Hi, I'm Lea.

I tend to start most problems by ignoring the existing explanation for why something isn't working. We carry more cultural assumptions into professional situations than we realize, and going back to what's actually happening on the ground usually gets you further.

That's how I've spent most of the last 15 years: figuring out why markets were stuck and what to do about it. German publishers who wanted nothing to do with Google. An insurance company trying to sell to a country that only buys from agents their family has used for decades. Carbon credit infrastructure when neither buyers nor sellers trusted anyone. Most of it has been filed under partnerships and GTM, but the useful part was always the diagnosis.

I come from documentary film. My father ran an Oscar-shortlisted production company, and I took it over at 25 when he passed away. That year taught me more about negotiation and pressure than any job since. I studied Social Anthropology at the LSE and got an MBA in Hamburg. I grew up in Munich and have lived in the US, the UK, and Mexico, and currently split my time between Mexico City and Berlin.

If you're trying to figure out who I am professionally, LinkedIn is the straight answer. If you want to get a sense of how I think, the writing and projects sections of this site are more insightful.