Discover with AI your 'red thread in life' to be on the right path

Introduce yourself in a few sentences..
My name is Elitsa Stoilova, and I am a co-founder and CEO of Umni.bg - a Bulgarian platform for creating and managing generative AI chatbots without technical knowledge and skills. My career started as a journalist and reporter in Sofia, went through over 20 years in tourism and hospitality around the world, including work in 5-star hotels, and managing 3- and 4-star hotels and tour operators, to reach artificial intelligence at home. I lived and worked for 17 years on Saipan, a tropical island in the Mariana Islands (USA), on the edge of the Mariana Trench – an experience that taught me what resilience, adaptability, and serving people mean, both as a person and as a professional. Today I apply this experience in our company to help businesses automate processes, reduce costs, be more innovative and successful in marketing and sales, and improve their service while preserving and even focusing on the human touch. I am proud that as a small Bulgarian company over the years we save up to 7,000 hours of routine work annually for individual businesses, and the users of chatbots on our platform in our country are more than the population of Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, and Burgas combined. Our company has clients in 8 countries on 3 continents.

The unique experience I have behind me has opened doors for me to appearances as an expert, speaker, and trainer – from conferences and media, through my course at SoftUni for AI chatbots and trainings for using AI for teams, and to being a speaker on the stages of world organizations like UNWTO, UN, International Trade Council and others. It is a pleasure for me to share the accumulated knowledge and experience because I believe in “paid forward” and I know that when I provide value to people today through knowledge, especially when it comes to AI and its use in work and life, this  creates the ripple effect and brings benefits not only to specific businesses and people but to society.

Are these the philosophy and values of your company?
In our team, we believe that technologies are successful only when they work in sync with people. Our philosophy is “human + AI = more value”. We do not replace humans, but give them tools to be more effective, save time, and focus on what they are unique at – creativity, empathy, strategic thinking. This was also my personal mission when we founded the company 8 years ago – to protect human time from routine and give it more value. The upcoming launch of live chat powered by AI for AI chatbots on our platform is a good example of this philosophy. We provide businesses with the combination of the speed and accuracy of AI with human warmth, intuition, and adaptability. For our team, innovation with purpose, transparency, respect for the client, and continuous learning are important. And one more thing: to create simple, clear, and useful tools so that they can be maximally accessible and provide value even to the smallest businesses.

How long have you been developing your current company? What are the most valuable lessons that the events during this period have taught you?
We founded the company in 2017, when the idea of a 100% remote company without an office sounded strange, even suspicious. Today this is a standard for many businesses. From this journey, I learned that bold decisions at the beginning often seem “different,” but over time they turn out to be visionary and have a place. We also experienced a whole pandemic. We changed, adapted, and kept moving forward. We learned that to be resilient, you need to be flexible, to develop you must quickly adapt to new technologies, to be like a clairvoyant and scout - to listen and anticipate the needs of clients before they realize them, to be ready to train (even though every startup manual tells you not to do these things), and to view every crisis as an opportunity for growth.

If you personally had to write a job ad, what would you use to attract the attention of a future employee?
I would write the following: “Do you love to learn and experiment?” At Umni, we work with the latest AI technologies, create solutions from ideas, and want people who are not afraid to seek new paths. Here you will not be a “cog” in a machine – you will be a partner in the development of products that help businesses in our country and around the world. We give freedom and expect responsibility because we believe that true value comes when everyone in the team actively contributes with their ideas and expertise.”

What does your company do to organize a constructive and fruitful working environment for everyone? Do people in the team need to be friends?
We are a fully digital company from day one. This teaches us trust, clear communication, and discipline. The freedom to work from wherever you want and with flexible working hours are important elements in the daily life of our team. The benefits of such a working environment come with the responsibility to complete what others rely on you to do. We balance remote work and complement online connections with team building and personal meetings. Friendship is not mandatory for the success of the team, and we cannot expect it because people are different. It is more important that we have shared goals, respect for each other, and a willingness to help each other, to show patience and understanding towards our differences.

What makes you enjoy going to work? How do you deal with difficult and stressful moments?
Very often people ask me: “How does a general manager of a hotel with an international career and life on a tropical island return and become AI an expert in Bulgaria?“. At first glance, there seems to be nothing in common, right? My professional “red thread” has always been communication as a service – first as a journalist, then as a hotelier, and now as an entrepreneur in AI. I didn’t realize it right away. For quite some time I asked myself what kind of adventurer I was. I only knew that the problems and challenges in customer service, for which I could not find good solutions while I was a hotelier, led me to AI chatbots. And they were “love at first sight” – I was excited by the idea of what they could do without knowing anything about them and the technology. The knowledge came later… So, the key in this story of my transformation is communication – I love it, I need it as much as air and water. And this is exactly what I have loved for 8 years in my work.
Communication is not just a transfer of information, but also of knowledge and experience. I love that my work allows me to connect people, technologies, and solutions, to learn something new every day, to challenge myself with new cases and concepts, and to constantly look with one eye to the future. Now, with the daily use of AI tools, my work has become even more intriguing and inspiring.

Difficulties… In hospitality, I had many of them, such as nights when after a 14-hour shift I would receive a call to return to the hotel urgently, and the emergencies were of all kinds. Someone might say, the work of a General Director should be calm. Not quite – the toughest cases reach him, which no one lower in the hierarchy has dealt with – both related to clients and to staff. This taught me to act under pressure, to remain calm, and to find the best solution for all parties. Difficult moments are inevitable – I cope by seeking opportunity in the challenge, trying not to lose my sense of humor, and approaching things in a Buddhist way – karma, what can you do. For the last 3 years, my companion has also been AI – not in finding ready solutions for challenges, but in seeking other perspectives, as a brainstorming partner.

Why did you choose a remote work model and flexible working hours?
In 2017, when we founded the company, this sounded “suspicious,” but it was economically justified - we were a startup with a micro team and a minimal budget for expenses. Flexible working hours today are part of our DNA. We value results, not hours in front of the screen. I believe that when you give your team the freedom to manage their time and energy, you get more motivation, less burnout, and better quality of work. Of course, for this lifestyle and work, it also requires you to be “grown up” as a person and professional for it, to be responsible, to be able to manage your time and plan, as well as to be disciplined.

How do the continuous technological changes in the world impact your business?
As an AI company, we are at the center of the technological revolution. The changes motivate us to be at the forefront, to implement new solutions and make them quickly accessible to businesses. For me personally, it is inspiring, keeping me awake, curious, and thirsty for knowledge. AI is not just a trend – it changes the way we work, communicate, and make decisions, how we live. Our role is to translate complex technological innovations into simple, applicable language and help clients achieve real results with easy-to-use tools, not just another “new technology.” This is a mission that deserves time, efforts, and investments.

How important is hierarchy and what does it mean for you? What kind of communication do you advocate in your company?
As a General Director of a hotel, I was an advocate of the “open door” policy. I inherited it as a management style from the hotel on Saipan, where I built my career from an ordinary employee. You could come in at any time both to your immediate supervisor for advice and to the general director to discuss your idea. This is another story - about a unique hotel that belonged to an extraordinary person, a millionaire and philanthropist. And today I believe in this type of communication and hierarchy.

We have clear responsibilities and a simple structure. Everyone knows whom to turn to, but there are no unnecessary steps that delay decisions. Communication is direct, open, and two-way – both among us, and with clients. I believe that ideas can come from any level, and good communication is the fuel for innovation. I also believe that this type of relationship in the team “empowers” people and motivates them to take “extra steps” in their work. I will give you another example from hospitality – I knew I was on the right path as General Director of one of the hotels, when I saw the cleaners on their own initiative learning from Youtube from videos on how to make figures from towels to do them in the rooms they service.

What is your career advice for all people, who are building a strategy for their professional development?
Do not invest only in skills that are relevant today – invest in adaptability, critical thinking, and the ability to work with technology. The future is conversational – the ability to communicate both with people and with machines will be decisive. AI will transform the labor market and job roles faster than we expect. It is already doing it! Those who will succeed will not be the most specialized, but the most flexible. Do not be afraid to start over, to transform, and to learn new things, even in areas that are outside your current comfort zone.

And one more thing: discover your “red thread in life” - that which you do best, comes from within you, and is a pleasure for you, and stick to it, and you will always be on the right path. Whatever you work on, it should be part of your work, of your realization. Now, with the use of AI tools this is much easier and is being done by millions of people.  Statistics show it – number 3 in the top 5 reasons for using artificial intelligence is discovering the meaning of life. Use AI as a strategic partner, advisor, and teacher to discover what you are naturally best at, what you lack to be the best in it as professionals, and invest in yourself.