Ignite by PWI Brussels PWI Brussels

Geert is the oldest of 6 siblings, decided to become an engineer, and later stumbled into Research and Development Leadership. Geert strongly believes in diversity and inclusion, a concept in line with his own values. In his career, he has experienced the power of inclusive teams that perform better and innovate more. Geert's collaboration will help us to engage men in advancing gender parity at the workplace and in society. You will hear more of this in our very special episode of the Engaging Men Series.

Patricia was originally born in Dominican Republic, studied in in USA and has been working in Belgium for the last 8 years. She holds a degree in Industrial Engineering and a master’s in Engineering Management. Engineer by education and Latina by origin and at heart, she has a passion for couching, process improvement and working with people from different cultures. Before joining her current company, Cargill, Patricia worked in the Electronics and Industrial Machinery Industries. During this time she worked on supply, demand and materials planning as well as implementing the full IBP process. These experiences allowed her to develop a holistic view of the full supply chain, how it operates and interacts with other functions. For the last 5 years Patricia is been actively involved in several initiatives around gender parity issues in the workplace. Within Cargill she is co-leading the EMEA Cargill Women’s network business resource group since Sep 2018. Patricia totally adores to dance to Latin rhythms , cook, travel and discover new natural products/brands.

Alexandra is EBF’s Director of Innovation & Cybersecurity, leading the Federation’s work on data economy/open finance, CBDCs/digital euro, online platforms, cloud, payments, cybersecurity and digital operational resilience.
Working closely with bank associations throughout Europe, she is responsible for the EBF digital innovation and cybersecurity strategy, positioning on legislative/regulatory processes, and relations with EU and international institutions.
Alexandra is a member of strategic groups of the European Commission, ENISA and Europol EC3. She also represents the EBF in projects of the International Banking Federation and the G7 Cyber Expert Group.
Advocate of empowering bank employees and citizens through awareness on cyber risks and enhancement of digital skills. Creator of the EBF Cybersecurity Conference and of the EBF Innovation & Cyber Thursdays series of online events. She is compromised to reduce the gap of women in the digital sector overall, by breaking stereotypes. Cybersecurity needs as many women as possible to become professionally involved and it does not need only IT people. It needs also professionals that can work in policymaking, strategic positioning, organization of cooperation platforms, education, training, awareness-raising, amog others.
She firmly believes that in cybersecurity it all comes down to passion. Passion for taking your life in your own hands – which in our case is your digital life! Passion for protecting your independence, protecting your privacy, your values, your business, and above all, your loved ones.

How can I ask the right question?

How can I listen more carefully?

And how can I become more engaged in a conversation?

In this episode Ana Escarpenter tells us how she manages to be a wonderful mentor and coach to help develop her mentees and clients, as well as her secret to manage her time.

It is hard to introduce Ana in one short paragraph, that is why you should tune into this episode to understand how Ana became the person she is today.

In today´s episode we have Magda Kufrej as our guest.

Magda is not just a member of the PWI Brussels, but also a volunteer and she is responsible for the blog.

She is passionate about self-development and career development. That is why we mainly talked about the Japanese term and concept "Ikigai". 

You want to get to know how Magda stays positive and full of energy? Then tune in to this episode and accept the challenge, which we mention at the end of the episode:)

Frédérique Michiels is an ambitious mid-forties with a mission. A bon vivant, an adventurer, a do-person, unexpected, and half of a twin. She loves to inspire and motivate others about growing in all aspects of life and on how we are structured as human beings, why we do what we do, why interacting with others makes us insecure, leadership, motivating people, being a woman, elegance, stylish female outfits, being a rebellion and going into rules, interior design, art, food places to taste, places to visit, being authentic and enjoying life.

Enjoy this episode as we explore the intricacies of the mentor-mentee relationships and how we can both grow on both ends!