Maria Dmitriyevna Aksenova (born February, 23) is a Russian public figure, media personality, encyclopedist, and businessperson. She is best remembered for her fundamental Encyclopedia for Children, a 63-volume edition of (circulation – 20 million copies).
According to books and famous magazines, Aksenova is a publisher, poet and sportswoman. As of 31 October 2001, she controlled 55% ($16.5 million) of the Publishing House's revenue.
Aksenova was the winner of the Russian President's Award in the field of education (2001); author of educational TV projects, an accredited MVP level investor of Moscow Seed Fund, and academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.
Personal life
Born and raised in Moscow, USSR, Maria Aksenova graduated from the Moscow school with a Silver medal. She graduated from the MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, where she received a first-class degree. Maria studied Executive MBA at RANEPA.
On March 7, 2001, Maria was speaker at the meeting of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin with outstanding business women of Russia.
She studied English and Spanish. Hobby: ikebana, travelling (32 countries), rescue diver, old daggers, ethnic jewellery, Qigong.
Family
Her paternal great-grandfather, was a Russian Silver Age poet of the 20th century. Great-grandfather's father, Ivan Evdóshenko was a nobleman and managed some gymnasiums in The Russian Empire.
Her maternal great-grandparents, Alexei Plotnokov and Praskovya Danilova-Plotnikova were among of the leaders of the Revolution Movement in Podmoskovye, Riga and Minusinsk.
Avanta+ Publishing House
At the age of twenty, Maria came up with the idea of creating an encyclopedia for children, comparable to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. As a student at Moscow State University, she became a co-founder, then the chairman board of directors of the Avanta+, a leading producer of children’s encyclopedias: "Encyclopedia for Children Avanta+" (many of them best sellers at top Russian stores); "Modern Encyclopedia"; "The most beautiful and famous" album book series etc.
Encyclopedia for Children Avanta+ is recommended by the Ministry of General Education of the Russian Federation and the UNESCO Academic department by International Center of Educational Systems (ICES), and is also recognized as a national project.
Maria Aksenova as an author wrote more than 50 popular science introductory and 8 encyclopedic articles in .
Nine employees of the Avanta+ Publishing House and Encyclopedia for Children's authors have become laureates of the Russian President's Prize in the field of education. The winners of the Award were: Maria Aksenova, Viktor Volodin, , Andrey Gryaznov, Elena Dukelskaya, Lyudmila Petranovskaya, Georgy Khramov, ValerySanyuk.
Publishing House team's mission statement: "We present in an accessible form the sum of all knowledge".
The Printing Pioneer Fund
Since 2007, Maria Aksenova has been the chairman of the board of The Printing Pioneer Fund. Fund activities:
Educational TV programs; Acceleration, exportand other programs for impact-startups; International cultural and educational events (ex: International Wiki-Conference 2021).
The Fund became the initiator and creator of the intersectoral impact cluster in The Moscow Innovation Cluster.
Entrepreneurial and investment activity
M. D. Aksenova is a co-founder and investor in a number of projects: Sweets Empire Café, Marocana restaurant chain (Moroccan cuisine), Niyama Japanese restaurant chain (franchise, food production, IT, delivery); , Avanta+ Publishing House; Innovation project: EdTech, HealthTech, etc.
As an investor, she has more than five exits. There are four startup impact in the current portfolio.
Organizations and business communities
Maria Aksenova was and is a member of organizations and business communities: Business Women of Russia Confederation; New Moscow Entrepreneurs Club; a number of Boards of Trustees; Russian Supreme Council of Ecology; National Independent director Registry (as an Independent director since 2002); AngelsDeck Investors Club (since 2020).
Research work
Maria Aksenova is a researcher of the cultural and religious traditions of various countries, the author of a number of publications and speeches. In 1998, Obshchaya Gazeta published two articles on the death of Carlos Castaneda: Viktor Pelevin's "The Last Joke of a Warrior" and Maria Aksenova's "Who Left This World?".
Maria Aksenova tells about unknown details of Classics writers' fates and their works in her book – "Do We Know Everything About the Classics of World Literature?" ().