What To Do Next?

"There is only one relationship in one’s life that will always be there. And that’s the relationship with myself."

This time we had the pleasure to talk with Joachim Brackx who had a successful career as a singer and composer before turning to entrepreneurship. 

In this episode, we discussed the importance of relating to oneself to figure out what to do next. 

As he healed himself from trauma, grew as a human being, and connected with others and himself more deeply, he decided to help others walk a similar path. This is how the podcast Relating to Self was born, based on the insight that the most important relationship we will ever have is the one we have with ourselves. 

Joachim also records meditations for Insight Timer, is a member of Sandbox, and leads VectoriaDesigns, a crafting company. He is passionate about ethics, compassion, relating, and good food.

#9 David Mendes

“Break the isolation to expand and broaden your horizon”

This time, we had the pleasure of talking with David Mendes, the host the Papa PhD Podcast, who holds a PhD in cell biology and spent more than 11 years in the medical communication and linguistic services industry. In his own podcast, David explores career and life balance for academic and graduate researchers.

In this episode, he shares what he has learnt exploring the different ways people have juggled professional and personal life after academia.

David has since started his own business offering language services in the biomedical domain and has recently co-founded PhDesign, a media agency dedicated exclusively to serving the research community and to bridging the gap between the lab and society.

Now a father of two, he is interested in exploring the different ways people have juggled professional and personal life after completing their graduate degree. This curiosity and a strong will to help those now going through graduate school is what led him to launch the Papa PhD podcast.

You can find more about David and Papa PhD here:

“I believe chance is always something you can steer a little bit in your life.”

This time, we had the pleasure of talking with Claude Clément, who has extensive career background in biomedical engineer and neurotechnologies. In this episode, he is sharing his life journey all the way from choosing a university degree to leading innovation in healthcare technologies. 

Claude has first worked in R&D for the watch industry (Swatch Group), then entered the world of medical technologies by heading the diversification activities of Swatch in the field of wearable programmable drug delivery pumps. Afterwards, he spent 27 years in the field of active implantable medical devices, as Dir of Manufacturing Engineering at Intermedics (now Boston Scientific), as Plant Manager of the Swiss operations at Medtronic and later as a consultant for major companies, mainly in the field of pacemakers and for various highly innovative start-ups.

Beginning of 2015, he joined the Wyss Center for Bio- and Neuro-Engineering, as CTO, putting in place and growing advanced projects for long term implantable Brain Computer Interfaces for movement restoration of paralyzed people and interaction with brain circuits. Claude left the Wyss Center in the beginning of 2020 and he is currently retired. Nonetheless, he is still active as a freelance consultant in the field of active implantable devices and Chairman of the BioAlps Association, a diversified life science cluster in Western Switzerland.

You can find more about Claude here:

“…little details like that, and if you put them all together, they give you a way to be, a system.”

This time, we had the pleasure of talking with Malisa Niederhauser, a fashion designer from Geneva. In this episode, we discuss the importance of feeling like you're in the right place and keeping a positive outlook to figure out what to do next.

Malisa Niederhauser is an independent designer and pattern maker in the garment industry. Born in South America and raised in Geneva, she now lives and works in the Swiss countryside with her two children and husband.

She is currently developing a project to help clothing brands transition towards sustainability in their design process and production cycle. A plan, she hopes, will be on track by the end of the year.

Her hobbies include all things DIY like furniture hacking, handbag making and cake baking. She also loves to teach sewing skills to youngsters and adults, especially those who believe that making their own wardrobe is the answer to a sustainable way of enjoying beautiful clothes.

You can find more about Malisa here:

“There’s so much we are not in control of, and that’s why having extra strings to your bow is always useful.” 

In this episode, we had the pleasure to talk with Holly Prescott, who is a career guidance practitioner specialising in working with PhD researchers on career transitions. 

Together, we discuss the Keep, Lose, Add method and the importance of role models when deciding what to do next. 

Holly is currently the Careers Adviser for Postgraduate Researchers at the University of Birmingham (UK) and in February 2021 she founded the PhD Careers blog ‘PostGradual.’ Holly completed her PhD in English Literature at the University of Birmingham in 2011. Since completing her PhD, she gained four years' experience in graduate student recruitment before moving over to postgraduate careers support. To aid this move, between 2014-16 she went back to studying part-time for a professional career guidance qualification. Holly lives with a rare eye condition called AZOOR which causes significant visual field defects; outside of work she volunteers for the British sight loss charity RNIB. 

You can discover more about Holly and her blog here: 

“You have to juggle, you have to adapt you can’t map out every single day.”

"I think we often have a very clear answer in us, but we just completely lost touch with it."

"By knowing who I am, it means I’m open to opportunities in a way which is a lot more powerful." 

In this episode, we had the pleasure to talk with Victoria Collins, who, in 2020, started Growing Urban, a company focused on helping anyone grow plants, vegetables or flowers no matter the space or know-how they have. Together, we discover how to plant the seeds of self-reflection, take root into your place in the world and grow towards your purpose. 

Victoria has worked in consulting for a decade advising large international companies mostly on projects of change and transformation. Through her works, she aims to break down barriers, bring about positive change and help people. Driven by the vision that growing more food, flowers and greenery could help our planet, our air and biodiversity as well as people’s health, finances and wellbeing, she created Growing Urban.

You discover more about growing Victoria and Growing Urban here: 

"Your life is a canvas"  

In this episode, I had the pleasure of talking to Daniella Segal, who, after returning to Tel Aviv from San Francisco and asking herself, 'What is my next professional adventure?', developed a method that gave her structure organize her journey towards a fulfilling career. We talked about this framework with which dozens of young professionals from around the world already found their way to their purpose. 

Daniella has spent the last five years investing in global technology companies that are transforming lives and ecosystems through her role at a family office's investment arm and as a Partner at Tencent Exploration Team. She is fascinated by people and technology, and dedicated to creating connections between them to address humanity's most pressing challenges. 

You can find Daniella and discover more about her here: 

"I had to leave to find myself" 

In this first episode, I had the pleasure of talking to Paola Bellia, who left a high paying job to launch her own business – Cadesio – a company that aims to change the world one chocolate at a time. We talked about how she learned to better understand what she wanted from life, and to get out of her comfort zone to start a business with the intent of having a positive impact on the world. 

Paola was born in Sicily, Italy and originally studied physics, but she moved to Switzerland to study at Haute Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, with the ambition to have a high-profile career in a top multinational. She however changed path and joined a non-profit before co-founding Cadesio, which creates unique chocolate flavours with a special message. 

You can find Paola and discover more about Cadesio here: