Mina Papanikolaou

Mina Papanikolaou was born in 1969, hailing from Vrondou, Pieria. As the child of tobacco farmers, she learned to appreciate and respect the Pierian land, which she was taught to see as a nurturing mother-earth. She was greatly influenced by the sacred place of the twelve Gods and the nine Muses, as well as the mythology and history of the region. She worked alongside them until the age of 18, when she spread her wings with their blessings. She embarked on her journey of knowledge, beautifully trapped in it to this day. In 1991, she graduated from the Athens University of Applied Sciences with a degree in Health and Welfare Unit Management. That same year, she got married and welcomed two wonderful companions in her life journey, her children Konstantinos and Eugenia. She continued her studies and successfully completed her first master's degree in Health Services Management at the Hellenic Open University in 2005. In 2008, she graduated from Panteion University with studies in Public Administration, focusing on Public Economics. Since 1991, she has worked at the Elderly and Disabled Camp in Leptokarya-Pieria, the Psychiatric Hospital of Petra Olympus, the "Papageorgiou" Hospital in Thessaloniki, later at the Merchants Fund of Katerini, then at the Social Insurance Institute of Katerini, and currently at the General Hospital of Katerini. In 2010, she is set to graduate from the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki with a master's degree in Educational and Social Policy, specializing in Continuing Education or Lifelong Learning. She has been an English teacher for many years, a trainer at the National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government, and an instructor at the Vocational Training Institute of Katerini in management courses. Her research as part of her second master's degree has been presented at conferences in Greece. Her first participation with six poems was in the Panhellenic Anthology of Poetry and Short Stories - Contemporary Greek Writers - Volume V, published by "Cultural Cooperation," Athens 2008. She has published poems in the magazine "New Ariadne" (2008, 2009, 2010), in the local press (in earlier years), and in the magazine of the Psychiatric Hospital of Petra Olympus "Approach," in 2001 and 2002. She participated in the 2010 event "Creators of the City" with two poems set to music by the award-winning composer from Katerini, Charalampos Navrozidis. She won the second prize in poetry at the 2nd International Literary Competition of the Hellenic Spiritual Group of Cypriots in Greece with the theme: "I Sing for Our Cyprus - I Do Not Forget and I Strive." She writes articles for the regional press, with a column titled "Journey Through Time," offering a modular presentation of today and yesterday.