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PHD RESEARCHER · COMMUNICATION CONSULTANT
THE STORY
Hey there,
I didn't begin my career knowing exactly what I wanted to say.
I began by trying to understand people: their stories, their silences, and the things they struggled most to express.
That curiosity has shaped everything since, and it still does.
CHAPTER ONE
Where my story began…
I grew up in Peja, Kosovo, in a country still finding its voice after war and profound social change.
Growing up there, I learned how easily differences can be misunderstood, how quickly people judge what they don't recognize, and how often we stay quiet simply to belong.
I knew what it felt like to search for the right words for what was happening inside me, especially when my thoughts didn't fit the expectations around me.
I often wondered whether thinking differently took courage, or whether it was simply too much in a place where being understood could feel harder than fitting in.
Perhaps that is where my passion for communication really began.
CHAPTER TWO
The moment communication
chose me
Long before I studied communication, I was fascinated by narratives. As a child I carried a radio everywhere, captivated by how stories could travel through space and connect people who had never met.
Near the end of high school, my Turkish teacher asked what I wanted to study. I answered without hesitation: journalism.
A friend told me later that he had known already, not from what I said but from how I said it. That stayed with me. Communication can reveal something about us before we recognize it ourselves.
CHAPTER THREE
Leaving home expanded my world
At eighteen I moved from Kosovo to Tirana to study Journalism and Communication Science, later continuing with a master's in Public Relations.
Tirana became my trampoline. Seven years of living, studying, and working there challenged much of what I grew up believing. It taught me to look beneath the surface, not only at what people and the media say but at what they leave unsaid.
My path later took me to Germany, where I studied Global Communication: Politics and Society. Living in an international environment expanded my understanding of how culture, identity, and perspective shape the way we communicate.
Across countries and languages, I kept noticing the same desire: to be heard, understood, and able to express ourselves freely.
Today I'm in Austria as a PhD researcher in Media and Communication Studies. The question that began with people and their stories has expanded into my research.
Education & academic background
Four countries, one question
2026 — Present
PhD Researcher in Media and Communication Studies
University of Klagenfurt, Austria
2022 — 2025
MA in Global Communication: Politics and Society
University of Erfurt, Germany
2018 — 2020
MSc in Public Relations
University of Tirana, Albania
2015 — 2018
BA in Journalism and Communication Science
University of Tirana, Albania
My story brought me to communication. Maybe yours brought you here.
Maybe you've been searching for the right words.
◦ For a conversation you keep postponing.
◦ For an idea you know matters.
◦ For a message that isn't quite reaching people.
◦ For a way to make sense of communication in a world increasingly shaped by AI.
Whatever brought you here, there may be something worth saying.
This is where your story meets mine
Thank you for being here and taking the time to learn a little about my story.
I'm still learning, questioning, and exploring, and perhaps that is what makes the journey interesting.
If our paths cross through an idea, a conversation, a research question, or an opportunity to work together, I would be glad to hear from you.
Until then,
Rigon
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