After 20 years in dental prosthetics, I discovered Climate Fresk at the beginning of 2020. It was a real wake-up call for me and, at the end of the same year, it prompted me to switch to a profession that gave me a sense of purpose. My career path is a far cry from the usual ‘5+ degree from a top school’ profile. Although at first sight this may look as a disadvantage, as it requires me to work harder to bring myself up to speed on certain subjects, it is also an asset. Indeed, with my candidacy for the Board of Directors, I hope to bring another point of view, one that is closer to the grassroots and also tinged with a certain form of simplicity.

Of the association’s four values, the climate emergency was the trigger for my change of direction. However, care and transparency are the ones that have led me to become increasingly involved. In my view, they are essential to the construction of a sound project. I feel it is necessary to defend these values in an association that is partly based on voluntary work and where feelings of frustration or injustice can easily emerge. They enable everyone to rethink what already exists and contribute to the association’s development. This is particularly important when it comes to financial topics such as the procedure for allocating incoming requests or the association’s fees.

Moreover, as a committed member of the community in Alsace (a region in the east of France), I remain close and connected to my circle, where I have to deal with day-to-day problems. As one of the first facilitators there to become fully involved, I’ve played a major role in developing the local community. This has enabled me to make a lot of contacts both locally and nationally for my own skills development. As my path through the different belt levels went hand in hand with the growth of the association, I was also able to follow the scaling-up problems that were specific to the blue belts but also to other levels.

Finally, on a more personal note, joining the Board is for me a wonderful way to show my commitment to the association, for which I am now ready to invest myself further.

“That’s exactly what we need!”

That’s what I thought when I discovered Climate Fresk in March 2018. After years of environmental commitment, I had finally found a way to talk simply but effectively about climate issues. For me, that moment was a real turning point in my activist life. So, quite naturally, it was with two sets of cards in my suitcase that I left to teach history and geography in Alexandria, Egypt, for two years. From workshop to workshop, I became a Country Coordinator in Egypt, and then a Climate Fresk trainer in November 2019.

During the first COVID lockdown, I worked on the Training Working Group to create, among other things, the Trainers’ Guide, the Freskers’ Cheat Sheet and the slides for the Facilitators’ Training. In September 2020, I joined the association’s permanent team to coordinate the international development and work on structural projects such as the Fresker’s Journey. In 2021, I co-coordinated the expedition of 167 freskers to COP26, then left my position in March 2022 to devote myself to local projects in and around the ecovillage where I’ve been living for the last two years.

Today, I’m a volunteer Fresker and a pro from time to time.

If I’m applying to the Board, it’s in the hope that I’ll be able to bring the diversity of my experience as a Fresker to the table (volunteering, professional, former member of the permanent team) and continue to contribute with my energy and ideas. For me, Climate Fresk is more than just a tool. It’s a gamble, a collective adventure, friends, emotion, hope… that’s why I want to get involved, so that this project, which I’m convinced has played a major role in accelerating awareness over the last 5 years, continues to grow, improve and take part in addressing one of the greatest challenges in the history of humanity.

In 2018, I did a Fresk facilitated by Cedric Ringenbach, read and heard J.M. Jancovici, D. and D. Meadows, P. Servigne, J. Diamond, P. Bihouix etc. I was literally swept off my feet. I took part in the creation of the association and in the magnificent pioneering phase in 2019, working specifically on the development of the Climate Education Kick Offs.

My growing awareness has also led to a rather disruptive career change: from the beginning of 2020, after a career in several large international groups, notably as sales director and HR director, I took over a landscaping company, with 65 gardeners developing and maintaining green spaces in urban areas. I love my new job, which is in the front line of climate and biodiversity issues. 

After graduating from an engineering and business school, I spent 2 years in Syria (long before the war) as a national service volunteer. I also lived in Italy for several years.

I trained as a building engineer and worked for 15 years in the construction and renovation of buildings, managing a SMB with 150 employees.

In 2012, I discovered Jean Marc Jancovici’s lectures, and that was my first turning point. I made a complete change of direction in 2018. In 2019, I followed the work of the Citizens Convention for Climate (an assembly created by the French government in 2019 that gathered 150 randomly-selected citizens to discuss reducing France’s carbon emissions by 40%), and I discovered the Climate Fresk workshop. That was a revelation for me: rather than giving lectures, I threw myself wholeheartedly into these workshops and the Climate Fresk community.

After a lockdown that enabled me to validate my green belt, I set myself the challenge of becoming an instructor to help my peers progress too. I became local coordinator in Angers, as local roots are very important to me. I also took advantage of this forced break to launch and co-create the Construction Collage.

My aim now is to continue to help this great association grow even more, by getting involved on the Board of Directors for the next two years. I know that the challenges are considerable and the task is difficult, but I want to make a full contribution.

I’m enthusiastic by nature, and someone who can bring a group together and calm things down. Sometimes whimsical, even offbeat, I enjoy doing important things without taking myself too seriously. What’s important to me is to progress as a team.

We have a duty to be optimistic, I’m convinced that it will help us take action. The more optimistic I am, the more I act and … the more I act, the more optimistic I am!

In October 2019, I took part in a Climate Fresk workshop and it changed the trajectory of my life! Since that moment, I’ve been passionate about sharing this workshop and contributing to the growth of the community that gives me so much. I’ve been a facilitator and co-coordinator for the United States for 3 years. I’m a green belt. I contribute to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion working group (example: version 8.4 of the cards). I went to COP26 and COP27 as a Climate Fresk representative.

Outside of Climate Fresk, I am very active in the community of Collages, as I facilitate several of them and I am the co-creator and pedagogy designer of the one on textile (Textiles UnTangled). I have previous experience of working with associations in the cultural (dance) and conservation (oceans) sectors. I’m currently one of the active members helping to structure, govern and scale up the Green Donut association (Textiles UnTangled and Waste Management Collage).

I have a degree in IT and 12 years’ experience in innovation and digital technology (from start-ups to multinationals). I’m an experienced coach and facilitator of organisational transformations (scaling up, agile, lean, 3.0 management, and product and service design).

For the past 3 years I’ve been working as a pro Fresker, an ecosystemic coach and facilitator helping companies find their inner drive and self-transform. My mission: facilitate change for a more fair, resilient and joyful world.

Finally, I was born in the United States, but I’ve been living in Paris for over 10 years, and I’m now a naturalised French citizen. Coco-Rican!

Trained as an energy engineer and working at the UN in Vienna for 3 years, I’ve been a Fresker since November 2019, first in Grenoble and then in Austria where I helped launch Climate Fresk. I became co-coordinator in Austria in early 2022. I’ve been a green belt for 9 months, so I was able to discover the joy of training Freskers!

Passionate about the international scene, first during my studies with an internship in Bristol, then a master’s degree in Stockholm, I continued the adventure with an internship and then a consultancy contract at the UN in Vienna. I’m fond of food, but above all I’m passionate about mountains and all the sports they can offer: ski touring and freestyle skiing, hiking, cycling, climbing and mountaineering. 

I’m highly motivated to become the link between international coordinators and the Board of Directors. I have almost 2 years’ experience of deploying Climate Fresk in Austria, love the international scene, and was lucky enough to be part of the Climate Fresk delegation at COP26 in Glasgow; enough to bring up all our concerns as coordinators with full knowledge of the facts.