"Helvetia speaks" association launches "berta&gamma" podcast
To mark International Women's Day on March 8, the "Helvetia speaks" association is launching its second project: the "berta&gamma" podcast. The 55 episodes will focus on female personalities from Eastern Switzerland. They share their experiences from business, culture, politics, art and other areas.
"Switzerland ends after Winterthur." There is hardly anyone in Eastern Switzerland who has not heard this saying before. "With our cross-cantonal Eastern Switzerland podcast project "berta&gamma", we want to show Switzerland and ourselves: This is where life really begins," explains Kathrin Loppacher, project initiator of "berta&gamma". "Together, we are highlighting Eastern Switzerland as a place to live and work and providing exciting insights into innovative, valuable organizations and companies. In this way, we are creating new role models and ideas for entire generations," she says with conviction.
The region is given a central role in the podcast: the creative artists shed new light on Eastern Switzerland as a cultural location; the spotlight shines on Eastern Switzerland as a business location. "We talk to our guests about their personal educational and professional paths, formative experiences, challenges, lessons and tips. By making their work public, they create new ideas and inspiration," says Sabrina Lehmann from Thurgau, radio presenter and host of the new podcast.
Visibility creates role models
Young women (and men) in particular need female role models they can look up to. Visibility encourages them to (re)define and implement models for their own life and career planning - even if there are no corresponding role models in their immediate environment. "This strengthens Eastern Switzerland, promotes the attractiveness of the location and is a measure against the shortage of skilled workers," Michaela Silvestri, President of "Helvetia speaks", is convinced. The non-profit association initiates specific projects to increase the visibility of women in business, society and education in the public eye. Two years ago, it launched the alphaberta.ch speaker platform, which has been in great demand ever since. "Our projects help to ensure that the potential of women is consistently utilized - whether as speakers on stage, as managers in companies or as role models in the general public," says Silvestri.
Strong support for professional implementation
Thanks to the financial support of the lottery funds of the cantons of Thurgau, St.Gallen and Appenzell Ausserrhoden and private foundations, namely the Ernst Göhner Foundation (ZG), the Gemeinnütziger Frauenverein St.Gallen (SG), the cantonal St.Gallen Winkelried Foundation (SG), the Dr. Fred Styger Foundation for Culture, Education and Science (AR), the charitable foundation of Raiffeisenbank Gossau-Andwil-Niederwil (SG), the Steinegg Foundation (AR), Metrohm Foundation (AR), the Ortsbürgergemeinde St.Gallen (SG) and the TW Foundation for the benefit of cultural and social institutions (SG), the podcast can be professionally implemented. The production partner is the Thurgau agency Mediaworks.
Live conversations that invite dialog
The premiere conversation with documentary filmmaker Eveline Falk will be recorded on March 8, 2024. A few days later, it will be available on all common podcast platforms. From April 2024, two live talks will take place in front of an audience on the first Thursday of every month. The focus will be on a well-known or less well-known personality from Eastern Switzerland from the worlds of business, culture or politics. Interested parties can watch the recordings at 7 pm and 8 pm and are invited to continue the discussion afterwards. Admission is free, the number of seats is limited. The discussion partners and the respective venues can be found on the website: www.berta-gamma.ch
