In any industry and professional setting, having friends is essential. While the German language might interpret the word “Freund” differently than the word “Friend” in English, I have handpicked the friends for GlobalPeopleTransitions, my company over the years. We collaborate to help you better and we work with an amazing group of service providers to deliver you the best #ExpatExperience you can imagine. I want to share my friends with you. If you follow them or connect with them, please mention where you found them so we can check if this works.

Karlijn Jacobs

Karlijn Jacobs is the Ombudsperson for International Children. Her ultimate goal is for international children and their families to experience equal support and understanding as they would have received if they had not moved across borders.

She is the founder of Expat Valley, a social enterprise that supports mobile families internationally and everyone who benefits from their wellbeing. With Expat Valley, Karlijn raises awareness amongst multinational organizations that employ a global workforce about their employees’ Family Relocation Experience. For those organizations looking to improve employee wellbeing, she offers education and hands-on tools and solutions.

Karlijn also works with suppliers in the Global Mobility industry that are looking to distinguish themselves from the crowd: helping them become more family-friendly within the scope of their services.

With the International Family Expert Alliance (IFamEA), Karlijn is offering a ‘home’ to all professionals across the globe that cater to the needs of international children and their families. IfamEA is the place for professional exchange, interdisciplinary learning, and networking for international family experts.

Link: karlijn@expatvalley.com

www.expatvalley.com

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Barbara Hesse

Barbara Hesse trains you to be more present in your public speaking and on panels and helps you to shine: https://barbara-hesse.com/en/

Having called Switzerland home for over 13 years, Barbara Hesse decided to embrace a new journey after spending a substantial amount of time in the Corporate World. Motivated by a genuine love for people, presentations, and her impact, she took the leap into self-employment. In the Big Four corporate setting, Barbara found her niche for over two decades, specializing in proposals and supporting colleagues in showcasing the added value and client benefits, extending her reach to presentations. During this corporate journey, Barbara recognized and empathized with the insecurities that often lingered. Her response was compassionate and proactive—she initiated internal training programs to create a positive shift. The joy and success experienced in this endeavor became a driving force, ultimately leading Barbara to focus exclusively on this impactful work.

Homepage – Be more present

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Eva Kinast is an ICF-certified Master Coach (MCC) who supports German-speaking leaders through their challenges with the Boudewijn Vermeulen^® Method. 

Flavia Augusta de Almeida – Special English Classes

Flavia Augusta de Almeida is a British-Brazilian language coach fluent in seven languages, with English and Portuguese as her two mother tongues. Having resided in five different countries, including Switzerland, her exposure to diverse cultures began during their university years in the USA, where she studied architecture and concurrently worked as an English teacher, English-Portuguese translator, and English-Spanish interpreter. Following Flavia Augusta de Almeida’s academic pursuits, she accumulated over 16 years of experience in corporate architecture before relocating to Basel. While in Basel, she decided to amalgamate her corporate expertise with teaching skills, earning certification as an English instructor. Drawing from her personal foreign language learning journey, passion for languages, academic training, and professional teaching background, she established “faa Language Coaching”. Specializing in instructing adults for effective communication through language development and cross-cultural training in English, Flavia also offers guidance for English examinations such as the Cambridge Certificate and TELC. Additionally, she assists clients proficient in English to enhance spoken clarity through accent-neutralization techniques.

Heike Reinhart is the GermanTestSpecialist (fide, Goethe, Telc, SDS). Her energy is contagious and she helps you to communicate in German with confidence with her amazing HelpingHand method.

Keren-Jo Thomas, Financial Planner for Women

Keren-Jo Thomas is a seasoned professional in financial planning and is affiliated with the London Institute of Banking & Finance, the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments, and the Finance and Leasing Association. She began her illustrious career at HSBC in the UK in 1991, specializing in private banking, and in 2008, she expanded her expertise by moving to Switzerland and joining an international financial advisory firm. With over 30 years of experience in the finance industry, Keren-Jo is deeply passionate about women’s financial well-being and empowering them to achieve financial freedom. She founded ‘Financial Planning for Women‘ after her own transformative personal journey and stands out from your run-of-the-mill financial experts by employing a holistic ‘whole person’ approach to her work. Not only is Keren-Jo a sought-after speaker and financial whiz, she’s also a trained yoga teacher and ayurvedic therapist, and lives by the philosophy that wealth and health are two of the most important things to focus our time and attention on. For any woman ready to create a financial future rooted in wealth, freedom, and happiness, Keren-Jo Thomas is the financial guide you need. Get in touch today! 

Marie Platten is the Graphic Design Virtuoso who supports us with resumes, print documents, study material, and ebooks. Marie works in the beautiful Black Forest in Germany.

Monica Shah organizes high-quality child care and education from birth to the end of Kindergarten by native English speakers. Find her at Children First.

Monica Shah Zeeman has been working with international families for twenty years to support their lives abroad. Monica is the founder of Children First which offers early schooling and a tutoring center for students in Swiss schools. She is a child development specialist with an unusual background in social entrepreneurship. She first worked in Bern as an Assistant Headteacher at the da Vinci Academy. I discovered when I invited her today that after graduating from Oxford University the first charity she founded was part of a network of community education charities across the UK one of which became the first Academy school in the UK, in East London. She has a psychoanalytic diploma and launched a counseling service for mothers with babies called the Mothering Project in north London. Her textbook ‘Working with Parents’ was published by Heinemann in 2001 before she moved to Switzerland. In Zurich she gives talks on Choosing the best school for your child and parenting Multilingual Children, is the President of Circle of Schools and you can find some of her writing as well as other interesting articles on the Family Matters Switzerland website.

Nabeha Latif helps you with your Branding and all Digital Media.

Sundae Schneider Bean – is a guru in intercultural training and coaching and the founder of Global Coach Coalition.

Angelica von der Decken – is a Master Coach using the Boudewijn Vermeulen Method.

Anne-Kristelle Carrier is our Inclusive Content Editor and works in collaboration with the team on tasks like content editing and preparing workshops. She also edits policy documents, templates, and our recent publications. 

Christina Fryer, NewinZurich – Everything you need to know when you move to the beautiful city of Zurich.

Deniz Özgül provides relocation services, in particular, relocation coaching, apartment, language courses, and school search and advisory services for immigrants and their families: Just Relocated

Usama Hafeez programs in Laravel and other languages. He’s been our programmer from the beginning. Usama Hafeez, our Laravel Programmer, wrote his first program at the age of eight, and since then, he’s been obsessed with computers. He is a freelance web applications developer with a decade of experience coding Laravel/PHP. He has been working with us since the very start, helping with not only our websites but also with developing the RockMeApp and various plugins. He can be reached at usama.info

Further Resources for Moving to Zurich, Switzerland

Moving to Zurich, Switzerland – First Things First