Most memorable journeys

txtThroughout her life, Giselle Rufer has experienced spectacular highs and devastating lows, shed tears that would overflow a river, laughed so hard it would make the angels smile, and felt unbelievable pride—as a daughter, as a woman, a wife, a mother, and an entrepreneur. That is the wonder of life and living it to its fullest glory is the gift we can all create.

She says that she was born a dreamer and in fact, she has made all her dreams come true, starting from studying in Lausanne and Berne while bringing up her children and ending up being the first women in Switzerland to receive an engineering degree.

She launched the children's watch brand Flik Flak for the Swatch group and later on worked as a marketing manager for OMEGA in a very male dominated watch industry.

In 1994, at the age of 50, she quit her job, enrolled in a six-month university course on entrepreneurship, learned how to write a business plan and went to banks in search of a loan, but no one wanted to lend her money when she presented her ideas to launch her brand Delance, a watch made for women by women. Refusing to admit defeat, she cashed her pension plan, borrowed money from friends, and amassed enough capital to introduce her first collection of 50 watches in 1995. The collection, with an instantly recognizable signature diamond shape, finely crafted, jewel-like but ruthlessly reliable in the best Swiss tradition, sold like hot cakes. The next edition ran to 500 pieces.

Delance makes watches to order and tailors them to celebrate specific occasions. Buyers can customize them by choosing the color and material, or having their birth stones and personal symbols encrusted in the case.

She beautifully tells her story in the book "Butterfly in a storm" and has been a featured speaker at many conferences. She enjoys to share her experience with all those who dream of creating their own business or achieving a dream.

https://delance.com/en/

https://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Storm-Watch-Giselle-Delance-ebook/dp/B01CGFBGBI

Farah Shammas is the Managing Director of the St Raphael Resort and Marina in Limassol, Cyprus an award winning 5Stars resort which was created by her renowned grandfather Shukri Hanna Shammas who was featured in who is who before Google, when we had books.

She is also an award winning motivational speaker and author.

That alone sounds impressive but she is so much more than that. She is a passionate mother to her three children and a huge advocate for veganism. She is the author of the book, "40 delicious vegan recipes: Cook book and guide" and she recently launched a children's book called "Theo the Pig" for which she did the art work herself. Her "Cook Vegan" Facebook group has over 6000 members.

Last but not least, she is an amazing human who contributes as much as she possible can and treats everyone with kindness, respect und responsibility. She is a very supportive member of the Global Woman Club Cyprus and I am proud to call her my friend.

https://www.straphael.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cookvegan

https://www.amazon.com/40-Delicious-Vegan-Recipes-Guide/dp/B08ZBJFMFS

Theo the Pig

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09Z6MBV2M/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_api_i_HG6GTKE1QV91P35Q5PP2

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09Z6MBV2M/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_api_i_ZN2DAXZF4KZGKZMBZCY4

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Z6MBV2M/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_api_i_YBNWWWXD0QP17DA3TST6

I met Zoran when I was looking for a job after my first child was born and we worked together here in Cyprus for two years. He had moved to Cyprus from the then called Yugoslavia to escape a looming war which broke up the country. He was and still is one of the most charismatic people I have ever met and you will hear in this episode that with his boyish but so convincing charm he actually convinced a beautiful lady who is now his wife with just one phone call that she is the one.

Today he is a leading international master coach, notable author, sought after speaker, visionary and a passionate activist of the evolution of human consciousness. As a TNM Coaching Academy trainer and mentor, he brings 20 years of coaching and mentoring experience and helps people tap into their highest potential.

He has been coaching hundreds of people all over the world but mainly in China, being the visionary he is, he recognised the potential.

He lives with his family in Ibiza and guess where he is planing to live in the future? You will have to listen to the episode to find out.

https://zorantodorovic.space/

https://tnmcoaching.com/

When you are born in India to parents from Algeria and you study in France and the US and you meet your Austrian husband at the Turkish Residence in Teheran, you have lots of most memorable journeys to talk about.

Amel Derragui is a business and marketing coach, speaker and podcast host at Tandem Nomads. After a career in advertising, she quit her job to join her husband abroad and launched her first business consulting corporate companies while living on the move. Six years later, as she saw a critical need to support other expat spouses and global nomads in finding their own source of fulfillment and financial independence, she launched Tandem Nomads. Through her podcast show, online courses, workshops and coaching services she helps global entrepreneurs start or grow a successful portable business that is aligned with their lifestyle. Amel often speaks for various international organizations such as the IMF and World Bank to provide guidance on how to use entrepreneurship as a solution to dual career challenges and how to make a business truly portable. Her work on the topic of entrepreneurship and women empowerment is featured in various media such as Forbes Magazine and Global Living Magazine.

https://tandemnomads.com/

Constantinos Yiorkadjis has been the Mayor of Nicosia since December 2011 and is on his second term. Nicosia is the capital of the Republic of Cyprus, and it is the last divided capital in the world. The scars of the past conflict are brutally evident and come in the form of an UN-patrolled buffer zone. Roads end at barrels and barbed wire and buildings with bullet holes decay slowly. It has been 48 years since the invasion of the Turkish Army in 1974 and since the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots have been apart when Turkey invaded and occupied one-third of the island.

Mayor Yiorkadjis is the son of Polycarpos Yiorkadjis who was a Minister of Interior and Fotini Papadopoulou, a descendant of the Leventis family and foundation which supports educational, cultural, artistic, and philanthropic causes in Cyprus, Greece and elsewhere. His stepfather was Tassos Papadopoulos who served as the 5th President of the Republic of Cyprus. Constantinos Yiorkadjis studied at the University of Boston and before he moved back to Cyprus worked in Greece and Romania. He lives with his family in Nicosia.

https://www.nicosia.org.cy/en-GB/home/

Christina talks about many of her travel memories all over the world with friends and later on with her family.

She is an amazing organiser whether it's for a family trip to Greece, a huge conference in Cyprus or bringing the President of Rotary International, Ian Riseley to Beirut during her year as the first female District Governor of District 2452 and arranging that the conference is held under the patronage and participation of the President of the Lebanese Republic General Michel Aoun.

She is a very dedicated Rotarian ever since she was a young woman, following in the footsteps of her father. She is the founder and President of the first Rotaract Club in Limassol (Amathusia) and a charter member of the Rotary Club Limassol Berengaria Cosmopolitan.

Most of all, she is a wonderful travel companion, a friend and when I am at my wit's end, I call Christina. Our kids have grown up together and attended the same school, we have shared many meals which we cooked together and many inspiring and supportive conversations over coffee. I look forward to new adventures and to another interview in 10 years.

https://thesoulkit.com/

End of March 1982 I arrived in Cyprus for the first time, and I have been talking in the first episodes of this podcast about how I had no idea where I was going. I very much enjoyed my 6 summers as a holiday Rep and I so appreciated the life here. However, my personal life wasn't working out, and so I left in 1988, not planning to ever come back but as John Lennon said, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans"

I came back in 1994, got married in 1995 to my husband Hector, and by 1997, I was the mother of the two most beautiful babies in the world. Even though I loved spending time with them, I needed something to do, and I started importing quality wooden toys from Germany and opened two shops; it wasn't a very successful mission and I gave up after a few years. My most enjoyable appointment was working for the Cyprus Police Association as an interpreter for 17 years, predominantly because I got to travel again and met amazing people all over Europe and beyond.

Cyprus has become my home, I became a Cypriot citizen, I speak perfect Greek. Our children are now grown up and live abroad but they love coming back because the island grounds them.

I trained as a Hypnotherapist, NLP Practitioner and I wrote a book called "The Soul Kit - first aid for the soul"

I am the Regional Director of the Global Woman Club Cyprus and I love connecting women and networking, I love people.

I love my island in the sun as I lovingly call it, I love nature, the sea, the mountains (this winter I did what I had wanted to do for many years, I swam in the sea in the morning and skied in the afternoon). I love the traditions, the cooking, and baking and most of all, I love the community and my beautiful friends. I love this podcast which also celebrated its first birthday. Basically, I love my life.

https://thesoulkit.com/

She is a born-and-raised California girl and was Mrs Globe in 1996.

Also in 1996 when Albania hosted the Miss Europe contest and she helped presenting it, she decided to visit neighbouring Greece and find her husband's birthfather. Her mission was successful and she's been in love with Greece ever since and spends half of the year there and the other half in California. She organizes "The Divine Conference" every year in Greece.

Dr. Tracy is the owner of Mrs. Globe®, the world's largest international beauty event for Misses in the world. Celebrating 20 years of success, the MG brand is licensed in over 70 countries, globally. Dr. Tracy is also the registered brand owner of Mrs. U.S.of A.®, Mrs. North America®, and Mrs. Globe Classic®.

She is the founder of The W.I.N. Foundation, a non-profit that specializes in programs of recovery and empowerment. Her life-changing program "Right Living" has been taught to over 60 countries around the globe and translated into 3 languages. Founded in 1996, over 150,000 lives have been helped through the programs of empowerment offered by WIN.

In 2010, Dr. Tracy and WIN was commissioned and endorsed by Miller Coors Social Responsibility for her break-out program "Raise Your Standards"; a "drink responsibly / date responsibly" program that was implemented in over 50 universities across the USA.

Due to her 20 years of transformational work with women, Dr. Tracy has been recognized by media and world figures, including Hilary Clinton and former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Jemima Cooper (Jem) is a former professional classical ballerina turned endurance athlete, psychology grad, entrepreneur, multi-passionate ‘life-go-getter’ business consultant and coach.

Jem brings her experiences from the world of sport, peak performance mindset, overcoming severe illness and business to support ambitious entrepreneurs to step up to a higher level of alignment, personal power, autonomy, and ultimately - RESULTS.

Her signature program is the MOMENTUM Mastermind - supporting entrepreneurs to scale to 6+ Figures with lifestyle-aligned (overwhelm free!) businesses!

Jem currently lives in Mallorca Spain and splits her time between Spain & Switzerland and jet-setting as often as possible!

Find out more about Jem @jemcooper on instagram

Learn more the Momentum Mastermind at www.momentum-formula.com

She is a multi-award-winning, highly connected journalist with 30 years of experience working with national media and PR.

She started her training in a local newspaper before moving up to national newspapers and magazines including The Daily Star and The Daily Express

She has worked in television production and post-production such as ITV and Carlton Food Network on programs such as Emmerdale, Heartbeat, and Hollyoaks

She is the founder of the award-winning Lifestyle Magazine in Liverpool and Lifestyle magazine in Cyprus

She is a regular contributor to radio and television panel discussions on consumer, fashion, lifestyle, and parenting issues ( as a mum of 6)

She is the producer of Liverpool Fashion Week and runs shows in Los Angeles and Cyprus

She understands the media and is well connected in the media and fashion industry. She is a social media micro-influencer with over 30,500 followers across her platforms, with high engagement levels

She is a passionate, authentic professional who understands the needs of her clients. She maintains strong relationships with all her clients who return year after year, creating campaigns that make a difference. She makes it personal, your business is her business

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