SHIFT HAPPENS

We are celebrating our 50th episode! SHIFT HAPPENS amplifies women's voices and has shared 50 stories from around the globe. Thank you to all the guests who trusted me with their experiences, insights and I am grateful for your wisdom! Today, Claudia is in conversation with Angela Di Giacomo. Next to her day job as Chief Investment Officer at a single family office, and as an author*, she is the f...

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 moth...

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 a...

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...

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...

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 h...

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...

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...

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...

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. McB...

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...

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 tha...

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...

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 inspi...

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...

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....

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 di...

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...

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...

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 bestsel...

From Gabriela's bio: "In 2013 I was living in Mozambique as a diplomatic wife with a 5 year old gilr and working remotely on a succesful youth program that was originally devised to bring talented teenagers to the world economic forum. The organization that hosted the program was undergoing a deep redisign and despite the success of the program it was decided that the goals, international developm...

In today's episode, Claudia and Sheena Yap Chan talk about how self-confidence is not a trait but a skill, and how she maneuvered this discovery. Her pivotal moment was when a friend asked her "What do you really want?" This seemingly simple question sparked her journey of self-discovery and led her to write her first book "The Tao of Self-Confidence". Sheena shares her experience of growing up as...

In today's episode of SHIFT HAPPENS on "How To Balance Freedom And Entrepreneurship with Katie Anderson", Claudia and her guest speak about how it is to be within a pivotal moment.  Katie Anderson, is a multiple entrepreneur driving impact with a vision. Her first company, Save Water Co., has received much recognition, i.e. as one of Forbes 30 under 30 Game Changers in Energy, as the winning laure...

Ida Beerhalter is a sought after international, financial advisor and investment powerhouse. Since 2012 she has been the Co-Head IOME, a private investment partnership of women in the Gulf region. Ida and Claudia are talking about  the importance of saying "yes" to opportunities, even if you feel unqualified, as others see potential in you that you may not see yourself. We further discuss, how wom...

EXCITING NEWS ON MY FRONT: Season 4 is supported by the iconic Danish shirt brand BRITT SISSECK   Please use my code SHIFTHAPPENS at checkout for 20% off of your first purchase .* Valid on full price items only. ### Lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Sahar Hashemi has used her deep knowledge of both, the corporate and start-up worlds to become an internationally recognised thought leader on the entreprene...