Hello, great to see you here:)
I collected 11 themes and stories from my life that can give you an insight who I am and what my journey has been so far.
For my official CV scroll down to the bottom of the website!
1. Explorer
I am curious and I love people. I am an explorer of the world and myself. These drivers give me all the energy day by day and have taken me to many amazing places in the world. I have always been interested both in the hard core and soft stuff: what is behind the numbers, behaviour and humans. I am passionate to enable organisations and individuals to start a transformation outside of their comfort zone. To help them get ready for the agile volatile world and design the Well version of themselves.
2. Learning
I hold an MSc in Corporate Finance and an MSc in Education. I am an ICF accredited brain-based coach, a yoga and meditation practitioner & teacher. I acquired several great certifications during these years in workshop facilitation, design thinking, agile coaching, project management, change management, etc… I incorporate them in my toolkit. I am open minded and very pragmatic at the same time.
3. Consultant
My professional identity has been defined by being a management consultant for 15+ years leading large scale business transformation journeys globally. My focus has always been on culture, change management, people and leadership development, operational excellence. I worked for several consulting companies over the years. What kept me in consulting for so long is that I enjoyed the variety of people and cultures and problems to solve. Plus the flexibility and traveling.
4. Home
I can feel home in many places around the world, especially in these countries: Hungary where I was born and raised, Switzerland where I moved when I was 30 and have been living here since 10 years now, Spain where my partner is from and where his family lives. I lived several months in the US, Denmark, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. I feel like a world-citizen in my heart, and home is where I have friends and family around.
5. Worker
I used to work only to get paid and to buy what I needed. I had a job every summer since I was 14 years old: selling board games as a sales agent (HU), doing dishes in the kitchen of a summer camp (HU), working at a car factory’s assembly line (DE), being a shop assistant in a fast food restaurant and then at a high end restaurant (USA), until I landed in a summer internship at a strategy consulting firm. Still, I needed some years to experience that work can be something what I truly enjoy, it’s an opportunity to express myself and to create impact in the world. When this clicked, I discovered my true calling.
6. Moving the body and mind
I have always loved movement, especially that connected the body and mind. As a teenager I did aikido, a Japanese martial art for several years. In my twenties I was into running (half marathons) and rock climbing. In my thirties I discovered yoga which transformed my whole life. In 2017 I spend one month in a Buddhist Monastery in Nepal to become a yoga and meditation teacher. In 2019 I went for a 10 day Vipassana, silent retreat in Hong Kong. I am a life-long practitioner of these techniques. I believe the goal is to cultivate self-awareness and these are some of the tools that lead there. Still, there are other ways as well. E.g. these days I like doing cold dips in the lake in the winter and I consider this is a strong mind training.
7. Nature Lover
I discovered nature quite late in my life. As a kid we did not go hiking at all with my family. In 2014 when I chose Switzerland as my new home, one of the main motivation factors was the proximity to nature and mountains. I started to realise the positive impact of nature on me while I had super intense periods as a consultant. For some years I have been using nature in my work in various formats, e.g. co-facilitator in coaching, workshops outdoors, walk & talks.
8. Family
I became a mom in 2020 which was life-changing in many ways. I have to admit I was out of my comfort zone at the beginning, especially that this was in the middle of the pandemic. I consider motherhood as a life experience. I learn probably more from and through my son than I will ever be able to teach him. As my partner is from Spain, we speak 4 languages (Hungarian, Catalan, Swiss/German, English) in our home.
9. Why Wellbeing
In 2016 while working on a dream project in the Middle East as a change lead for a huge transformation program, witnessing colleagues getting burn out and having myself hypertension, I realised that it is not enough if I do my individual wellbeing practice while the company culture around me is toxic. This experience inspired me to look for techniques how I could bring others along, how I could incorporate tools in my workshops, meetings, any interaction to create a Wellbeing Culture around me and in my organisation.
10. Entrepreneur
I have always been inspired by entrepreneurship. Now here I am, I became one! I chose this path as of now at least, as this offered me the best playground for putting my ideas around organisational wellbeing into practice. Would I go back to an employed set up? Yes, I don’t say it is impossible. I like the freedom but… it has also a price, the level of uncertainty at least at the beginning of an enterprise that can create fear and stress. It is a steep learning curve though and I am happy I took the courage to embark on this journey.
11. Today
Inspired by my own wellbeing journey as a busy professional in a highly competitive environment I developed a method around wellbeing which goes beyond the individual focusing on teams, organisations, systems. I founded Wellbeing Designers, an innovative company on a mission to design sustainable work-life, human-centric organisations and Wellbeing Cultures. I am also an Affiliate Senior Advisor at The Josh Bersin Company supporting HR leaders worldwide through the constant changes and transformation of the workplace.
Sharing about my WHY in 2019
During one of my travels in 2019 I met a buddhist monk. We started to talk about life and it turned out that he became a monk just recently. Before, he worked for a big multinational company traveling a lot, having a stressful but “successful” life. At one point he decided that he wanted to live a different life. So he became a monk! And you know what I always tell my friends and clients? That you don't have to become a monk to find balance in life:)
This is a very extreme example. However, the conversation with the monk just increased my determination that we have to design individual and corporate wellbeing in a way that not everyone has to become a monk to find balance. As we spend so much time at work, companies and leaders in society have a huge responsibility to help create a culture and a mindset of wellbeing. The advantage is significant; as wellbeing fosters creativity, innovation and happiness.
Industry Experience
2023 - The Josh Bersin Company - Affiliate Senior Advisor
2022 - Wellbeing Designers - Founder & CEO
2021 - 2022: Novartis - Global Leadership Dev. Engagement Lead
2019 - Reka Deak Consulting & Coaching
2019 - 2021: Shake Up the Workplace - Co-Founder
2018 - 2019: Implement Consulting Group - Management Consultant
2014 - 2018: PA Consulting Group - Principal Consultant
2012 - 2014: The Hackett Group - Senior Transformation Consultant
2010 - 2012: KPMG - Senior Advisor
2009 - 2010: MOL Group - Business Development Associate
2009: Roland Berger - Strategy Consulting Intern
2008: Accenture - Analyst Intern
2007 - 2008: Meyer Jabara Hotels - Intern
Locations: worldwide e.g. Hungary, UK, Germany, Denmark, US, UAE, Switzerland
Education
2020 - International Coach Federation - ACC certified Coach
2019 - NeuroLeadership Institute - Brain-Based Coach
2017 - International Yoga Alliance - Yoga and Meditation Teacher
2008 - Copenhagen Business School - Exchange semester
2003 - 2009: Corvinus University of Budapest - MsC in Corporate Finance
2003 - 2009: Corvinus University of Budapest - MsC in Education
2003 - 2008: University of Passau - Deutschsprachiger Studiengang
Certificates
Various Certificates from the Josh Bersin Academy; ORSC Team and Relationship Coaching Fundamentals; Nature as Co-Facilitator in Coaching; Yoga Nidra and Vinyasa Yoga Teacher; Design Thinking Trainer, Driving and Releasing Change Trainer, Project Management