It all began with a passion…
Travelling the world, learning languages and exploring without borders.
When I grew up in a small village in the French part of Switzerland, I barely had the opportunity to meet foreigners. Most of the classmates that I had there were from the same village. Everybody in the village knew everybody by name, by family, and through the generations of ancestors that had been born, lived and were buried in the exact same village.
So when a Spanish boy joined our class and the teacher asked me to help him integrate into the group, it was with a mix of curiosity and fascination that I picked up the challenge. It was the first time that I realised the importance of culture, languages and intercultural adaptation.
Fast forward a few decades, and here I am, having lived in Asia for the past 20 years, holding a Master’s Degree in Intercultural Management and training and coaching in English, French, Spanish and German.
After studying German in Germany, English in the UK, and completing my University Degree in the German part of Switzerland, I started my first job working for a Swiss watches company where I had responsibilities for Latin America. What I loved the most about my first full-time job were the frequent trips to Latin America and the relationships that I built with the distributors there. I could improve my Spanish and learnt so much about the cultural differences between the various countries I was travelling to.
A few years later, life gave me the opportunity to discover a continent I had yet to explore: Asia. Nicknamed “the Switzerland of Asia”, Singapore easily became my second home. This is where I transitioned from the world of luxury to the world of culture by joining the intercultural department of a global relocation company.
The Asia trip that was supposed to last only 3 years continued to China. Getting into the depth of Chinese culture was another big learning curve. Coming from a country of rules and task orientation, I had to fully embrace the world of flexibility and relationships, where nothing is certain and it all depends. To add one dimension to the cultural exploration, I had my first pregnancy and baby delivered in Beijing - and I realised that it is true that cultural integration starts before birth.
After 3 years in China, it was time to continue exploring Asia and The Philippines were our next destination. Baby number two was born there and a year later we made our way back to Singapore.
Professionally, my passion for culture and languages came back running and I left the world of luxury to immerse in the realms of intercultural integration. For almost 18 years now I have been helping global executives and their families move in and out of Asia and adjust to the cultural differences. Married to a Spaniard and mother to three girls born in Beijing, Manila and Singapore, I have also experienced my own toll of cultural adjustments at home!
Three years ago, as I was thinking of the hundreds of families that - through intercultural training - I have helped adjust to new cultures, I decided to embark on a new journey.
During all those years, I had explored the outside world and how countries and people connect to each other. Now the time had come to broaden my perspective by exploring the inside world of human beings.
Integral coaching was the perfect approach for me because it takes into account what happens in the heart, body and mind of my clients. Like the external factors that influence culture in the training world, those are the internal factors that influence a person in the coaching world. Every issue that a client brings into the conversation starts in one of those centers, but ends up connecting to the other two as our exploration continues.
If you would like to join me on this journey to exploration, please click on book now to book a free discovery conversation. I am looking forward to talking to you soon!
Tania
