The context we live in plays a huge role in our personal and professional life. Our plans can move forward, backward, or stop depending on if we relocate, have the right life partner, or have the wrong manager.   Last year I conducted a Focus Group on the topic of Motherhood and Ambition. The goal was to collect insights from 6 Ambitious working mothers and add the discussion and its findings into my book Ambition Factor. The focus group was aimed at mothers who had children under the age of five, which is when children require the most time, energy and money from their parents.  And ..read more

I love this word. Ambition. Why is that? Because it triggers so many emotions, especially conflicting ones. I recall suppressing laughter as my colleagues looked at me with confusion when I told them loud and clear that I’m an ambitious person. One colleague has even described me as ‘cold and calculated’, a judgment which says that I am a career-woman and not a family-woman. Does this sound familiar to you? This description comes most probably from a misunderstanding of what I mean by ambitious. When I say I’m ambitious, I mean that I want to continue learning and developing new skills. I mean ..read more

It is strange how this COVID-19 lockdown impacted our self-consciousness. Suddenly we had plenty of time to think about our-self, our lifestyle, and life objectives. Even for one of us overwhelmed with home office, house chores, and homeschooling, we found ourselves more often thinking about our professional choices.   Some weeks ago, I did a profiling test from a well know and established platform, and the results were a big surprise. Following this assessment, I need to show more drive, be more assertive, and prioritize my objectives more often in the workplace. In other words: I need t ..read more

It is in everyone s speech. It is in every second social media post and every third Instagram quote.: find your WHY. Find what motivates you and everything will make sense. Find your purpose and follow it. I have met people who are struggling so much to find their WHY, people who are putting their whole life up for discussion. Some are changing their life style, job, or even country…   My path to find my WHY was kind of…unplanned.   At 17 years old I choose to become a pharmacist because I loved science, and a pharmaceutical  academic path looked more appealing then chemistry or ..read more

Let’s face it: we only want to see success. We like to read articles about how that person managed to become a CEO, how that founder had the great idea and became rich, or watch on Instagram how people manage remain beautiful and healthy. We only see people under the spotlight, and usually the spotlights show success stories (or big dramas). More difficult is to read about normal folks running their businesses, or see posts about daily struggles and how people manage (or not) to cope with them. Almost impossible to witness someone sharing their imperfections in public or admit they did somethi ..read more

She says: From red carpet to stock market. I say: From glossy magazines to Financial Times. People around us will say: From serious news anchor in CNN Money Switzerland to smiling blonde girl in a bar in Zurich. Ana Maria Montero is all of this and even more. She is a role model for her girls, a dreamer who is thinking about what the world still has to offer, and a patient partner waiting for her husband to step up more at home. We tend to put people in boxes, or stick labels on their heads, but we are all multi faceted! This is even more true as a TV anchor –  people on the screen are di ..read more

Well, well. After more the 20 interviews with working mothers that I have conducted, here I’m finally interviewing a working dad.  The first time I met Martin was in 2018 when we invited him to a monthly Professional Women’s Group event. His speech about “Women empowering themselves” was very personal and inspiring. For the first time, Martin was telling us why he became a gender-equality champion.  While selecting the speakers for the PWG- Tamedia conference – The Rise of Diversity – we searched men who really are championing diversity in the workplace and who are committ ..read more

Did you know that confidence is shaped at the age of 5?  And did you know that money habits are set by the age of 7?  Those 2 facts were the starting point of Mara’s books journey.   Pushing my baby girl’s stroller into a nice café in Zurich, I recall my first encounter with Mara Catherine Harvey.   I first met her at the Lean In conference in Zurich. She was one of the keynote speakers of a very inspiring conference. Her topic, however, was not only an inspiring story, but rather a wake-up call for all of us – “When a pay gap leads you down an unexpected path” . The ..read more

I’m incredibly lucky and grateful to be in Switzerland, to have a good job, and to be able to work in a female NGO as a PWG. Even if I would not always say that is luck, but rather hard work, I’m still very grateful. Thanks to all my activities, I have the unique opportunity to meet incredible people. This is what I thought when I listened to Patricia Allen, CRPC®   at the AWE summit in October 2018. Her interview with Tulia Lopes  took my breath away. She shared with us some glimpses of her story, such as how she became a financial advisor while starting her ..read more

It’s an interesting journey when you have to find new moms to interview. I started this blog out of the idea to promote my book and without me knowing, it’s transformed into a virtual place where I share the wisdom of working mothers. I’m approaching women in a completely different way now. The moment I meet a working mother, I’m automatically tuned on to her equilibrium, and I inevitably start to ask questions about her life, her work, and her children. Meeting and interviewing Eveline Lonoce was kind of a revelation. For the ones who follow me, they know I’m all about working ..read more