Karunamaya Vesna Blazhevska opens up on the question she gets asked most
New York, New York, United States – October 1, 2026 – Why a Q&A, and why now People who learn what Vesna does often ask the same handful of questions. How does she stay grounded in a job connected to global problems? What does progress actually look like to her? Is her vegetarian diet related to her work on sustainability?
Rather than answer those one at a time in conversation, Vesna agreed to put her answers in writing. What follows is a short Q&A, edited for length.
On defining success
Q: How do you define success in your field?
“To me, success is often described as ambition, external validation, or material gain. I think about progress differently. Progress is soulful aspiration and inner richness. It is something the soul values, not something other people are measuring.”
Q: Does that view change how you set goals?
“I don’t treat goal-setting like a corporate plan with quarterly targets. My long-term goal is inner peace. My short-term goals are daily steps toward it. I try not to compete with other people. I compete with who I was yesterday.”
On working inside a large institution
Q: You have worked in UN communications since 2008. What has that taught you?
“Working in this environment, you learn that the issues are bigger than any one person’s career. Climate action, clean energy, education, gender equality: these are not abstractions to the people they affect. Part of my job is helping make those issues understandable, so the human side does not get lost.”
Q: What personal qualities matter most in this kind of work?
“Integrity matters. So does the ability to work across cultures, since global teams are exactly that: global. Clear communication holds everything together. I will also say plainly that opportunity is not distributed evenly. Where someone comes from still shapes what doors open for them, and that is worth saying out loud rather than pretending otherwise.”
On food and daily choices
Q: You have mentioned being a vegetarian for over three decades. Why does that come up?
“I stopped eating meat and fish in 1991. I still eat cheese, eggs, and yogurt, so it is not an extreme diet. People ask about it because they connect it to my interest in sustainability, and I understand why. For me it started as a personal choice about what I wanted to put in my body. Over 35 years, it became part of how I think about consumption more broadly: what I use, what I waste, what I actually need.”
On setbacks
Q: How do you handle self-doubt or a setback?
“I try to stay calm and not lose my inner peace. That sounds simple, but it is a practice, not a switch you flip. When something does not go the way I hoped, I try to treat it as the start of an experience rather than the end of one. A setback is information, not a verdict.”
Q: What got you through harder stretches?
“Persistence, and keeping my goals in focus. I remind myself that difficult periods are temporary. I also let myself draw on the satisfaction of things I have already accomplished. That memory helps more than people expect.”
On spirituality
Q: Spirituality comes up a lot when you talk about your outlook. What does that mean day to day?
“For me it means being drawn to peace, love, harmony, and unity among people of different faiths. I believe people with different backgrounds can find shared values and work together. That belief shapes how I approach my work and how I approach most days, honestly. It is less a separate part of my life and more the frame around the rest of it.”
On what she wants people to take from this
Q: If someone reads this and remembers one thing, what should it be?
“That treating challenges as something to learn from, rather than something to fear, changes how you move through your work. I don’t think I have some special insight other people lack. I just try to keep showing up with a beginner’s humility and let that be enough.”
About Karunamaya Vesna Blazhevska
Karunamaya Vesna Blazhevska is a Communications Assistant with the United Nations Department of Global Communications, based in New York City. She has worked there since 2008. Vesna holds a degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics in Skopje, part of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in North Macedonia. Her interests include the Sustainable Development Goals, spirituality, and a vegetarian diet she has kept since 1991.
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