“Mid-2014, a friend told me about an open position at Fox. He connected me with Sr. Partner Manager, Rebecca Beam, and I’ve been at Fox ever since,” says Rusko. “I work as a .Net Developer. What can I say, I love my job. Every day at work I meet many movie stars … in the database,” he says with a grin.
“I’m from Bulgaria, raised in a medium-sized town (pop: 100,000) called Dobrich. The administrative center of the region is called Dobroudzha and people from that region are called Dobrudzhans,” says Rusko. “I was a talented kid and did well in school, to my parents’ surprise,” he chuckles. “They dreamt I would be a doctor or a lawyer…or both! But my dream was to become an airplane pilot… that never happened,” he says. “So logically, I went to study Computer Science in the most prestigious and the most competitive Bulgarian university – Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski.”
“After I graduated and received my B.Sc in Computer Science, I got my first IT related job. While being employed full-time, I went back to school doing evening and weekend classes to get a master’s degree in IT Entrepreneurship and IT Innovations,” says Rusko. “I applied, and was offered, a business management related job in a high-level government office in Europe, but I turned it down because I won the Green Card lottery. That was the hardest and most life-defining choice I’ve ever made.”
“The day after I defended my M.Sc. thesis I was flying to the U.S. to live the American dream. That was four and a half years ago.”
“Now that I live in California, I eat healthy kale or ‘grass’ like I used to say. But my favorite dishes are still Dolmades with Minced Meat, pizza, Dobrudzha Kavarma, and Shopska salad. I personally like to make pasta ai Quattro Formagi and the Dobrudhzan Kavarma.”
Rusko is known by friends as being reliable and serious about business, but a fun comical guy outside of work. He’s also not-so-secretly known as an avid Formula One fan. “This goes back to 1993. I was cheering for Michael Schumacher before he became world champion in ‘94, and any team he was on during that period – Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. I miss the good seasons from the 90′s and early 2000′s,” says Rusko. “The first live F1 experience I had was in 2013 in Austin, Texas. I was so happy to be fulfilling one of my childhood dreams. I met and got autographs from top pilots like Jason Button, Nico Rosberg, and Lewis Hamilton. I waited in line for over 4 hours and had a bad sunburn, but I didn’t care at all!”
“Every year, I try to take big vacations and have crazy trips,” says Rusko. “Just in 2015, I sunbathed in Hawaii, Marseilles, Saint-Tropez and the rest of the French Riviera, Monaco, Sandham in South Eastern Sweden, and Zanzibar Island.”
“I camped with the hyenas and buffalo in the Serengeti National Park in Africa. Thankfully I could only hear a lion roaring about a mile away come nightfall. I even climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and had the most peaceful 20 minutes of my life standing all alone at the top,” Rusko recalls.
“Overall, the once in a lifetime and adventurous experiences that keep the adrenaline levels high are my passion.”
