Serbia gets its first openly gay woman prime minister: All you need to know about Ana Brnabic

On Thursday, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic named an openly gay woman as the prime minister — a watershed moment for the conservative Balkans. Although Ana Brnabic, who is not affiliated to any party, had spent only a year in Serbian politics, she will hold position of prime minister after becoming public administration minister in August last year. As per The Telegraph, Brnabic is currently the minister of public administration and local government in Serbia. [caption id=“attachment_3676167” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ana Brnabic. AP[/caption] In a matter of firsts, Brnabic will become the first female prime minister in Serbia and the first gay prime minister in the orthodox country. Brnabic is of the opinion that her sexual orientation is not something that will interfere in her work, saying that it is of no importance whatsoever. According to German international broadcaster, DW, Brnabic told RTV: “I don’t like when being gay is used as an indicator of personality. Why is that important?” As per the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-government, Brnabic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and had spent ten years working for “international organisations, foreign investors, local self-governments and the public sector in Serbia.” As per The Guardian, Brnabić entered politics last year when she became Serbia’s first openly gay minister; she then headed the Ministry for Public Administration and Local Self-government. The Guardian further mentioned that after studying in the US, Brnabic graduated from Hull University with an MBA in marketing in 2001, before returning to Serbia to work in the wind power industry and for multiple development projects funded by US Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency that is responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. In terms of helping Serbia grow, Brnabic was a board member on the PEXIM Foundation — a non-profit organisation that grants scholarships to talented university students from Serbia and Macedonia who return to their home country after graduation in order to accelerate development in economical and social spheres. The 41-year-old minister has been winner of the “Business Lady of the Year” Award in the CSR category for the year 2013, as per the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-government, and she can speak both English and Russian, according to  The Independent.