Equilibrium Alumni Business Mixer
Description
Together with Park Lane International School, we bring you the biggest BCC networking event for the Equilibrium Alumni Community!
For 12 years, we have been creating this empowering community of women who are driven and are not afraid to DREAM-DARE-SHARE. Now we have the chance to reunite once again.
We are inviting all Equilibrium Alumni to meet and reflect on your mentoring journeys and career paths. You can look forward to inspiring speakers, a charity raffle, and especially to extending your professional network!
You can look forward to a panel discussion and an interview led by a member of the Steering Committee, Kristin Parpel. Let us introduce the panelists: Petr Šmíd, Marcela Černochová & Vera Budway-Strobach. We will welcome Barbora Chuecos as a speaker in the interview.
Speaker in an Interview:
Barbora Chuecos
Barbora Chuecos studied business at the University of Economics in Prague and marketing with market research at RUCA University in Belgium. For more than 25 years she worked in international companies: first she held marketing positions at Johnson & Johnson, then she became Marketing Director and later General Manager of the cosmetics direct sales company Mary Kay for the Czech Republic & Slovakia. Now she works as a coach and a mentor, she also hosts the Night Micro Forum on Czech Radio and last but not least, she and her husband established a non-profit organization: Autism as a Gift.
She had always considered herself an optimist in life, but then her son Ángel arrived to test this. He is autistic, and everyday he reminds her that the most important thing in life is our mindset. She sees her son’s autism as something that enriches her life. Barbora is also interested in canine therapy, a therapeutic method based on contact between humans and dogs.
Barbora believes that everything is a matter of perspective and that we always have a choice how to respond to a given situation.
Her personal motto is: “Everything happens for our own good.“
The Panelists:
Petr Šmíd
Petr Šmíd is Google’s Country Marketing Manager for the Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. He started his career at McKinsey & Company, where he spent seven years working in banking and healthcare analytics. Petr obtained his MBA from the Global Alliance in Management and Education (CEMS) and the Business School for the World (INSEAD).
He is passionate about personal development and lifelong learning. At Google he launched the Digital Garage program which has helped more than 300,000 people and businesses in the country safely use the internet and digital technologies to find jobs, develop careers or grow their businesses since 2016. And outside of Google he often leads workshops for students, professionals or startups and he is an active mentor in the Equilibrium program.
Marcela Černochová
Marcela began her career as a director of an organization devoted to wildlife conservation – the Czech Otter Foundation, where she worked for almost ten years. For five years, she worked at the Ministry for Regional Development and for most of her time there she focused on introducing modern management methods and strategies. In the years 2012 – 2013, she participated a one-year humanitarian mission to Haiti with Caritas Czech Republic.
She served as the Managing Director of the British Chamber of Commerce for almost nine years. Since 2021, Marcela has been working at the environmental non-governmental organization Arnika in the position of a project coordinator in Ukraine – focusing on air quality management and addressing the impacts of the war on the environment.
Vera Budway-Strobach
Vera Strobachova-Budway joined the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in January 2019 as Senior Coordination Adviser for Gender Issues, and Economic Affairs Officer as of April 2023. She is an international Diversity, Equity & Inclusion expert and champion with over 15 years of experience in launching and managing DEI initiatives in both the private and public sectors.
Prior to joining the OSCE, Vera spent 12 years as Chief Diversity Officer at Erste Group Bank AG where she established, developed and managed the company’s first comprehensive Diversity & Inclusion Program; initially in Erste’s subsidiary in the Czech Republic (Česká spořitelna) and then for the entire organization with 46,000 employees in 7 countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Vera began her career in international affairs, serving as Senior Political Advisor on economic development, democratization and cross-border cooperation at the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) and the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe in Vienna and Brussels. She is US national and received her Master’s Degree in Political Science and International Relations from Georgetown University (Washington, DC).
In her spare time, she is active in Rotary Vienna Maria Theresia (founding member and President 2020/2021) and is a founding member of the Austria Chapter of the International Women´s Forum (IWF).
Dear Alumni, we are very much looking forward to meeting all of you!
This event is free of charge for current participants of Equilibrium, however, the capacity is limited. First comes, first serves.
Price for the whole evening: CZK 480 + VAT
Refreshments & drinks will be provided.
General Partner
Charity Partner
