Get to know me
The Why and the How
For the longest time, I've known which questions drive me and what topics I want to work on: sustainability, justice, and what a genuinely liveable future could look like. That idea shaped every choice I made so far: what I studied, where I worked, and who I chose to work for. It took me to organisations like the GIZ and the UN, and on postings across several countries. Across all these stations, I kept circling back to the same set of questions: how systems change, who gets to shape that change, and what a more sustainable and juster version of the future actually requires.
But there was something else I knew even earlier than what I wanted to work on: I've always loved talking with people. Discussing, questioning, and listening for the perspective hidden beneath someone's first answer. Since my school days, communication has been one of my greatest strengths: my voice, and what it can do in a room. (Even if my teachers back then weren't always fans of that particular strength.)
What moving around taught me
By 27 I already had multiple stations and different homes: I lived, studied and worked in 5 different countries and across private, public and non-profit sectors.
And while working and living in different languages, on different topics, in different environments. Somewhere along the way, one thing became impossible to unsee: the same issue can look entirely different depending on where you're standing. A policy that reads as progress in one room can read as a threat in another. A decision that benefits one group will tremendously negatively affect others. Neither view is ever absolutely wrong; they're just incomplete on their own.
That's the realisation that eventually became the whole point of my work.
Moderation is where the two threads meet
To me, moderation isn't just about guiding a conversation smoothly from one point to the next. It's about building a space where genuinely different viewpoints can sit at the same table, be taken seriously, and actually talk to each other.
This is what I bring to the stage: not just moderation skills, but subject expertise, an ability to hold complexity without flattening it, and the empathy and adaptability that sensitive, high-stakes conversations require.
Because these topics deserve more than a smooth run of show. They deserve a space where different perspectives are still visible at the end, and where that, in itself, moves things forward.
Vita
Leonie Brugger Moderation - Host, Moderator & Facilitator
Since 2026
impact on sustainable aviation e.V. - Policy and Innovation Manager
2025/2026
United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) - SDGs and Impact Team
2025
Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA), San José, Costa Rica
2024
M.Sc. Environmental Policy and Regulation, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
2023/2024
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) - Proklima: Ozone and Climate Protection
2023
2022/2023
Hilti Industriegesellschaft für Befestigungstechnik - Corporate Sustainability and Environmental Management
B.Sc. Law and Economics - Economic Regulation and Environmental Protection, University of Augsburg
2020-2023
B.Sc. Global Business Management, University of Augsburg and Pepperdine University
2018-2022
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Off stage, I'm someone who loves to laugh, to travel, and to talk entirely too much (yap, if we're being honest). I'm pretty much always up for something active: gym, running, yoga, hiking, skiing, pilates, boxing, surfing, you name it.
I was born in a small town in Germany, and from there went on to live in Augsburg, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Malibu and San José, before landing, for now, in Ulm. In the end, though, I love Europe. I love spending time with friends and family, and I love building a life here. Which is exactly why I want to help make life here, and the conversations that shape it, a little better too.
Marine life has a special place in my heart. I got my advanced scuba license at 18, and since then, if I could, I'd be underwater every single day. Have I seriously considered moving to a small island and becoming a dive instructor instead? At least once, every single time I go diving.
I'm also fairly obsessed with good food (Italian, especially), and I'll have at least three coffees a day (an oat flat white, if you ever need to know my order). And I love thrifting, endlessly. It's a genuinely good way to upgrade your wardrobe while doing it sustainably, and on top of that, you can find the best pieces at unbeatable prices.
Fun fact: I've worked in hospitality my whole life, and still do, even now, whenever time allows. It's actually what made me realise that moderation, hosting in the truest sense, is what I wanted to do. And if you've ever worked in hospitality yourself, you know: you might leave it one day, but it never really leaves you. The things you learn there carry into so many other parts of life, people skills, staying calm under pressure, reading a room. I'm genuinely grateful for that part of my story.
Now, at first glance, none of this might sound like it has much to do with moderation. But it does. It's me, the person who'll actually be standing on your stage, beyond the CV and the professional experience. Every experience shapes how we speak, how we listen, how we engage with people. And in the end, that's exactly what shapes how I show up on stage.
Got an event in mind? Let’s Talk!
Tell me a bit about your event, whether it's a panel, a conference, or a workshop. I'll get back to you to talk through how we can make it work: the format, the topic, and what you want your audience to walk away with.
Leonie Brugger
Host, Moderator & Facilitator