SHIFT HAPPENS

Claudia interviews Margarita Heredia Forster, founder of Fondación Avanzar. Margarita shares how a major pivot was to become a mother, and how she changed her thinking about children's opportunities and ways of living, evolving, finding their place in the world. She points back to a visit to a home for single mothers in Ecuador after the birth of her first child. To see these often very young mothers, their dependence and difficult...

How To Make Dreams Come True is always an intriguing topic!

Christina Blecher, originally from Sweden, shares, how a gap year spent in Peru has lead her to co-founded the non-for-profit Greenlamp in Switzerland, to support the development of midwifery in Ethiopia.

Christina formed the roots of Greenlamp in 2012, after gathering 12 friends to discuss the book "Half the Sky ..." by Nicolas Kristof and his wife,  with a vision of...

Today I am in conversation with Olga Berg — a linguist, former U.S. government interpreter, and humanitarian coordinator — about her shift from high-stakes diplomatic interpretation to frontline crisis response during the Ukraine war, and her current AI venture.

In the first days of the Ukrainian war, Olga was part of a group that co-founded the Ukrainian Medical Consortium. The crisis work began with youth evacuation: ...

In today's episode, Claudia is in conversation with international leadership coach, chair of the ICF Global Enterprise Board and founder of the Lise Bruynooghe Academy. Lise is a globally recognised speaker on leadership, complexity, transformation and spoke at TEDx. Lise gives a peak into her professional life and guiding principles. 

She shares how the cancer diagnosis of her young child changed her view of many things and r...

When work and life do not seem enough despite glitz, glamour, fast cars and chic events ...In todays episode, Claudia is in conversation with Andrea Bury, founder of the Abury Foundation and Abury Hospitality Academy for Women in Marrakech.

In this episode you learn about how it is to move to Marrakech coming from Berlin, to try to understand and adapt to a new culture and different religion. In her three years, living in Marrakech...

In today's episode, Claudia and her guest Trude Stene (originally fro Norway, based in Switzerland) shares her transformative journey that began 23 years ago when she faced blindness after her daughter's birth, leading her to dedicate her life to humanitarian work through Future for Children and later Triple Solution Skincare—a social enterprise that empowers women in Uganda, Nepal, and the Amazon while addressing environment...

Christine further shares, hoe she and her husband wanted to spend a significant amount of time on impactful global health work. They started the END Fund, which has treated a billion people for neglected tropical diseases over 20 years.

This conversation explores stepping out of comfort zones to focus on areas of crisis, demonstrating how hands-on activism in global health can be deeply rewarding and connecting work. 

To learn...

Gilly Norton founded SWV to support wounded veterans, first responders, and war correspondents. What started with therapeutic ski trips to Klosters, CH, evolved quickly into employment support, pain clinics, and mentoring when veterans revealed their biggest challenge: finding work despite their injuries.

Recognizing that conventional PTSD treatments were failing, Gilly raised $1.5 million to fund the UK's first MDMA-assisted thera...

In today's episode - the finale of Season 5 - I am in conversation with luminary and renowned New York based gynecologist , Dr. Molly McBride.

She shares how amazing it is to pivot later in life, how she enjoys being 60, and we talk about menopause - how it was for herself (tough) and how she helps women to manage this often complex time in life (peri-menopause, menopause, post-menopause).

Dr. McBride is a passionate advocate for wom...

Helen Schulman is an acclaimed novelist, screenwriter, short story writer and New York Times Bestselling author. In my 40th episode, we talk about the concept of "sympathetic happiness", as she shares her impactful encounter with the Dalai Lama many years back.  She was visiting Portland, Oregon for the first time, exploring the city, when she basically stumbled over His Holiness: he was giving a free public audience in Pionee...

In today's episode, East-German born, New York based artist, Cornelia Thomsen shares her story of finding her way into becoming an artist. She gives insights into her socialistic upbringing in a small village near Dresden, and how she managed to get accepted to be trained as a porcelain painter at famous Meissen Porcelain Manufactory.

Cornelia (a humble powerhouse!) shares how she had believed that the world she lived in would be it...

Trish Glowacki shares her journey, and what lead her to founding the Glowmedia Project and its work on youth mental health awareness.Trish, a screenwriter, playwright and producer, mother of three, lost her son Charlie in 2011 to an accidental overdose. In his honor, she started to create a musical, films and resources on youth mental health topics. The Glowmedia project has produced a musical "Warning. Take Only As Prescribed." an...

What is it that fascinates us in art? What does a painting do to us? Why do artists do what they do?

Art is such a vast and individuell yet universal field to explore. When and why does an artist become an artist?

In my conversation with New York based, American-Pakistani artist, Tanya Minhas, we explore the invisible in art. Tanya shares her fascination for nature and the tiny moments, that inspire her thinking and her work.

She shar...

Listen in and feel heard, by the story of a woman who dedicates her work tirelessly to improve the positioning of women in leadership.

When she started her career in corporate banking, and quickly moved through the ranks, to become a high-performer, Dr. Anino Emuwa noticed deeply rooted biases, when she became a mother, despite continuously presenting excellent results. She shares how she had to try hard to convince her colleagues, ...

Today I am sitting down with life long stand up comedian Carole Montgomery. Carole is a classic in show biz, a Brooklynite through and through, she has performed all over the United States, was on the road, in L.A., in Las Vegas. Being a stand up comedian has been her fulltime job. Until she turned 50.

Her environment signaled her silently but clearly, that her time is done, over, chapter closed. She shifted and worked as a producer...

Rachel Cook Northway shares with me her personal journey to clean beauty. Her childhood interest in skincare was already influenced by her mother's beauty routine. After an early career in the nonprofit sector, Rachel transitioned into the clean beauty industry and worked with various brands and retailers. And built her expertise and passion.

When she was pregnant with her second child, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. This exp...

At the age of 36 Dr. Jody Carrington received unexpected news from her parents that she had a full biological sister living nearby. The revelation and discovery reshaped her understanding of her family's history and her own identity. In this first episode of Season 5, Dr. Jody shares more of her deeply transformative and emotional experience, which was also challenging in many ways. What made the moment so meaningful was the profou...

In this last episode of Season 4, Ryan Haddon, author, life coach, hypnotherapist, mediation teacher, and sound & breath work facilitator, discusses the importance of learning to sit with disappointment, loss, and setbacks, and to "get right with what is". She shares tools like breath work, meditation, and self-analysis to help process difficult emotions and find contentment. Ryan's pivotal moment unfolded when she decided to l...

Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is a best-selling author, celebrated public speaker, and passionate mental-health advocate. For over two decades, she has championed gender equality, female empowerment, youth self-esteem, the importance of physical activity, and connection with nature.

Her first book, Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other (April 2024) became an instant international bestseller. Drawing on her personal journey...