Vladia Jurcova is a freelance travel writer, photographer and publicist. Growing up in Communist Czechoslovakia, her travel opportunities were limited, but she always dreamt of being a journalist and writing about different countries, traditions and cultures from around the world. In 1989, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia changed her life as she was allowed to travel and study abroad.

Her dream was shaping up to become reality when she left Slovakia for England where she enrolled at Highbury College to study English and writing. This was the beginning of her career as an independent world traveler as she undertook her first trip to the Persian Gulf and visited Oman, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. This fascinating experience opened her eyes and heart to want to learn more about different cultures, traditions and religions. Her fascination with this new feature of her life led her to involvement with international politics and public relations. After returning from England, she started working for the agency owned by the Ministry of Land Economy of Slovakia. She became involved in International Relations and traveled the world with the agency.

At the same time she was building her dream of becoming a photographer and every minute she could steal, she devoted to exploring the world with her pen and camera. In 1999, she spent several weeks in Morocco, chasing the perfect image; she climbed the highest mountain in the Northern Africa (Jabel Toubkal), camped with Bedouins in Sahara, searched for the Touaregs, called the Blue people in the Mauritania desert, and explored the ancient souks and medinas with the interesting local guides.

Vladia became a passionate sailor because sailboats allowed her to see countries from a new perspective. Her explorations also took her to former Yugoslavia. Several times, shortly after the war, she reported on the damage and the overall changing situation in the country. She fell in love with the shabby charms of the Southern Italy and Portugal and started spending more time in these forgotten parts of Europe.

In 2000, she made a decision to move to the United States and return to school in order to learn more about journalism and photography. Before this major move, she visited the Southeastern Asia and wandered around several countries such as Malaysia, islands belonging to Malaysian Borneo and Thailand. After enjoying the ancient temples of Sukotai, 200 million years old rainforest and abandoned islands, she had to leave this paradise and return to the real world to get on with her school.

She graduated in May 2002 from University of Charleston (Charleston, West Virginia) and moved to Seattle. During her school years in West Virginia, she traveled to Brazil with a group called Partners of Americas. She provided them with the press coverage prior and during the trip to the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, Rio de Janeiro and Vitoria in Espirito Santo. Having gathered enough materials from her trips, she hosted her first photo show in 2002 where she showcased her creative black and white photography and several favorites from all over the world.

Only after returning to the East Coast of the United States, she chose to fully devote herself to her greatest love – writing. Now she contributes her travel pieces for several publications (i.e. TravelLady.com and Charleston Mercury Magazine). In 2004, Vladia decided to utilize her years of experience in public relations and started Stylee PR, a public relations firm located in Charleston, South Carolina. Most of her clients come from food and entertainment industry.