Biography
I was born in Germany in 1963 and grew up in simple countryside living conditions deeply connected to nature. My parents taught me to be kind to everyone, be prepared to contribute and perform every day, take responsibility for my own actions and for the well being of people in need. By nature, I am a courageous and inquiring human being with a substantial portion of idealism and a desire to bring my ideals into life. By the time I had finished school, the urge to explore the world, embracing risks and imponderable outcomes, became overwhelming.
So I started off for my logical-analytical apprentice years of travel. This journey let me to studying law, including a PhD, at the universities of Passau and Münster in Germany as well at Wuhan University in the Peoples Republic of China. Internships in Belfast and Hong Kong completed my education before I started a career as a business lawyer. During these years, my research scholarship at Wuhan University had the most profound impact on shaping my personality. Simplest and harshest living conditions, the tension of the conflict between the students and the government during the summer of 1989 still in the air, I met the most impressive person in my life until that time. Professor Dr. Han Depei, who officially took care of my studies, opened my eyes for a holistic view of what career and success in life and business mean. He gave water to a seed deep inside of me that I was totally unaware of, but that would determine my future as of that time.
As a young German business lawyer I was focussing on Mergers & Acquisitions in China working as an associate for the Hamburg based law firm Schön Nolte, which now forms a part of Latham & Watkins. The next steps on the way to my professional self were two management positions with Hapag-Lloyd Container Linie: Director Marketing Europe in Hamburg and Managing Director of Hapag-Lloyd Belgium in Antwerp. After that I took responsibility as the CEO of Ahlers, an Antwerp based logistics and maritime group mainly active in Russia, its neighbouring countries as well as in Asia. In parallel, I gained experience as a member of the board of directors of several companies in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Triggered by a burnout at the age of 32 a Hamburg based business woman brought me back in touch with the seed Prof. Han haddiscovered and watered years earlier. At this turning point in my life I understood that performance and worldly success are rather fleeting as long as I don’t know who I truly am, what I am capable of doing and what deeper meaning there is in the work I do under the circumstances that surround me. To the outside world, the steady progress in my career mattered. To me getting closer to myself made the difference. The process of discovering myself developed in cycles and each cycle showed the same pattern. Getting curious about something, gathering knowledge, integrating it into the way I worked, gaining new experiences and insights on the way and if necessary, change direction.
On this journey I discovered that my previous professional education and career had already brought me into contact with the capabilities I needed to develop to find the meaning in what I was doing. But only looking backwards I was able to grasp how the dots connected and guided me without me understanding what was going on. More and more, mindfully acting business people crossed my path. Competent, humble, modest and devoted they were very successful in the work they had discovered to be theirs.
In December 2000 I took off to my holistically conscious apprentice years of travel as a Coach. But this time I was the teacher and travelled to meet and support those who were willing to embark on their unique professional journey to themselves. To do that, I founded my own company called Constantia, later renamed to Universal Intelligence. By the end of 2009 I had coached management team integration after mergers & acquisitions from the basic understanding that “all is one”. In addition, I had supported managers and entrepreneurs from various industries, countries and cultures in Europe to discover what made them professionally unique and their work satisfying and meaningful.
In order to do that I had to build and constantly expand a toolbox as well as broaden my understanding of the human being and the complex and paradox world we are living in. Over time the most diverse and interesting subjects caught my interest: quantum physics, neuroscience, molecule and cell research, cybernetics, bioenergetics, holistic methods of healing, psychology, philosophy, spirituality, mystic as well as language and cultural awareness. An education and later the initiation as a Reiki Master according to Japanese traditions as well as time to reflect in the wilderness of Namibia and in the Japanese countryside proofed to be crucial catalysts in my own development. As of the moment of my initiation I walk through my days with the following commitment: “On my Reiki path I will (1) recognize and live the purpose of my life (2) fill the moment (3) serve other people and Creation with my whole being.”
The turn of the years 2009 / 2010 formed the end of the full time coaching cycle and the beginning of my new professional life as a writer and speaker. on “working holistically conscious”. This included leaving my home in beloved Antwerp and moving to my German feel good city Hamburg. Now, I pass on my knowledge in a different manner, by writing books and giving speeches. In doing so,I am able to reach more people searching for their professional self. I am excited that my new book “Ich kann so nicht mehr arbeiten! Freude und Sinn statt Seeleninfarkt” is ready just in time for the holiday season at the year end, where people will find time to reflect and reinvent themselves.
In addition, I engage in community work, in Germany and on an international level. Together with my dear friend Stefanie and the support on people around us, we started the ATHENE project, which supports single moms with minors in Germany to become self-employed. In order to foster a dialog on issues which are crucial for the survival of mankind across cultures, age groups, nationalities, professions and convictions, we initiated Global Discourse Dinner.