My story

Hello, I'm Monika.

With more than 20 years of experience, I work with leaders and teams to develop a success mindset to gain courage, stay motivated, think innovatively, adapt to constant change and successfully achieve even seemingly impossible goals. To do this, I use my self-developed 6P Success Mindset Model.

• Born in Germany
• After graduating from high school to the USA on a volleyball scholarship
• Studied security sciences with a focus on nuclear weapons at Georgetown University
• Worked for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
• Professional cyclist in Germany
• Master in Sport in Minnesota, USA
• Became a management consultant at IBM in Switzerland and Australia
• Midlife crisis at 30 - I moved to Malaga, Spain by bike to find my purpose in life
• Set a seemingly impossible cycling record
• Moved to Switzerland
• Now have my own business with the same mission and help teams and leaders achieve their goals. I do this through online courses, workshops, coaching, keynotes and publications
• Set a second cycling record in 2022

Originally from Germany, I moved to the US after high school to play volleyball for Bryant University. Since I must have watched too much James Bond, my dream job was to become a secret agent, so I studied nuclear weapons in North Korea and Iran at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. But I realized during my studies that the reality was a little different than in the movies. So after I graduated, I started my career at the International Monetary Fund and then at the World Bank.

When I was working for the World Bank, a friend gave me a road bike and said I would like it. At first I was quite worried that riding on roads would be fun, but when I was left behind after 5 km on my first group ride, I decided I couldn't leave the sport like that.

So I came to this group ride week after week and after 1.5 years I had the opportunity to race professionally in Germany.

My friends and family tried to convince me not to pursue a professional cycling career but a tax-free career at the World Bank as it sounded more viable and financially stable. Nevertheless, my heart told me to go for it.

So, contrary to what the others thought, I moved back to Germany and rode top bike races.

For three months. Then I realized it wasn't for me.

I felt like I had failed when I turned down a career at the World Bank to become a professional cyclist, only to realize that wasn't what I wanted either.

But I knew that sport was my passion, so I decided to study sport.

I moved back to the US and studied kinesiology at the University of Minnesota with the big goal of finding my dream job in sports.

But I just couldn't find this dream job.

With the urge from my family and friends to finally get back on the "right" career track and no other option at hand, I applied everywhere and became a management consultant at IBM in Switzerland and later in Australia.

But that just wasn't my world. I no longer had any passion for my work and lost my energy for life.

Then, at the age of 30, I was sitting unemployed in the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne Australia, deep in a midlife crisis. What was I going to do with my life? Was this really it now? I felt no fire for what I was doing - neither passion nor purpose. With at least 35 working years ahead of me, I didn't want to keep doing what I was doing. I needed to make a change. So my goal became to find my purpose.

I looked at a map of the world and decided that Spain would be a good place to start to find this destination.

I bought a one-way ticket and took my bike and a small bag and moved to Malaga, Spain. I didn't speak a word of Spanish, didn't know anyone and had never been there before. Only one hotel night and a six-week car rental were planned and the search for my purpose in life.

While I was searching for my own purpose, I met many people who felt the same way. But fear of the unknown kept them from finding their purpose.

My mission was born: To inspire and empower other people, especially women, to step out of their comfort zone to have the courage to realize their full potential.

To put my own words into action, I decided to set a seemingly impossible cycling record to show what it means to set, pursue and achieve a big goal. Also, what it means to take the risk of failure, what it means to go against the opinions of others and break through barriers that previously seemed untouched.

80% of people told me it was impossible. But I did it anyway and wrote a book with the whole story.

In 2022, I challenged myself again by riding all 124 Swiss passes in 26 days. That was 1389 km and over 56,000 meters of altitude. An 80-minute film documentary was also made about this: Freigefahren.

I now live in Bern and have my own company, where I do exactly what I started in 2017: I help managers and teams to pursue and successfully achieve their goals through my self-developed 6P Success Mindset Model.