Born January 18, 1968 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She graduated in 1994 from the Faculty of Arts (University of Ljubljana) with a degree in ethnology and cultural anthropology. Her graduate thesis was entitled Traditional knowledge of the plant world.She earned a degree in geography in 1996. After completing her studies, she furthered her specialisation in the field of Slovenian ethnobotanics. As an independent heritage researcher she has been active in this field for more than twenty years. She contributed more than 350 entries for the Slovenian Ethnographic Lexicon, covering the topic of traditional knowledge about the world of plants, thus closing an important scientific gap in the field of ethnographic research of traditional botanical knowledge. Her articles on ethnobotanical heritage have been published in magazines and other media. The book The Plant is Sacred, from roots to blossom is a compendium of her research work. This is the first systematic scientific work for a lay-man reader in the field of ethnobotanics in Slovenia. It was commended and extremely well received by the scientific community and by the readers. Vlasta Mlakar worked as an editor at Mladinska Knjiga, the largest Slovenian publishing house, for seven years. She was involved in the most important national lexicographical projects (Slovenian Ethnographic Lexicon, Great Slovenian Biographical Lexicon, Slovenian National Encyclopedia) as a connoisseur of Slovenian national and local geographical environment and cultural space.
WORKS:
Tea, 2000
Non-material cultural heritage (co-author), 2006
One Hundred Family Trips across Slovenia, 2006
Ancient mystic celebrations through Zodiac calendar, 2007
House Martin Girl and Other Stories, 2008
Potatoe Soldiers and the Cultural History of Potatoe (co-author), 2011
The Plant is Sacred, from roots to blossom, 2015 Sacred plants in folk medicine and rituals, 2020