Wine festival.

My burger philosophy is simple. The flavor of the meat always comes first. My burger blend is a combination of USDA Prime cuts of top sirloin, chuck and bacon. I work with award-winning butcher, Richard Schwartzberg, from Bob’s Market in Santa Monica to fresh grind each batch to my specifications. My blend is used exclusively at my pop-ups and catered events.

I grew up in Somerville MA loving the mirror and the camera just the same. I had mini concerts in the mirror all the time and me and my sisters constantly did photoshoots with disposable cameras in our bedroom. I attended a modeling school when I was 15 and loved it, but decided to wait until I was 18 as to not burden my parents. I spent a few years going back and forth from Boston to NYC for auditions until I was 24 and my agents in Boston suggested acting. I took a workshop with Marnie Saitta from Days of Our Lives, and after hearing her feedback, I decided to move to LA. I’ve now been here almost 10 yrs, just as in love with it as my first day

I came to Los Angeles in September 2018, full of hopes and dreams about my new life as an actress in Hollywood. I had spent almost a year preparing for this transition, working hard, saving up money, and then I was finally here! And my first 9 months were amazing! I went to acting school, the New York Film Academy, had great classes and amazing classmates. I also got to shoot a lot of short films during that time – so life was amazing.
Of course I missed the stage. Before, I had been working as a musical theater actress, singing and dancing every day. I missed the working out and the rush that comes with performing on stage but that was the worst problem I had back then.
And then, everything changed. My stepdad back in Germany got very sick and for weeks they couldn’t find out what it was. He was losing weight at a rapid pace. Then, the last week of June, we got the news: Pancreatic cancer. They immediately did the surgery and he survived. I had to be in Los Angeles during that time, I was waiting for my work permit to be granted and during that period, I wasn’t allowed to travel. It was hard to not be able to help, but my mom kept telling me that it was okay, that there’s nothing I could do being back home either.
My stepdad recovered and started his rehab. Things were getting better, but it was still Pancreatic cancer. My mom was certain, that he had only so much more to live. She was very stressed out.
On the morning of August 7th, I got a call from my stepdad. He was supposed to be still in rehab, but he wasn’t. My mom had had a heart attack or stroke while driving and then crashed into a truck. She was immediately dead. The police had informed him in rehab and then taken him home.
I hardly remember that day. I know that I went to the International Office next and found out, that my work permit had just been granted – I could go home. The next weeks were a blur of somehow making everything happen that had to happen for her funeral and preparing everything for my stepdad to get along by himself.
The first week of September I returned to Los Angeles, finally being able to work. But I had trouble getting out of bed, seeing the purpose in what I was doing. I wanted to tell stories, I wanted to act, I wanted to inspire. But as I was still quite new to the city, the country and the industry – it was not easy. And I questioned whether it was worth the effort at all.
And then things changed. Within a week of being back, I got an agent. 3 more offers followed the weeks after. Another week later, I got offered the role as a regular in an upcoming TV show in Miami. And the month after that, I got a supportive role in a feature film, that was to be shot in Los Angeles and Mexico. It was as if somebody had flipped the switch and suddenly everything was falling into place. More role offers followed for shows, films and shorts. It was simply amazing.
Then, Covid-19 happened and all projects got postponed. I spent a couple of weeks being frustrated. I had this one chance of proving that I’m a talent, 12 months to show everybody what I’m capable of. And then my home had to break away and the world had come to an end. Obviously, that was a bit dramatized. And ultimately I realized that the timing doesn’t matter. That it all happens for a reason, and a good one too!
I chose to believe in the best of life, in the fact that life happens for me, not to me. So now, I’m using the time of the quarantine to prepare the upcoming projects, to work out, to write. I finished the two short films I did myself and got them into numerous festivals. I even got awards! None of that would have happened without the quarantine. So I keep trusting that everything is going to work out in the end. I’m sure it will!

I worked for 10 years managing a consulting firm that I launched with my partners at the time. We grew quickly and suffered through growing pains like most companies. At our peak we had 50 employees and served clients across the US. When we sold the company, a lot changed. It was in 2007 right before the recession hit. We had to reduce staff and transition those who were left to our new corporate owner’s offices in Downtown Los Angeles.

While it was totally agonizing losing staff that felt like family, if we weren’t part of a bigger corporation, we could not have been able to offer severance packages or help finding other employment. It gave me an interesting perspective on how businesses are run from the corporate side as compared to the small business side.

A few business ventures later, I pulled from these experiences and my partner and I decided to open up a flexible office called Social Workplace. We began planning and putting together our years of working with all types of businesses to create a flexible workspace.

Social Workplace developed into a cowork space in the South Bay of Los Angeles; a place where businesses of all sizes could find a right-sized solution for flexible long- or short-term office space, meeting rooms and event space. We quickly attracted businesses literally from around the world looking to open up a Los Angeles office space as well as local creatives and consultants looking for a local spot where they could come and work, have a professional business mailing address and meet clients.