Con.Junction

Milena Barra has worked for 28 years with multinational companies of different sizes as a national account manager and trainer. She has a range of experience across a diverse breadth of industries including; Medical, Pharmaceutical, ICT, Human Resources, and Telecommunication. She is proficient in selling, coaching, training, motivating, leadership, negotiation, team building, public speaking, and change management.  She currently works as a human capital consultant helping individuals and companies reach their full potential. Through her ability to develop strong interpersonal relationships, coach, and motivate those she works with she creates cultural change that is necessary for long term goal achievement.  Her current projects are focused on people and their values and how that affects their attitude towards life and their work.  She lives by the motto that the ingredients for success are:  Energy, Enthusiasm, Emotional Intelligence, Willpower, Awareness, Passion, Leadership, Sharing and Heart.

Biet Simkin is the founder of Center of the Cyclone, an immersive experience  that weaves meditation, self-inquiry, art, music and fashion, offering an explosive experience. Biet’s felt that the world of academia, fashion and art needed spirituality, and the world of spirituality was often missing the mark and needed some vanity and fire. Biet serves as the bridge between these two worlds and has collaborated on events with Lululemon, SoulCycle, Summit Series, Vice, Sundance Film Festival, The Path, The Collective, Babel, Serene Social, Mind Body Green, 1 Hotels, Wanderlust Festival, Samsung and many others. Currently, she is working on her upcoming event at The Whitney and is the resident meditation leader at Neuehouse.  Biet’s brand of meditation is different because it takes you through the emotional, intellectual, instinctive and moving centers to get to a place of equanimity and joy. Through private one on ones, corporate groups, parties, speaking engagements and pop-ups in museums and art galleries, Biet is bringing this work into the world and helping raise consciousness from the outside in. Her work also uses musical as a vehicle in meditation and her latest album ‘The Lunar’ debuted September 2015.

Lior Frenkel is the CEO and Co-Founder at NuSchool, an online business school for creative types. He’s a startup advisor, mentor, writer and speaker featured in Wired Magazine, TEDx, Web Summit, and Digital Academy. Lior has created a social movement – UNDIGITIZE.ME – to raise awareness for smartphone addiction. Lior graduated from the Technion (B.Sc in Electrical Engineering) and has an M.A. in philosophy and history.

Gabriele is a father of three terrible, but wonderful children, entrepreneur, and coach. He has worked in in communications for 20 years and since 2004 has a company based out of Milan that focuses on visual communication at 360 ° Earlier in life Gabriele was a Krav Maga instructor working with teens, adults, soldiers, and security personnel. This Krav Maga training was essential in teaching him how to be focused when overcoming difficulties and achieving his goals rapidly. Since 2009 he has focused on his newfound passion and love of teaching and coaching. He underwent his own personal transformation and became a certified coach professional recognized by ICF. He has assisted on many courses about how to properly improve business both in Italy and around the world. He operates under a clear message; LOVE YOURSELF, BE YOURSELF. IF YOU FALL, YOU WILL RAISE AGAIN, AND YOU’LL WIN

Viktor grew up in Bulgaria and has been living in Switzerland for the last 5 years. He has over 19 years of experience in helping individuals and organizations shift and develop. Viktor had worked in the Jewish Community as an Educator and Leadership Developer for 5 years before moving into Corporate Learning and Talent Management as a Consultant. Earlier this year he set up a company, B on Course, aiming at helping individuals and organizations stay on course with their purpose, values, and essence, and reinvent their everyday lives accordingly. He has managed teams of various sizes and locations and always keeps learning.
His curiosity has taken him to explore subjects like Business Administration, the Torah and the Talmud, Social Psychology, Leadership and Quantum Physics, Thai Massage, Conscious Movement, Fado Singing, Applied Neuroscience, Body Intelligence and much more. His unique combination of knowledge makes him a reliable navigator of personal and organizational development. Viktor lives with his partner in Bern, Switzerland. He loves traveling, taking photos, cooking (and entertaining guests), mountaineering, diving, taking walks with friends, and reading in bed.

Casey is the Founder of UNICEF Next Generation (NextGen) for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Based in Los Angeles, she oversees UNICEF Next Generation Steering Committees across the country and the NextGen membership program. Casey also launched UNICEF Next Generation in Vietnam and supported the launch of NextGen UK. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a B.A in International Relations, Global Cultures and went on to receive a Master of Science in Fundraising and Philanthropy from New York University (the program’s first graduating class), where she graduated at the top of her class. UNICEF Next Generation was born from Casey’s thesis, where she wrote about how non-profit organizations should engage generations X and Y to cultivate their next generation of major donors, supporters, advocates and board members.  Casey is a recipient of the 2012 Forward Under Forty Award from the University of Wisconsin, was named 2014 Grand Marshall and Distinguished Alumnae by the University of Wisconsin, and was honored by Dell as one of Dell’s 100 inspiring people in their #Inspire 100 campaign, where she was 1 of 25 in the “World Changers” category. She currently sits on the Board of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s International Division.

Paloma Azulay is a Brazilian Jew living in Vienna for the past year and working as the Creative Excellence Director for Coca-Cola in Central and Eastern Europe. For the past 12 years, Paloma has been responsible for leading the creative strategy and content production for Coca-Cola brands in local and global projects together with advertising agencies and different partners. Paloma is passionate about creating a relevant space for brands in people’s hearts and in popular culture. Paloma has experience in creative processes, storytelling and team building. Paloma strongly believes in the power of turning areas of passion from childhood into career paths and on the importance of embracing mistakes as a positive part of life’s discovery process.

Marie Ringler founded Ashoka in Austria in 2011 and since 2015 she has also been one of Ashoka`s Europe Directors. Marie is responsible for Ashoka`s work in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. Marie was born in Vienna, studied Sociology, Political Science and Women`s Studies at the University of Vienna, and holds a degree from ESADE Business School, Spain and an MBA from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. In the late 90`s she helped build Public Netbase, an art institution dedicated to exploring the social implications of the internet and new technologies through the lens of art, and later became its managing director. She was elected into office as a Member of the Regional Parliament and City Council of Vienna in 2001 and focused on developing policy to drive innovations in society. After two successful terms in office, she decided against a life-long career in politics and established Ashoka`s Austrian office in Vienna. In her role as Director of Ashoka in Central and Eastern Europe she has been leading the relaunch efforts in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary and is also responsible for Ashoka`s work in Poland and the Baltics. She is a founding board member Specialisterne Austria, an innovative social enterprise that focuses on work place integration of autistic people, member of the jury of “creative_focus” call of Business Agency Vienna, member of the advisory board of Fundamental Rights Conference of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and annual Austrian CSR Handbook. She has received the Social Impact Award, ORF Ö1 Orte in Bewegung competition, fair-finance award.

Miriam Camerini is an Italian Jewish theatre director who was born in Jerusalem on Purim night of 1983. She believes her love for theatre comes from that. Miriam graduated from Milan State University in 2007, then spent 4 years in Jerusalem, studying Talmud and Bible at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Theatre Studies at Hebrew University and working as a producer for the Jerusalem Theatre Company.

After returning to Milan in 2011, Miriam graduated from Acting Academy Paolo Grassi and started her training as a singer. She continuously teaches Judaism and Hebrew in all sorts of frames, from Jewish Schools to interfaith forums to informal education. Miriam started an “alternative” Bat Mitzvah class in her community where she teaches girls how to learn Torah and Talmud combined with drama and music. Miriam wrote, directed, and performed many plays, performances and films dealing with Jewish topics, from Shabbat to Pesach, from the Golem to the Dybbuk. Goldene Medine is a Quartet with which Miriam performs Jewish music from all sorts of diasporas and Israel. Miriam’s long term project is to establish a Jewish Theatre in Milan, a place where art and spirituality can meet.