Tamila Cristescu on what came after THAT T-shirt

Diplomacy is all about the art of communication. And when Tamila Cristescu had found she was struggling to get her message through to Romania's foreign minister, she opted for a directed approach.

She posted a photo on Instagram, tagging Oana Toiu. The photo showed the T-shirt she was wearing as she returned home from her former job in New York. Emblazened across the grey fabric were just four words."One, Two, Fuck You."

That message briefly returned Cristescu to the headlines, but reflecting back, she says she probably wouldn't repeat it.

"No more T-shirts, I'm done with T-shirts," she said in an interview from New York, where she has returned to pursue a new career.

Tamila's story

In the wake of a controversial and confidence-sapping presidential election, a deeply divided Romania got a new government in June. Cristescu's posting to a junior position in the New York consulate had become controversial shortly before, because of her father's position as a politician affiliated to the ruling Social Democratic Party. Pro-opposition media in particular questioned her suitability for the role, sometimes overstating the seniority of the job and understating her age in the process.

In one of her first acts, new foreign minister Toiu recalled Cristescu, insisting that the decision had no connection with the political standing of her family. Instead, the minister said the action was part of a reform following complaints about a lack of transparency in appointments.

Cristescu disagrees: "It was quite evident that the decision was a bit personal. It wasn't linked to my performance, but it was somewhat to political sensitivities about my father, so it was a bit of a political revenge. I was a bit executed publicly."

It was after failing to get a satisfactory justification for her removal that Cristescu says she took to social media and the infamous T-shirt.

A new chapter

In the months that followed, Cristescu relocated to Washington, DC, where she said she was “learning, meeting people, making connections.” What struck her most, she said, was how differently young professionals were treated. “In Washington, they value young people. They’re not told they’re too inexperienced.”

She didn't want to go too much into detail about her current work, but did say she hoped one day to be able to return to public service for her country. Her ambition: to become Romania's ambassador to the US.

Cristescu says she hopes she can be an example to young people with ambition, urging them:

"You deserve a place at the table. You will always be judged, criticised, underestimated, especially if you dare to dream big. But that's exactly what you know you should be focused on and keep going and never stop."