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 founder of Wunder Nova (an educational NGO based in Germany). Angela shares about the organisation's mission, growth, and challenges. Wunder Nova connects teenagers aged 16–18 with professional role models across diverse fields (law, finance, business, to arts, trade professions and health) to ignite career awareness and reduce fear about future paths. Despite near-collapse in 2023 due to funding and operational pressures, the organisation recovered and is now running 15 events across four cities, having engaged 200+ role models and 900+ teenagers - and growing!

*The Venture Capital Playbook: How families and family offices can invest in start ups successfully - available on amazon and her website www.degiacomo.de

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To learn more about Wunder Nova, find the website here and follow them on social media:

Wunder Nova Bildungswerk

@wundernovabildungswerk

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To learn more about SHIFT HAPPENS, click here

 To learn more about Claudia's business SHIFT HAPPENS.Curated Conversations and her Salons in New York, Zurich and Berlin, click here

You can also connect with Claudia on Instagram @shifthappens.podcast and LinkedIn at ClaudiaMahlerNYC

This podcast is created, produced and hosted by Claudia Mahler.

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 life conditions, truly gave her the calling to be of fundamental help so true change can happen for these mothers and their children. Margarita started the foundation 25 years ago, initially fundraising in Switzerland with friends before evolving into a vocational training and entrepreneurship program for women. The organisation covers areas like gastronomy, beauty, and photography. Margarita also describes how a hospital project in 2009 led to the create Atelier Avanzar, a social enterprise producing handmade bags that are now sold in Switzerland, and how this inspired a broader initiative bringing together 15 to 25 independent artisan brands three times a year for two-day Atelier events in Zurich. THe things that can be built in over 25 years ...  

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 a bright future for women, girls, and their families.

The organization operates in Ethiopia, supporting midwifery education, solar energy access for health centers, and alumni leadership development. Over 14 years, Green Lamp has contributed to more than 1.3 million births assisted under solar-powered conditions and supported approximately 84 midwifery students in Bachelor of Science programs. 

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: she coordinated the evacuation of 50+ Ukrainian youth to the UK and Austria in the first days of the war; one evacuee now works for Olga. For medical aid coordination the group partnered with the Polish Institute of Emergency Medicine to register the newly founded Ukrainian Medical Consortium rapidly, leveraging the institute's established credibility. Parallel they initiated an orthopedic surgery collaboration: they paired U.S. surgeons (via Northwell Health) with Ukrainian surgeons via telemedicine and procured specialized equipment including secondhand CRM X-rays. A key focus was tactical medicine training: Olga ran the only internationally certified tactical medicine program for civilians in Ukraine for 2+ years, training thousands.

Olga shares how this all came at personal costs, the work for her resulted in severe burnout, PTSD, and her divorce. She described this phase as 20 months of sleeping four hours a day.

But what she said was so fascinating and positive despite all the despair, how people in crisis know what to do, they show knowledge, taking over responsibilities - no questions asked, and communication was clear, precise and no words waisted.

This intense experience and her earlier professional career lead her to co-found the DarcyCode, a behavioral linguistic intelligence engine designed to improve human communication precision. It works as a deterministic logic layer ("behavioral linguistic intelligence engine") that sits on top of LLMs (GPT, Claude, etc.) to interpret human behavioral speech patterns. Her start up is inspired by the Gottman 1983 study: where micro-conflict resolution in conversation predicted divorce rate with 93% accuracy — the same principle is actually applied to team survival.

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To learn more about Olga Berg and the DarcyCode, please go to her website and follow her on social media:

@olgabergny

linkedin.com/in/olga-berg-9aa44416

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To learn more about SHIFT HAPPENS, click here

 To learn more about Claudia's business SHIFT HAPPENS.Curated Conversations and her Salons in New York, Zurich and Berlin, click here

You can also connect with Claudia on Instagram @shifthappens.podcast and LinkedIn at ClaudiaMahlerNYC

This podcast is created, produced and hosted by Claudia Mahler.

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 reinforced the knowledge of others. She says that she learned and experienced how support comes from the least expected places and is plentiful when you lead from the heart.

Listen to a Master executive coach and how she challenges herself: like studying in Russia to learn Russian and to apply for TEDx talk to learn public speaking. 

Get some inspiring insights and in this clear and insightful conversation.

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To learn more about Lise Bruynooghe and her coaching business, please go to her website and follow her on social media:

Lise Bruynooghe

@lise.bruynooghe

linkedin.com/in/lisebruynooghe

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To learn more about SHIFT HAPPENS, click here

 To learn more about Claudia's business SHIFT HAPPENS.Curated Conversations and her Salons in New York, Zurich and Berlin, click here

You can also connect with Claudia on Instagram @shifthappens.podcast and LinkedIn at ClaudiaMahlerNYC

This podcast is created, produced and hosted by Claudia Mahler.

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, Andrea realised that girls and young women need not only support in getting a well rounded education, but have never been asked to begin with:"What is your dream in life. What do you want?" She spotted the need for empowerment to bring more young women into the workforce.

It all started with Andrea selling vintage Berber-Bags to be able to create opportunities of school attendance for girls. Fast forward, Andrea launched the Abury Hospitality Academy, a training program in the hospitality sector for underprivileged young women.

Over the past 15 years, Andrea and her growing team have been moving the foundation forward, in helping women to live a self determined life, by promoting equality, education and understanding.

Listen in to find out how you can support an intimate, purpose driven, small organisation that has big plans for the future and takes every girl along.

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To find out more about Andrea Bury and how to support her foundation and academy, please follow these links:

ABURY Foundation

@andreabury on Instagram

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To learn more about SHIFT HAPPENS, click here, about Claudia's business SHIFT HAPPENS.Curated Conversations and her Salons in New York, Zurich and Berlin, click here

You can also connect with Claudia on Instagram @shifthappens.podcast and LinkedIn at ClaudiaMahlerNYC

This podcast is created, produced and hosted by Claudia Mahler.

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 environmental challenges.

Trude's journey is on full speed. She truly drives impact and significant change, where it is needed:

Brava!

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To learn more about Trude Stene and her organisation, Future 4 Children, and her skincare brand, Triple Solution Skincare, please go to the websites and follow on social media:

www.future4children.com

www.triplesolutionskincare.com

@triplesolutionskincare

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To learn more about SHIFT HAPPENS, click here

 To learn more about Claudia's business SHIFT HAPPENS.Curated Conversations and her Salons in New York, Zurich and Berlin, click here

You can also connect with Claudia on Instagram @shifthappens.podcast and LinkedIn at ClaudiaMahlerNYC

This podcast is created, produced and hosted by Claudia Mahler.

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 more about The End Fund and their incredible work to cure and prevent the spread of neglected tropical diseases go to their website

www.endfund.org

For information on Christine's galleries in New York City and Seattle Winston Wächter Fine Arts, please visit

www.newyork.winstonwachter.com

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To learn more about SHIFT HAPPENS, click here

 To learn more about Claudia's business SHIFT HAPPENS.Curated Conversations and her Salons in New York, Zurich and Berlin, click here

You can also connect with Claudia on Instagram @shifthappens.podcast and LinkedIn at ClaudiaMahlerNYC

This podcast is created, produced and hosted by Claudia Mahler.

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 therapy trial for veterans. Despite regulatory hurdles, the initiative gained backing from General Nick Carter and national media attention. Gilly is now lobbying to make research more accessible and affordable.

Apart from the Ski Program in Switzerland, SWV also runs annual ski programs, the Rivers Employment Initiative, and a global political risk conference. Gilly's key message: the human cost of war doesn't end when the conflict does—PTSD affects people of all ages, with an average patient age of just 36.

To learn more about how to support SVW visit their website: Supporting Wounded Veterans

Instagram: @supportingwoundedveterans

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To learn more about SHIFT HAPPENS, click here

 To learn more about Claudia's business SHIFT HAPPENS.Curated Conversations and her Salons in New York, Zurich and Berlin, click here

You can also connect with Claudia on Instagram @shifthappens.podcast and LinkedIn at ClaudiaMahlerNYC

This podcast is created, produced and hosted by Claudia Mahler.

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 women's health and openly says, that she is disappointed in many of her colleagues, who simply still avoid to gain deeper knowledge about menopause and it's possible health consequences for women - from brain fog to osteoporosis, from "not feeling myself" to cardio-vascular diseases.

Dr. McBride offers cutting edge services - and stresses the importance of listening to her patients, and validating their often still dismissed symptoms. She is a strong proponent of HRT - where applicable.

She just relocated her practice to the Flat Iron district in Manhattan. And - being usually a step ahead, now also offers individual health plans for men.

Enjoy this lively and informative episode. Listen in, feel heard - and I'll be back in the begining of the New Year with Season 6! Happy Holidays.

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SHIFT HAPPENS’ Season 5 is supported by London based jewellery brand Tilly Sveaas. Its founder, Tilly Sveaas creates gorgeous, timeless pieces. Guess who is wearing it too: noone less then Taylor Swift. Go to www.tillysveaas.co.uk and use my code SHIFTHAPPENS to get 15% off. 

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To learn more about my guest Dr. Molly McBride, please visit her website SLAN NYC

Find her practice: SLÀN NYC, 54 West 21st Street, Suite 910, New York, NY 10010

Visit her Instagram (with great insights!): @slannyc

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To learn more about SHIFT HAPPENS, click here

 To learn more about Claudia's business Curated Conversations and her Salons in New York, Zurich and Berlin, click here

You can also connect with Claudia on Instagram @shifthappens.podcast and LinkedIn at ClaudiaMahlerNYC

This podcast is created, produced and hosted by Claudia Mahler.