I’ve always enjoyed writing and also was fascinated by how reporters get to the bottom of things, describe them in detail and explain even difficult facts in an understandable way. So I decided to become a journalist while I was still at school. Süddeutsche, Page 3, Bob Woodward and Watergate, those were the things I had in mind. I learned the basics of journalism during a three-year practical training course at the ifp school of journalism, while at the same time studying history and politics. This was followed by a traineeship at the Stuttgarter Nachrichten and a period as local editor at the Münchner Merkur before I accepted the call to join the Stuttgarter Zeitung in 1992. For five years, I reported as a roving reporter about everything under the sun. I wrote about state visits, trade fairs and public festivals, met politicians, policemen and showmen and immersed myself in their lives. Meeting all these people was at least as exciting as writing about them.
The switch to PR was always on my mind, but then it came suddenly. The Messe München, at that time about to move to the new exhibition center on the outskirts of the city, was looking for a journalist to strengthen its PR team – and I accepted the challenge. From then on, I got to know the world of large capital goods and their fields of application: Building materials, construction machinery and in general machines of all kinds. It was always about technology, always about B2B. I quickly played the entire PR keyboard, first analog, later all the digital instruments and channels were added, with which you can reach customers directly. But the most exciting thing was all the traveling, to countries near and far, even exotic ones, to meet journalists and other multipliers and to place topics and messages at press conferences or presentations.
Sympra is again a changeover of sides. As a senior consultant, I look after clients from the technology sector and take care of the expansion of the construction sector. Here I can bring all my knowledge and experience to bear: Writing, conceptualizing, explaining, reaching people and convincing them. That’s what it’s all about at the core.