Alexandra Raykova is a Roma woman, born in 1973 in Sofia, Bulgaria. At the age of 20, she started working in the first Roma NGO in Sofia. Later she became the founder and director of the Foundation for Promotion of the Roma Youth which operated until 2003 in one of the biggest Roma settlements in Europe – Fakulteta.

Her involvement in European Roma youth issues started in 1995 with the “All Different, All Equal” campaign of the Council of Europe, against racism and intolerance. Since then, she also has been among the core group of Roma youth activists who initiated the Roma Youth movement at European level. In 2001, Alexandra Raykova became the founder and president of the first formally established European Roma Youth organisation – the Forum of European Roma Young People (FERYP).

Alexandra Raykova studied cultural anthropology and European science and speaks 6 languages. Since 1997, she has been a trainer of the Youth Department of the Council of Europe. She works as an expert and consultant with different European and international organisations on the issues of Roma youth, Roma, mainstream youth and human rights and contributed to the development of relevant policies and programs.

In 2000, Alexandra Raykova was nominated for the human rights award of the Reebok Foundation.
In the same year, she was awarded by the French A.D.I. Association, for her work with FERYP.