Marina Tošeska

Marina Tošeska is a community leader, entrepreneur and activist. Through her daily work, she provides support to 200 elderly people and persons with disability from the municipalities of Prilep, Krivogashtani, and Dolneni. Tošeska is an awarded activist who undertakes a number of initiatives for linking public institutions, business entities, and non-governmental organizations to work together for local advancement from a community perspective. She is the founder of GreenUpYourself.eu and the startup Tricky Treat Tail.

Tošeska wants to create a society where everyone matters through her work at the Center for Development and Education, as well as by leading additional community initiatives. Through the services that Marina is giving, 58 previously unemployed caregivers are now involved in the economy of care, giving support to the elderly and persons with disabilities. This provision of social services brings benefits to the beneficiaries, the caregivers, and the municipalities.

The positive impact of these services is recognized by the local self-government of the Municipality of Prilep. This year, the plaque 3rd of November (Liberation Day of Prilep) is awarded to the association Center for Development and Education for the successful implementation of home care social services.

Detected challenges and barriers for low-income families and the ones living in rural areas to access social and health care encourage her to seek future sustainable solutions. In collaboration with the Austrian community development organizations, for the first time in our country, she started piloting community nursing services intended to provide health support for poor and low-income families.

For her, the biggest joy and success is making positive changes in people’s lives. She has also dedicated herself to activism, fighting for the rights of farm workers, and advocating for gender equality. For more than 3 years, in collaboration with more than 50 organizations, she has been engaged in a wider dialogue with public authorities to pass a law on paid maternity leave and sickness leave for female farmers. 

In recent years, she has also engaged in green transition initiatives. She is one of the creators of greenupyourself.eu, an innovative Learning Platform to help foster entrepreneurship and increase the employability of young people in rural environments.

Marina Tošeska is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Since graduating from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Skopje as the class of 2010/2011 valedictorian, she has established herself as a researcher, author, and co-author of many scientific research papers in national and international publications.

In December 2018 she participated in the IVLP – Women in Entrepreneurship program in the United States. To her, this was much more than just an exchange program; it was an unforgettable experience. Through this program, she learned about the sustainable steps we need to succeed, met people with inspiring stories, increased her trust in people – power and became part of a collaborative space focused on making the world a better place, knowing that the next generation will be inspired by the foundations we laid down for them.  

In 2023, she embarked on her entrepreneurial journey as part of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs organized by the Macedonian-American Alumni Association.  

She was awarded 2nd place for her business idea Tricky Treat Tail. This encouraged her to become a "green" entrepreneur and establish a startup that promotes her love for pets, her contribution to environmental protection and her desire to become part of the world of green entrepreneurship. The idea of the ECO FOOD CONCEPT is the utilization of animal by-products from the production process of slaughterhouses, through an innovative process, to turn them into tasty, ecological and healthy products - treats (snacks) - Tricky Treats Tail for pets. 

As a local to the Pelagonia Region, Marina is well acquainted with the community's potential, as well as its culture. She promotes and celebrates the uniqueness of the local community by organizing the Pepper Festival in Krivogashtani, and AgriFair in Prilep on the occasion of International Day of Rural Women every year.

Her hard work and commitment led to successful initiatives in different fields within the program activities of the local action group AGRO LIDER and the social service provider Center for Development and Education.

She remains confident that together we can build a society where everyone is important, and a future that works for all. Everything is driven by the people, for the people, reminding us of what makes it worthwhile. This inspires her to keep enlarging the collaborative space of joint initiatives for a common goal – community well-being, highlighting that there is always a puzzle to solve, positive energy, creativity, and people to learn from and be inspired by.