The diary is written on April 6, 1990. Although politically (but also physically) weakened, Andreas Papandreou is holding another unimaginable (by today’s standards) election rally in Thessaloniki. Aristotle Square and Nikis Avenue are illuminated by an endless green sea of ​​people. Among the crowd was a sixteen-year-old girl. She is a student of the 1st Lyceum and this is her first political action. Andreas charms her. For the first time in her life, something she’d never thought about before—interaction with the public—begins to make some sense to her.

But this thought will remain locked in the vaults of the unconscious for decades. It will take almost 34 years and a former prime minister to unlock it. Although it seems that a little earlier, between the 2019 elections and the pandemic, there was also a preliminary discussion with another party about the participation of Rania Traschia in the 2024 European elections, a discussion that ended before it began.

However, on April 23, 2023, on the feast of St. George, Alexis Tsipras will personally invite her to run as a candidate for deputy from SYRIZA in the first constituency of Thessaloniki. Former journalist and TV presenter-turned-mental health consultant fascinated by a Greek politician for the second time, she accepts a “highly honorable offer,” as she admitted on the show a few days ago with her friend Giorgos Liagas. , “by looking into his eyes, they convinced me of the truth, which I believed he was preaching anyway.”

Gel in the urn

Perhaps even Alexis Tsipras himself could not have foreseen the development of this unexpected political flirtation. In the May 21 elections, Rania Fraskia brings a big surprise and comes second in the polls in the first constituency of Thessaloniki, leaving well-known names on the ballot far behind and finally out of parliament (as a result of a poor party result). , such as the Deputy Professor of Hematology at the Sorbonne, Gregory Gerotsiafa, and three elected (now former) deputies, Costas Zurari and Alexandros Triantafillidis. In the coming days, she will unwittingly witness an informal bowling game on social media about “what people vote for”; however, in an election campaign where other “celebrities” are gone for good. But once again, Alexis Tsipras appears as a machine god, this time spreading his wings over the rejected debutante in the most unpredictable way: he launches her into the (always sensitive) inner-party hierarchy, placing her on the Electoral Committee of SYRIZA, the informal task force of the official opposition with the goal of a long-awaited return for the June 25 elections. Even if it made a splash in the proud nomenclature of SYRIZA, which had no scoundrels at that time.

Of course, the common denominator of the murmurings had to do with Rania Traskia’s experience in entertainment TV and the informal mismatch between party and fantasy lifestyle as it unfolded in the golden age of the small screen. And the truth is, a lot of water has flowed down the drain since we saw her cute engineer next to Giorgos Papadakis or expected successor Eleni Menegakis in the morning lunch area.

While still a student at the Faculty of Education in Primary Education at the University of the Aegean, she hosts her first newscast for a TV station in Rhodes when she is only 19 years old. He wants to be a journalist. Return to Thessaloniki, conversion to psychology through a master’s degree in Salamanca, Spain, which was never completed, and the beginning of a career as a news anchor on TV Macedonia. Meet Grigoris Arnautoglu, their joint show “Edo Thessaloniki”, which becomes a pass to the conquest of Athens. Although originally intended for an entertainment area, ANT1’s Minos Kyriakou finds it “too serious” and sends it to the newscast. But it was impossible to get away from fate: in 2004 he was transferred to Mega and presented Beautiful World for three years (again with Arnautoglu). Now he is one of the most beloved and familiar faces of Greek television. She capitalizes on her success by landing a good contract with one of the most important mobile device companies of the time, becoming Nokia’s “girl” in Greece. However, they are looking for her.

“Find Your Rhythm”

“I understand that there was anger both at the result and at the fact that really worthy co-candidates were not elected. However, I personally do not believe in the disjunctive “or”, but in the synthetic “and”.

Between two marriages, a career in entertainment television, constant media exposure and two children, she returns to her studies in psychology, earning a master’s degree in clinical and social psychology from the University of East London without leaving Greece, and specializing in systems therapy. He is now a mental health consultant by profession. However, she insists on television with various infotainment concepts that don’t last long, while it was preceded by Alter’s Future Sight show, an invitation to “see the positive side of life”, which also led to her first attempt at writing. Dioptra. publications. Although today she does not adhere to the principles of positive psychology and considers it potentially toxic and harmful, her Instagram account looks like a distant echo of a more superficial era. “Take your time, find your rhythm, listen to your body, accept your feelings,” we read under another of her smiling posts at the end of March last year.

2017 will definitely change a page in her life. The Center for Personal and Family Development of Rania Fraskia will open in Neo Psychiko. “At our center,” we read on the website, “our main concern is the personal development of people who trust us, so that they learn to cope with difficulties and any negative emotions, in order to get in touch with their hidden forces, to know them so that they can enjoy the joys life.” She is not alone there, she leads a large group of therapists and meets with her “advisers” even now that he is both a politician and soon a member of parliament. She often jokes that she is the “least educated” at the Center to emphasize the high scientific level of her colleagues. He has not accepted a final divorce from television as he hosts the psychology section of Eleni Menegaki’s show on Mega, where he appears on average twice a month. She does not want to enter into contracts and take on even greater obligations, because, as she admitted to her friends, “Right now my absolute priority is the Mental Health Center.” Now, however, politics has come out of nowhere.

Early research

Rania Traskia doesn’t like this “out of nowhere”. “I think if you use any recognition you have to promote social issues, you are in politics even if you don’t realize it,” she tells me during a break after a tense 24-hour break, thankfully , having managed to see her children’s school games and read a few additional pages of the Greek Constitution. “We were given it the day before yesterday at the inauguration, and every day I try to steal five minutes and something to read. In general, I read a lot. Before SYRIZA discovered her, she continues, she spoke about mental health, the environment, refugees, women’s empowerment in her broadcasts and through her personal social media accounts. “Did you know that I had a great collaboration with Mr. Kostas Hatzidakis on an initiative to reduce the use of plastic?” I reply that I had no idea. “So I think SYRIZA saw that side of me and came up to me. If they had approached me as the host, I wouldn’t have gone.”

What else should we know about Rania Trascia? She is a PAOK fan and every Sunday from 2nd Elementary to 2nd High School she accompanied her father to the team’s home games in Toumba. “He not only took me to games with Olympiacos because he was afraid of episodes.” However, according to her, she did not take advantage of the preference of her fans, but only appeared on a sports radio station in Thessaloniki during the pre-election period.

He hails from a home that was PASOK, although there were some difficult stories from the past. “One of my grandfathers was right, he even interrogated the Polytechnic, and the other left, he fled to the occupation, perhaps paying with his life for his political service.” Before we hung up, I asked her if she was upset about what was written the day after she was elected. “They tried to present me as a TV presenter, as an uneducated person, which is still not true. I understand that there was anger both at the result and at the fact that really worthy co-candidates were not elected. However, I personally do not believe in the disjunctive “or”, but in the synthetic “and”, so I do and will do so.

Psycho Campaign

I take this opportunity to tell her that she is a very bright, happy person, and not the typical left-wing politician we associate with a stricter, less extroverted profile. “Perhaps there is a misunderstanding here. I see SYRIZA as a social democratic party that allows people to develop and progress, that is, stands for excellence, but all this in conditions of social equality and equal opportunities.” However, she says that SYRIZA is opening up new models of communication and contact with the world. And that the party is hungry for new ideas. Really, what is its new idea? “In May, I did not give a campaign keynote speech, but I held a seminar on intellectual empowerment, which was attended by more than 300 people. What’s the point of another campaign speech?” The title of the seminar was: “How to change what I don’t like in my life.” “Don’t you think this is a particularly political topic?” Rania Traschia asks me between seriousness and humor, and she is absolutely serious.