FeMale Leaders

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It was a great pleasure to host our second FeMale Leaders event at our Geneva offices. This time, we dove into a topic that is currently all over the media: "What can we learn from Harris and Trump when it comes to the art of public speaking?"

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are both masters of public speaking in their own way. What can we learn from them when it comes to speeches? We were delighted to offer an interactive masterclass on public speaking techniques in which Simon Ntah analyzed the rhetorical techniques and strategies applied by Harris and Trump and provided practical tips that we can use when we’re asked to present or speak in public

Our guests greatly appreciated the insightful seminar, and we ended the evening with further discussions over a nice apéro.

Our autumn edition of FeMale Leaders in Zurich dived into a topic that is currently on everyone's lips: artificial intelligence! However, we were not focusing on the technical aspects, AI governance frameworks or legal risks of AI. We were instead delighted that our guest, Katrin J. Yuan, was showing us the opportunities that artificial intelligence presents in leadership and work. After unleashing the secrets of AI, we continued the discussions with Katrin and among ourselves at a lovely networking aperitif.

It was a great pleasure to host the first FeMale Leaders session in Baker McKenzie Switzerland's Geneva office. We were delighted to have Roula Clerc-Nassar, founder of Ellumine Consulting & Coaching, with us. For many years, Roula has been on a successful mission of inspiring women in business to lead fulfilling careers and lives. She spoke to us about the five main barriers that can undermine our achievements and offered her personal reflections on how to overcome them.

This insightful and interactive session was followed by a relaxed apéro, where we all had the chance to continue our conversation with Roula. We are already looking forward to our next FeMale Leaders event.

The network continues to grow! On 11 June 2024, around 220 successful and inspiring women followed Baker McKenzie Germany's invitation to the art gallery of the Frankfurt Kunstverein Familie Montez. At the largest FeMale Leaders event to date, female managers from various industries once again had the opportunity to exchange ideas and network in a unique atmosphere.

True to the motto, "Shaping a better future, together," with which Baker McKenzie wants to take innovative steps on the "Inclusion, Diversity & Equity Journey," male guests, so-called allies, were also invited to this exclusive event this year. They also support our goal of sustainably increasing the proportion of female managers.

To the panel discussion which was moderated by Claudia Schick (Hessischer Rundfunk), Baker McKenzie partners Katharina Stüber and Katja Haeferer welcomed the high-calibre panel of female managers from various industries to the topic, "Are you still working or enjoying life already?": Karin Dohm (CFO, Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA and member of the supervisory board at Ceconomy and Danfoss), Julia Kranenberg (CHRO/COO Ground Services, Fraport AG), Dagmar Mundani (General Counsel, Siemens Healthineers AG) and Astrid Teckentrup (CEO, Procter & Gamble in Germany, Austria and Switzerland).

In the urban and creative ambience, our guests were able to admire the current exhibition, "Transformation Solo Exhibition," by Firoozeh Akhlaghi in addition to the permanent exhibition of the Montez Family Art Gallery. The power networking with, among other things, a phenomenal view of the sky tower of the European Central Bank was very inspiring and a great pleasure!

We are already looking forward to further events — it goes on!

Baker McKenzie Switzerland has joined the Europe-wide Baker McKenzie campaign "FeMale Leaders" in 2024 and recently held its first event under the new name.

We had a discussion with female leaders about new beginnings, and we were delighted to welcome Manuela Leonhard, who, after an unusual career path, started a social media career at age 50. Manuela has always followed her own path and done things differently: from being a mother of four to being a flight attendant, to working as the mayor of Zurich's assistant, to now becoming a social media star. We spoke with Manuela about why she built her career "anti-cyclically" and where she found the strength for change. Of course, we also wanted to get some tips from her on reorientation and success on social media.

Power networking with “FeMale Leaders”: Again a successful event full of inspiration. On 5th December 2023 around 140 women attended the “FeMale Leaders Christmas Market” and enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere at the roof terrace of the Ruby Louise Hotel Frankfurt. 

The aim of our “FeMale Leaders” event series is to steadily increase the ratio of female executives in the business world. Our Baker McKenzie Germany partners Katharina Stueber and Katja Haeferer have brought together fantastic women for this high-calibre networking event. Anna Hinrichsen held an inspiring keynote speech "Start-up myths in check - experiences of courage and reality". The discussions between those female role models from business and media sector and our Baker McKenzie colleagues were pure joy!

FeMale Leaders at the Frankfurt Goethe-Haus | „Can we save the world with AI?“, 12 July 2023

The second event in our "FeMale Leaders" series took place on 12 July 2023 at the Goethe-Haus in Frankfurt – it was an extremely successful event, with Katharina Stueber and Katja Haeferer as lead partners.

At the end of last year, in December 2022, Katharina Stueber initially launched the FeMale Leaders initiative with a successful kick-off even with more than 130 female guests. With this ID&E initiative, Baker McKenzie Germany is breaking new ground: FeMale Leaders is primarily intended to address women who are or will be in leadership roles in companies or institutions of interest to our firm.

More than 190 successful and inspiring women took part in the FeMale Leaders event this time. For the first time, male supporters were also involved as "Allies" - true to the motto: "Unleash Our Potential".

With Claudia Schick (TV presenter at Hessischer Rundfunk) as moderator as well as Katharina Stueber and Katja Haeferer, a lively and stimulating discussion on the topic of "Can we save the world with AI?" unfolded in the top-class panel, which this time included Isabelle Adelt (CFO of Fuchs SE), Heike Eckert (Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse), Melanie Kehr (Member of the Executive Board of KfW, CIO and COO) and Christine Lutz (Co-Founder and Managing Director great2know). The evening then continued with a power networking session which, according to the many positive responses, was very well received by all participants.

A great evening - it was pure inspiration and joy! More than 130 successful and inspiring women kicked off Baker McKenzie's FeMale Leaders event series on 13th December 2022 and turned the roof terrace of the Ruby Louise Hotel into a networking hotspot in Frankfurt.

Over mulled wine & co., female role models from business and media met with our colleagues at the FeMale Leaders Christmas Market to exchange ideas and network in a particularly beautiful Christmas atmosphere.