The OWL - February 2018 - Featuring Alexandra S. Kaloulis, Class of 2011

Education I attended ACS Athens from 2006 until 2009, and I must say those years defined my path to success, as I understand now the significance of American education, and its importance to becoming an open-minded and creative thinker. ACS offers a school setting where students of different upbringings and backgrounds come together weaving a tapestry of diversity that fosters acceptance and unity, and this is one of the most genuine experiences one can have that has a significant impact in adulthood.

One of the memories in my mind till today is the class I had with Mr. David Nelson who taught social studies. Mr. Nelson was one of the kindest teachers I have met and had an amazing talent when it came to teaching. His class was the one that provided me with the knowledge of the American and European history from a social perspective, and gave me insight on how the world operates in a way. Overall, ACS had some of the most inspiring teachers I had encountered, and motivated me to become an active member of the community.

As part of the ACS Athens community, I was active in sports, as I was part of the volley team, as well as the tennis team. I was always excited when it came to sports, but my main hobby had always been playing the piano. The piano played a key role in my life, and it is this creativity that I embrace today in my work.

Career After graduating from school I was indecisive concerning my educational and career path, and so I decided to take a year off, and invest my time in new experiences. That was one of the hardest years, as I seemed to be a very confused 18 year old. From an early age, one could tell that education was not my forte, neither were my social skills, but as time went by I gained interest in finding out more about myself, and that was one of the greatest relationships I created; with myself.

As a year went by I found my family business appealing, and so I started working under the same roof with my family; a rather difficult task for many. During that time I enrolled for a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Business, and a year after, I registered for a diploma in Shipping at the ICS Shipbrokers Association. To my own surprise, the combination of business, psychology and shipping studies started forming a vague but innovative idea in my head.

This idea, came from all the knowledge, courses, and experience from work, targeting a very essential issue in the shipping industry: the human element. The human element as it came to my attention is the number one factor implicated when it comes to accidents at sea, one of the most significant factors that the industry should pay attention to. Starting from a simple idea, I began to research the industry and try to understand how the field of psychology might interact with the shipping industry while observing the readiness of the industry to accept the idea of applying psychology to shipping. I started attending maritime events. However, the very first insightful event was the POSIDONIA 2016, where I could finally gain an overall

perspective of ship owners’ views on the importance of the human element in maritime accidents.

From an idea, I started forming the business, which I named Innovative Maritime Emotional Intelligence Center (IMEQ CENTER). At this point I had decided that the most effective way to deal with the wellbeing of the seafarers would be prevention, thus implementing a pre/employment mental health assessment prior to boarding the vessel. I began to form a team and build an online platform, where seafarers could remotely take the assessment. From 2016 until today, I have managed to build three services targeting the mental health of seafarers, collaborate with Ship Owning Companies, Agencies, and Insurance Companies, while gaining a global credibility and reliability with number one marketing exposure to the industry.

My main goal for the future is to see my company expand to other locations, and create the largest community of mental health professionals whose main interest would be the wellbeing of seafarers.

Awards In 2006, nominated 3rd place in Greece, awarded at HON Hellenic music contest in piano In 2009, honored to become a Volunteer Pianist in the issuer Gala Dinner and Auction Event at the Hotel Grande Bretagne, which was organized by ACS ATHENS. In 2017, selected within the top 5 business women worldwide at the GIWA AWARDS under the category of Shipping.

Finally, in 2018, winner of #SEUA17 Greece in the category of eHealth. As winner of Institute of Entrepreneurship Development, I won the right to represent my country at a European level in European Finals in Brussels in 2018.

Civic Life PeaceJam (2013-2015) I volunteered in a program called “PeaceJam Greece Youth Leadership Conference” Certification at the American Farm School, Thessaloniki. The program’s mission was to spread peace all over the world and help people.

Teacher Assistant PIKPA organization of children with special needs (2010-2011).

Publications “Who is Who in Greece” 2018 Book Published • Fpower, Empowering Female Leaders of Greece • Elnavi Newspaper • Akti Miaouli Piraeus Newspaper Platform.gr Online Magazine Tradewinds Newpaper Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide It’s Possible Online Magazine Epixeiro.gr Online Magazine Nou-Pou Magazine Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide Newpaper •

• • • • • •

Family My family played an important role in my career. It was not just the work relationship we had and still have, or the experience my family business offered me in preparing to make my dreams come true; but the emotional support they have provided me. They stood by me, through the difficult times of being rejected by universities, schools, even activities in my life, and still believed in me, when I would say: “You will see, I will do something great one day and that day is close”.

Today, I am managing my own business, having my mother Penelope, a clinical psychologist, as Vice President. My father, Andreas Kaloulis, runs his own company, KAIMS, along with my brother Harry Kaloulis.

Regarding family in 2018 I have wedding plans with my partner Karim Ansarifard.

My advice is, do not be afraid, be optimistic, believe in yourself, embrace even the minuses.

Many of my classmates may have a vague and rather controversial memory of me. I was never a good student as I struggled academically; focusing on one thing at a time was pretty much disaster for me. However something that I found out throughout the years, was that we need to embrace every part of

ourselves, whether a bad or good personality trait. At the same time, an important piece of advice I wish I was given earlier in my life, is that we can always turn the negatives of our personalities into positives. Just to set an example, I was always reacting to conventional rules. That was and is a part of my personality. However, as I entered adulthood, I discovered that my reactivity transcended into a creativity. While everybody was advising me to follow conventional paths, university with a steady and secure future career etc., I pursued my path and established my own business. My advice is, do not be afraid, be optimistic, believe in yourself, embrace even the minuses.

Everything comes at the right time but carefully look for the signs given.

We thank our members and urge you to encourage others register on www.ACSAthensGlobal.org This directory is the only contact information listing the school has for its Alums. Facebook has served us all well socially, but has no professional emphasis and is not attached to the School.

Why rely on Facebook? Please register and ask your classmates to do so. It’s free! The list is private and will not be used by anyone else.

We look forward to continuing to explore our global community through promoting your businesses and professional lives, and building on the legacies of our shared experiences at ACS Athens.

The following article, by Dr. Stefanos Gialamas, is courtesy of the Greek edition of The Economist magazine. For the enjoyment of our Greek-speaking readers:

From the Office of Student Affairs

ACS Athens Welcomed Alums at Annual Hot Chocolate Gathering!

Every year, the ACS Athens community holds a hot chocolate gathering for ACS Athens, students, faculty, staff, administrators, parents and of course, alumni. On the day before the holiday break hot chocolate is served while many sing karaoke, laugh and converse.

This year alumni left their mark by signing their name, ACS Athens graduation year, and the college/university they attended. Forty alumni participated in total! It was a simple and yet creative way to record the event and will, no doubt, become a yearly tradition. Most importantly however, seeing ACS Alumni at the event ranging from the class of 1965 to the class of 2017 was heartwarming.

ACS Athens educates students from 62 different nationalities and 98% of our graduates are accepted into their best fit universities, mainly in the U.S. and U.K. Even though alums are all over the world, it is truly wonderful to see them coming back to where it all began.

Some of you have called ACS Athens home, where you come to see your past teachers; your mentors and many of your friends. Some of us have come back to work at the same campus where we grew up; an environment that encourages diversity and out-of-the-box thinking.

We want to encourage all alumni to come back and visit, either at our hot chocolate event or anytime. Come by not only to sign our banner, but to also see how ACS Athens continues to grow and develop. Yet, one thing stays the same, even though the years go by, we still gather and celebrate like one big family.

GLOBAL BizNET supporting ACS Athens Community

ACS Athens Alum Dina Kotsiopoulos Whatever you need in photos, ID photos. etc.

Tel. 210-6005-582 Elpidos 8 Aghia Paraskevi

Alum Marko Papasifakis performs at The Zoo This legacy ACS Athens band can be enjoyed by all at The Zoo. More information available here.

Looking for Real Estate in Florida? Contact Chris Poulos

ACS Athens Alum George Georgilas’

Joke in Halandri is no joke!

Hello everyone! Toula Hubbard and Demetra SimonAthanasopoulou are launching natural health care in GREECE and are looking for your support in spreading the word AND welcome you if you'd like to be a part of this venture, or a referral partner on this venture.

Ask us about it! Please like our page too. Thank you!

Become a member at ACSAthensGlobal.org, and visit the Global BizNET page. Email us at info@acsathensglobal.org to receive your membership card by email.

Two great alumni events are slated for 2018. Both are reprisals of reunions earlier this year, successful on account of their volunteer organizers. Keep updated on details of these exciting events:

CAPE CHARLES GOES GREEK! ACS GREAT ROUNDUP 2018 October 12, 13, 14, 2018 Cape Charles, Virginia Details here https://www.acsgreatroundup.com/

ACS VEGAS 2018!

July 12 - 14. 2018 at the Luxor in Las Vegas, Nevada Details here