Valeska Schaaf

Absentus is an ambitious startup, set to bring innovation to the highly conservative industry around cemeteries. We are a design driven company, with a broad range of B2C products (e.g. individual memorials) & B2B solutions (e.g. collective memorials & space planning). We combine new, timeless, essential design with innovative, functional features, all focused around the universal traditions of remembering.

OPEN INNOVATION I DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE I NETWORKS I BRAND MANAGEMENT I BUSINESS MODEL ENGINEERING Various engagements in the social business space, including the #WirvsVirus hackathon, the ddn generation management forum and a Berlin based fashion label. Engagements range from participation in events and freelance consulting work.

DAILY OPERATIONS I CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DESIGN I SOCIAL MEDIA I HR As a store manager, I am responsible for daily operations, customer experience design and social media. Furthermore, I am in charge of internal HR processes and the onboarding of new staff. In our team we all thrive for new ways of creating an exceptional customer experience, therefore we are all keen on improving our service daily and looking for innovation within our concept and beyond.

CARVE-OUT PROCESS I DIGITAL FUTURE OF HR & LEARNING JOURNEY I NEW LEADERSHIP & NEW WORK I DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE @EY ALTER Design & facilitation of transformation & leadership processes: * Digital learning journey focus future of HR * Demographic change workshops for EY ALTER exhibition * Carve-out process of OD department My work included business model generation, the design of innovation strategies and products, being based on design thinking, service design, and agile methodologies

NEW WAYS OF WORKING I CULTURAL CHANGE I WORKPLACE INNOVATION At BICG we created new work concepts and implemented them at top DAX companies. As a consultant I was part of the entire consulting process: Generating and winning new clients, taking on new projects, initiating the analysis phase and co-creating the strategy, as well as implementing it through a change and communication process, followed by the reflection and follow-up phase.

Aus dem Projekt entstand ein Fachartikel mit dem Thema ‘Innovation Culture within the hotel industry’. Der Artikel hebt signifikante Elemente einer innovativen Kultur hervor und präsentiert diese im ‘Explore your path towards innovation culture’ Modell. Neben dem Modell, beinhaltet der Artikel aktuelle Herausforderungen und Ansätze verschiedener Hotelunternehmen, die versuchen Innovationskultur zu integrieren.

During my time at George Concierge, I was supporting the company in Sales and Marketing. In addition, I was involved in the social media integration and wrote my bachelor thesis in cooperation with George Concierge. Nevertheless, I was able to pick up some first experiences working in a very young company, experiencing the dynamics of entering new markets and further developing the company itself.

During my internship at Kuoni DMC London, I was in charge of supporting the senior project manager in all fields of the daily business. I took ownership in a number of projects and office management tasks. Independently, I have analyzed and evaluated foreign agent requests and sent out sales presentations and tailor made programs. With the contractual agreements, financial and operational execution of the event and the post event invoicing arrangements I have been part of the the whole process at Kuoni DMC.