I'm driven by positive change and unleashing inner Rock'n'Roll stars across the globe. There is nothing in the world that makes me happier. Except maybe singing musical tunes while cooking Jamie Oliver recipes, watching my daughter turning into a fabulous human being, inspecting peoples' shopping carts at the cashier, and a decent tea time (out). 

My innovating-forward-journey

  When I look at my life in retrospect, it feels like I have lived 4 lives. All necessary to become who I am today and to be able to give what I can. Here they are.

1983-2002

Born and raised as a Berlin girl with unshakable curiosity and drawn to the unknown, I experimented forward throughout my whole life. Music was my first love. After that, food and daily creations. My high school year? Far away, in South Africa. A blast!

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"I believe in being an innovator." Walt Disney

2002-2009

Then diving deep into all (!) kinds of art forms:

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Assisting artists like all-rounder Christoph Schlingensief, mega productions at the Salzburg Festival, or the Cape Town Opera House and campaigns of Germany’s most successful Popstar Herbert Grönemeyer. 

All the while studying musicology and media in Berlin and Seoul, failing with my first company RITA (Resonance In The Arts) and with convincing my professors to let me graduate with a Ph.D. based on creative and not quantitative research methods.

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© Kay Herschelmann

"I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying." 

Michael Jordan

2009-2019

Now, fate kicked in and I became part of the first Design Thinking generation in Germany.

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T'was a decade of helping hundreds of incredible human beings to make innovation projects, aka, the impossible, possible. In all different industries. From SAP, Deutsche Bank, Henkel, Danfoss and Volkswagen, to the magazine DIE ZEIT and the Icelandic Opera House.

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I was training students’ and executives’ innovation muscles as a lecturer at HPI's School of Design Thinking and Academy, and institutions like the Zurich University of the Arts, the University of Anhalt Dessau, and the Shiftschool Nuremberg. Partnering with the most amazing people to implement Schools of Design Thinking in Malaysia, China, and South Africa.

And co-designing programs like the Professional Track at HPI and being the co-author of the HAUFE Design Thinking Pocket Guide (2017, Germany)

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Of course, my love for music didn't vanish. So I organized the awarded Piano City Festival with 100 living room concerts over 1 weekend.

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"Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are."

Brenè Brown 

2019-

And now? 

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My last shift happened when I became a mom (in 2018). Rethinking and redesigning my life entirely. From big buzz city life to remote country and family life. Byebye to outside expectations and welcome to full-on creation.

I decided it's time to live the new work attitude out loud, open my drawers, and SHARE all I've learned. So the YouTube channel Hedi's Innovationgym was born and set up literally over night. 

Plans to release my course The Workshop Design Mastery was put on hold after sharing my experiences and tools of becoming an InnovationMom with friends. The response and demand were overwhelming that I decided to set up a hub for moms assisting in their change processes: The InnovationMom Academy.

I don't know what the future will hold. But one thing I know for sure.

Life is full of magic and opportunity. Turning dreams into reality is possible any day. And the beauty of it: It's all in your power.

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