Just a few months after proposing, marrying and moving across the world to Australia in 2018, Dr Val Natanelov gave his wife an ultimatum – move back to Europe or move to Sydney, Melbourne or the bush.
Dr Ernesta Sofija, originally from Lithuania, had been living in Brisbane, chose the bush and a friend suggested Val check out Tamborine Mountain and he fell instantly in love.
In December 2019 they bought land and were able to leave their small apartment in Bulimba before COVID hit.
Originally from Soviet Georgia, Val’s family moved to Belgium when civil war broke out in Georgia.
He’s since lived around the world including the United States, Africa and Sweden, speaks six languages and, not content to leave it at that, is now learning Japanese.
Val first met Ernesta at a two-day event in New York.
“I was giving a speech, and she was at the other end of the auditorium, and I knew there was something different about her,” he recalled.
Two years later the couple met at another conference in Poland where sparks ignited.
But Val was leaving for Beirut the following day and it would be four years before they struck up an online communication across the world before eventually deciding to meet midway in Malaysia.
“I showed up with a ruby ring I’d bought in Istanbul which I proposed with 24 hours later,” he smiled.
“I said I already felt married, so it was a symbol of my feelings.
“I assumed she’d move back to Europe, but she made it crystal clear that wouldn’t happen.”
After a quick reconnaissance to Brisbane, Val returned to Europe to take care of his affairs before moving to Australia to be with his fiancé.
“Looking back, I should have dropped the trip to Beirut and just stayed in Poland with my future wife,” Val reflected.
His education is equally as eclectic as his life, ranging from biotechnology to agriculture and commodity markets.
But his passion is engineering solutions in agrifood and health.
“Early in life I became aware of my mortality and my goal is to make sure my external achievements are matched by internal achievements and vice versa,” he said.
“I try to do what I love and enjoy.”
Working with a small Australian company, Val’s goal is to take Australian produced plants and turn them into modern medicine with TGA approval.
“Globally the nutritional density of the plants we grow for food and medicine is declining. In Australia, especially in Queensland, we have a huge opportunity to offer a global solution,” he said.
“My ambition is to show that success means you can help people in a genuine way, evolve people’s understanding of their health and wellbeing and how they can improve it through Australian clean, potent, sustainable plants.
And he’s achieving this while feeling the most at home he’s ever felt, here on Tamborine Mountain.
“I don’t take that for granted. I realise I was missing a sense of community,” he said after not having it for three decades.