#6 A day with Julia (Misc Berlin)

July 7, 2021

Misc Berlin is an agency for cultural change. The core team of Demba Sanoh, Julia Gudzent and Runa Hoffmann coaches companies on diversity and empowerment with the help of external experts. We are happy that Misc Berlin has found their home in one of our Unicorn workspaces and accompany founder Julia through her day.

8 AM: Are you wide awake or still in deep sleep?

Usually, my little dog wakes me up at 8 AM. I get ready, take him for a walk and then have breakfast at the office.

11 AM: It’s time for the first meeting of the day. Today it’s a job interview with a potential new team member. What do you look for in a team member? How does a good meeting look for you?

The first team meeting is coming up: we start work between 10 AM and 11 AM, then the to-dos of the day are discussed and e-mails and calls are handled. I like career changers and have learned that about 80% of the skills a person has are not on their resume, but learned on the job. That’s why it’s more important to get to know the person than to look for a flawless resume. I definitely prefer face-to-face meetings to digital ones and hopefully, that will be possible again soon. The perfect meeting needs a concrete agenda and should be minuted, and the results should be shared among the team at the end. I don’t like an extensive meeting culture, I’d rather discuss concrete measures in a short and sweet way and everything else can be clarified by mail.

1 PM: You are hungry. What do you do now? Do you check the latest analytics with your business partner? Do you grab a cereal bar and go for a run? Are you a couch potato or fresh air fanatic?

Lunch break is crucial to recharge the batteries, walk the dog and get some fresh air. I love to cook, and that’s why I usually bring something that I prepared at home.

4 PM: You have a press appointment. It’s about the founding of your business and your person. Who has particularly influenced you here? Do you have a role model?

I have been very influenced by my business partners Demba Sanoh and Runa Hoffmann. We all have our individual strengths and complement each other very well. I continue to learn from them every day. Otherwise, my role models are the strong and independent women in my environment (shoutout to Lara-Marie Scherfig, Luisa Krétz, Natalie Bui, Inga Sanmann, Lara Kuse and Wiebke Langele). And my best friend Martin Menzel, who always empowers me and points out my internalized sexisms in a friendly, but firm way. My strengths are definitely my network, my perseverance and my creativity. My life lesson so far has been that you have to actively demand everything for yourself in your professional life. No matter how much you put your heart and soul into a project, in many companies the less qualified white heterosexual cis man still gets promoted in the end - that’s where we would like to start with Misc now and try to initiate a change in the professional world.

6 PM: Is it time to stop working, or are you just getting started?

Work-life balance is actually very important to me. We have learned that we can be much more creative, innovative and focused when we work 4-6 hours than when we do the classic 8-hour-workday.

10 PM: Time to have a break, time to read, to listen and to think. What book/podcast/series/music are you recommending?

Podcasts: “Parka & Schlönzke” - a witty monthly review by two drag queens, “So bin ich eben- der Psychologie Podcast” by Stefanie Stahl and the “Canis-Podcast” a podcast about dog training.