Mrs Elena Letitia Popa (Background Profile)   Mrs. Elena Letitia Popa was born in Brasov Romania of Orthodox Christians parents, who raised her, and her two siblings in the faith of her ancestors.   Elena's father being 1st Trustee (Epitrop) of the Annunciation Orthodox Church in Brasov, since the age of 6 she attended the church services on a regular basis, visiting with her family, as pilgrims, many churches and monasteries in Romania.

Later on in life, as a member of "St George" (Sf. Gheorghe) Romanian Orthodox Church in Brasov (1992-1996), she was also a member of the Church Choir.

Upon her graduation from the College in Brasov, Elena went through a special vocational training program in "Tourism and Travel", in order to learn the trade, learn how to deal with people, how to make connections, and get a job enabling her to travel, see places, and meet people.

Between 1997-2003, she was a member of ASCOR (Romanian Christian Orthodox Students Association), The Brasov Chapter "where, as she says, your daily activity is a reflection of your personal life lived in Christ".

As a member in the ASCOR she believes that she found out the deepest meaning of Christ's teaching, regarding the "Christian love, compassion, generosity, understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, etc..."

As an ASCOR member, Elena attended the church evening services as they were organized in the ASCOR's Chapel, as well as many Easter and Christmas retreats; went caroling during Winter Season, and helped the organization raise funds for charitable programs of carying for the ealderly and orphans, offer grants to churches and monastreies, etc.

During 1999-2000 Elena worked as a secretary for the "Christiana" Medical Humanitarian Association", being delegated the following duties: greeting the clients, answering the phone, making appointments for clients, sending faxes, filing, selecting and classifying documents, etc.

Such experience aided her for future tasks as the secretary of the parish council and ladies auxiliary of the Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church during 2005-2009.

During 2000-2003 she was employed by the "Genials Corporation, S.R.L" in Romania, working as a "computer operator", performing tasks as: data entry, text formating, typing, text correction, etc...

During 2003-2005 Elena worked in planning and scheduling the "Travel, Vocationing & Crusing" for thousands of people worldwide, working for Companies like: "Ralf Szymanski", Berlin, Germany (02/2003-11/2003); "Costa Atlantica", Genova, Italy (01/2004-08/2004) & "Costa Crociere", Genova, Italy (10/2004-05/2005).

In 2005 upon arriving in the USA, Elena got involved in the church life of the Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church in Los Angeles, serving in different functions: member of the church, member of the church choir, secretary of the Ladies Auxiliary, member of the Parish Council, caroling organizer, secretary of various committees of the church, etc.

Since 2006 Elena is also a member of RAPN - Romanian American Professional Network (www.rapn.org), a non political affiliations or interests networking organization. Among the goals of the organization are the following:

• To facilitate career advancement of Romanian-American professionals;

• To keep members informed on Romanian related issues and encourage activities with a positive impact on the Romanian community in the United States.

• To provide networking and educational opportunities

• To donate time and funds to US and Romania's related charities

• To highlight successes of accomplished Romanian-Americans, so that others may learn from them...(www.rapn.org)