What are your most important professional stations?

• Abandoned studies in Scandinavian and cultural studies. You don’t have to do things by hook or by crook just because that was the plan or because others expect it of you.
• Studied biotechnology. Testing the limits, always being critical, hard work, going my own way: The experiences of this time have shaped me not only as a scientist, but as a person.
• Scientist in a start-up. Creativity in problem solving, absolute dedication to a vision and blind reliance on the right people: A team is so much more than the sum of its parts.
• Start-up “twelve or higher” & self-employment. If you’re flexible, go through the world with your eyes open and seize the opportunity, you can do things you never thought possible.

What is your most defining career experience?

I don’t think there is “one experience” in my career, but a long and gradual process of gaining knowledge, mainly about myself. A very formative moment was deciding not to do a PhD; I realized that I was not made for the typical science career, which was painful but also liberating. Likewise, the decision to become self-employed, something I never wanted; but again, I saw that this is the way of working that suits me best. Perhaps my most formative career experience is precisely the lack of one: because we define ourselves what career means to us, and therefore there can never be a prescribed, “right” path, but a string of choices that are right at that moment.

What do you recommend to female applicants for the Femtec Career-Building Programme?

• Keep an open mind; listen to people who are socialized differently, who come from different cultures, who have completely different life paths behind them.
• Remain empathetic and compassionate. Strength does not mean being hardened and emotionless.
• Remain your inner children.  The ability to find fascination in the mundane and the constant question: Why? will lead you along the most exciting paths.