#RODigitalAmbassador: The Romanian girl popularizing Balkan rural living online

Iwa, or Ioana, is a 22-year-old girl who has taken Instagram by storm with her nostalgic portrayals of Romanian, and more broadly speaking Balkan, village lifestyle. Her videos, which skillfully make use of the characteristically self-deprecating Romanian humor, earned her almost 80,000 followers at the time of writing.

Ioana Cîmpianu is from the eastern Romanian county of Vaslui. She grew up in the countryside, helping her grandparents during her visits. Passionate about handball, she came to study foreign languages, specifically English and Spanish, in bustling Bucharest. She found a job in a corporation and chose to stay in the capital. At least once a month, however, Ioana travels back to her hometown to visit her grandparents' house.