Can you remember the last time you spoke to someone who inspired you?
The last time this happend to me was when I spoke to Heidi Laurent-Domenig. At CNNMoney Switzerland we are covering female entrepreneurs in Switzerland this summer and I got the task to interview three of them out of 24. Heidi was one of them.
She’s based in the small town Sent in the Engadin valley. And at the age of 30 she decided to make her passion her work. Her mother had already established Butia Schlerin Café Creativ 10 years before and Heidi had the idea of including a handmade ceramics line with patterns typical for the Engadin. She called it Sgrafits Engiadinais. She made a business plan and went to the bank to ask for a loan.
The banker told her to forget the idea and continue working where she was.
But Heidi couldn’t forget the idea. She left the bank and paid out her retirement savings and started the idea on her own.
But what inspired me the most was her personality. I have rarely met anyone as authentic as she is. I have rarely met someone as confident about what she does than her.
When I called and asked if I could interview her in our TV-studio she said yes immediately. Her English wasn’t at the best, she told me, but she promised to practise it until the day of the interview. And when we met for the first time she told me that she had even learned a new word, sustainability.
Her positivity was just contagious and I think this comes across during the interview. The conversation flowed and felt natural. But you have to watch it for yourself:
When she left I was in such a good mood and inspired by her way of being. Just taking things as they are and making the best out of it. She’s reckless like children are. They are confident and honest about themselves and this was so refreshing to experience. Often when interviewing people they are taken care of by PR-managers who tell them what to say and do and it often ends up not being as natural because the person being interviewed has a certain image in mind that he or she wants to bring across. These interviews are never as good as when people are honest about themselves.
Often the ones passionate about what they do are the ones who truly have something to say.
And that’s why this interview felt so good to conduct. I had a similar experience when interviewing Donna Carpenter, CEO of Burton.
But what do you think? Do you agree or do you have another opinion? You can let me know by commenting here or below the video on Youtube (which is embedded above). I’d love to hear how it came across for you.
Have a nice day,
Tanya