and his wife
Mehriban Aliyeva. Born Desislava Gencheva in
Burgas on 9 July 1969, she studied at the Geo Milev English Language School for
secondary school before going on to the
University of National and World Economy in Finance and Credit. She also studied at the
University of Forestry, Sofia. In her student years, she worked as an assistant to the Minister of Agriculture
Rumen Hristov. She continued her career as an office manager in TV shows such as
Kanaleto and
Hushove. She was subsequently responsible for public relations at the Bulgarian Music Company. Later, she became an assistant to the general manager of
Heineken in Bulgaria. She took an active part in the
2016 Bulgarian presidential election, campaigning for her then partner
Rumen Radev. In 2017, she founded a non-profit association called the "Living Water of Bulgaria", which carries out activities in the public interest. ==Personal life==