European Young Leaders (#EYL40)

Lithuanian publisher Ūla Ambrasaitė has been on a mission to produce books that bring authors and readers together in a living social network. She founded the LAPAS publishing house in 2013 with a focus on architecture, humanities, arts and literature, providing opportunities for young authors and creating books that enrich the space around them. Ambrasaitė is a Board Member at the Lithuanian Publishers Association. In 2013 she founded the EDIT Street Art Festival, the first of its kind in Lithuania. As curator and director, Ambrasaitė attracted top international artists to the festival in Vilnius and Klaipeda. She continues to curate while exploring creative financial and philanthropic investments in cultural enterprises.

A childhood fascination with the cult movie ‘Hackers’ led Marijus Briedis into a cybersecurity career with a global mission to shape a trusted and peaceful online future for people everywhere. He helped design the innovative NordLynx virtual private network (VPN) technology. As chief technical officer at NordVPN Briedis leads a team exploring technology that aims to detect malware before it lands on devices, block third-party trackers, and offer a single application to cover all essential areas of consumer security. Claiming to be the fastest VPN on the planet, NordVPN confidently assures customers “It would take the world’s most powerful computer billions of years to unencrypt your data.”

Viktorija was appointed Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament in November 2020 and also currently serves as a Member of the Committee on Human Rights and the Committee on European Affairs. She was first elected as a Member of the Lithuanian Parliament in 2015 and became Chair of the Liberal Movement party in 2018. Prior to her career in politics, Viktorija was a professional chess player. Most notably, Viktorija received the Grandmaster title by FIDE in 2010. She has also won the European Women’s Championship and is a two-time Lithuanian gold medalist at the Women’s Chess Olympiads. Viktorija took the decision to enter politics following the realisation that she wanted to contribute to society on a more political level.

A serial entrepreneur and fintech expert from Lithuania, Daumantas Dvilinskas is the Co-Founding CEO of TransferGo, a London-based, high-growth and purely digital global money transfer service. Its innovative digital ‘local in, local out’ business model works with banks worldwide to enable cheaper, faster and safer cross-border money transfers. TransferGo’s main goal is to increase the accessibility of transfers to migrant workers, who make regular payments to their families back at home, by reducing costs and facilitating same-day purchasing power. Dvilinskas challenges monopolies in the banking industry by targeting niche customers with a superior product experience. He has also co-founded Pinevio, a social content discovery platform that enables users to discover content from people with shared interests. Dvilinskas is a recipient of the Global Lithuanian Award, which is bestowed upon Lithuanian diaspora professionals in recognition of their contribution to the economy, science, culture and international presence of Lithuania.

Agnesta is a Lithuanian image and executive specialist with extensive knowledge of the creative industry and public advocacy. She was the head of Lithuania’s annual Vilnius International Film Festival (VIFF) ‘Kino Pavasaris’, one of the biggest film festivals in the Baltic States. In 2019, VIFF screened around 170 films in 17 cities, 34% of which were made by women directors. Agnesta’s long career in the cultural environmental also extends to the role of coordinator at the European Commission’s 2007 MEDIA programme office in Lithuania, as well as a number of cultural projects, including the Latin American culture festival ‘In Latino’ and the educational cinema project for youths ‘Cine Book’ in Lithuania.

Justas is a Lithuanian entrepreneur and the Co-Founder of Lithuania’s first unicorn start-up, Vinted. The mobile shopping platform for second-hand fashion is Europe’s largest online customer-to-customer (C2C) marketplace. Operational in 15 countries with over 45mn users, the platform has continued to experience tremendous growth, as consumption patterns continue to shift against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Justas served as Vinted’s CEO for nearly a decade. A serial angel investor who offers his expertise and financial support to young entrepreneurs, Justas has backed a wide range of projects, including Memby, an after-school online learning platform, the sustainable Local Ocean shrimp farm, as well as Dogo, a mobile app for dog training that has been named Apple’s App of the Day in countries across North America, Europe and Australia.

Agnija is an award-winning choreographer and dancer. She is the author of more than 20 choreography works, including dance films, installations and performances. Her compositions have been performed at dance festivals both in her native Lithuania and abroad. Agnija successfully collaborates with creators of various art forms, resulting in dance pieces that feature audio-visual art and sculpture installations. Along with choreographing, Agnija gives lectures at Klaipeda University and runs the Šeiko Dance Company . She was named Best Choreographer of the Year in 2012 and, in 2013, was awarded the Golden Cross of the Stage, the highest Lithuanian theatre award. Her most recent show, ‘Dior in Moscow’, was presented at the International Contemporary Dance Festival ‘New Baltic Dance’.