After studying economics, I worked as a journalist for the German Press Agency in Stuttgart, Bonn, and Düsseldorf. As a full-time working mother, I then embarked on a long career within the EU, serving as a press officer, cabinet member, diplomat, and manager in EU institutions in Brussels, Geneva, and Washington. My focus was on health and food topics, particularly prevention. I also gained experience working with people from diverse cultures and nationalities, developing employees to reach their full potential, communicating clearly, and building stable and productive teams.
As a manager with personnel responsibilities, I increasingly enjoyed the "softer" side of work. Therefore, I complemented my communication expertise with solid coaching training in solution-focused coaching. Based on two international certifications (American certification from the International Coaching Federation and European certification from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council) and a self-coaching book „Es ist Zeit, nimm Dir Deine Hälfte der Welt“ for women, I now offer online group coaching, individual coaching sessions online or in person (in Berlin and the surrounding area), and hiking coaching.
Developing self-confidence, pursuing one's career, finding one's own path, strengthening resilience, mastering stress, coping with double and triple burdens, processing loss, and navigating change and transformation—these are just a few of the topics I cover in my coaching. But also: setting priorities and achieving goals, step by step. The path unfolds as you walk it.
My particular focus has always been, and continues to be, on young women and mothers juggling the demands of family and work, an experience I have personally gone through. I donate a portion of the proceeds from my coaching work to the Pai Lennart Schmidt Fund (fondspaischmidt.com), which my husband and I established in Brussels in 2005 after the death of our son. The funds are administered by Belgium's most prestigious foundation, the Roi Baudouin Foundation. For over a decade, the Pai Lennart Schmidt Fund has supported projects promoting tolerance and mutual understanding among young people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds in the Brussels region, where our son grew up. Currently, the funds are being used for a nature conservation project on the island of Föhr, to which we have close ties and where our son spent several weeks each year.
