My career path has been anything but linear, but it remains guided by a commitment to responsible communication for the betterment of humanity—a testament to the enduring value of the humanities in securing our world, including in tech.

I must admit from the outset: I’ve never been a typical tech enthusiast. Yet, today I find myself at the helm of corporate communications for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Life’s journey isn’t always direct. We have to think strategically and be nimble enough to adjust our tactics.

Hailing from a small German town, I had aspirations that reached beyond its borders. In pursuit of camaraderie, I joined a science college alongside my friends, only to discover my true passion lay in the humanities. Despite this, I pursued a degree in business administration in both Germany and France, recognizing its universal utility in mastering the skill of planning, organization, and timely execution. A subsequent Fulbright scholarship paved my way to study communications in the United States.

My professional odyssey began with spearheading an HIV/AIDS prevention campaign in newly unified Germany after the wall had come down which had been the ‘condom.’ Without the wall, youth was suddenly exposed to the virus.

A pivot to the World Health Organization in Geneva saw me contributing to World AIDS Day campaigns and the development of the enduring UNAIDS logo and its inaugural website. I then dedicated three years to conceptualizing the Health Futures theme park for the World Exposition EXPO 2000, projecting global trends on a vast 10,000 square meters.

The turn-of-the-century internet boom lured me away from WHO, leading to the co-founding of an internet company. Leveraging my business development acumen, we consulted for major brands on database-centric web applications, with the underlying ambition of creating an AI-powered search engine. Despite initial reluctance from potential clients to ‘like’ search results to train the machine, we were backed by support from the Swiss Confederation and collaborated with the Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence. However, the need for venture capital was not met—a challenge that might have been less daunting in other countries back then.

My journey meandered back to the health sector, driven by a passion for the humanities. As WHO’s first social media manager in 2012, a role given to me because of my business and start-up background, I was ahead of the curve in establishing social media governance to counteract the impending wave of mis- and disinformation, a foresight now reflected by my peers in the United Nations Global Communication Principals Group.

Hooked now to governance, my professional growth continued with a second Master’s degree in international negotiation and policy-making, further empowering me to shape resolutions and influence global health policy, notably in tobacco control through the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Amidst the crisis of infants born with microcephaly, I was then called upon playing a pivotal role in synthesizing complex and rapidly emerging scientific findings into coherent communications, supporting a proactive and unified response across WHO’s global network to confront the Fourth Public Health Emergency of International Concern, as recognized by the World Health Assembly.

My diverse background converged when I joined ITU to lead corporate communications, where my tech industry, advocacy, policy and negotiation expertise proved invaluable. My current mission is to leverage all my experience in a global campaign celebrating 160 years of innovation and multilateralism with an extra push for gender equality in digital transformation as the world reviews progress since the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action. I was there for UNAIDS in 1995, advocating for the female condom.

As ITU champions emerging technologies for the betterment of society, we face a landscape where AI’s rapid mainstream integration presents new challenges. This is compounded by strategic mis- and disinformation and hate speech (which is in the mandate of other UN agencies). Building on the ethics-based social media governance I developed for WHO, I have recently drafted principles-based recommendations for communicators when using Generative AI.

The responsibility to govern technological innovation increasingly extends beyond governments to industry, with an urgent call to minimize their own carbon emissions and for technology that mitigates climate change. Moreover, we still need to bring 2.6 billion people who are not using the internet online, so they can benefit from the advances it brings when we learn, work, connect with loved ones and play.

As Head of Corporate Communications, my team’s work supports the communication and advocacy in support of technology for the future, for all and for good, covering all communication functions, via corporate platforms and channels.

My career path has been anything but linear, but it remains guided by a commitment to responsible communication for the betterment of humanity—a testament to the enduring value of the humanities in securing our world. As we look to the future, my story continues to unfold. 


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