Integrating art with sustainability and social change throughout her career, Sonja was trained at London Film School (2001) and earned a Masters in Social Anthropology (2006) from University of Zurich and UNAM, Mexico.

After her studies, she spent ten years working on media and visual installations at the intersection of art and science. Extensive assignments took her to Latin America, East Africa and Asia. Results were showcased and exposed at museums, international conferences and public events.

Through a growing interest in peace process, she earned a PhD at the Graduate Institute of International Relations and Development (2014) exploring the notion of innovation in conflict through how mothers explain conflict to their children. Part of this project became a video installation called “Lullaby of Tomorrow” and a sound experiment on expressing hope through singing (“Hope Activism”).

Sonja also taught classes and undertook project on citizen design science and collaborative filmmaking with different actors and managing teams in over 20 countries.

Named a fellow at the Research Center for Leadership in Action at New York University in 2012, Sonja was invited to explore the relationship between leadership, social change and creativity in theoretical and artistic terms. What came out was a deep interest in reframing negative, helpless narratives into positive ones by bridging art, science and entrepreneurship.

Apart from her personal projects, she has founded Paititi Lab: a design and do-tank, that seeks to create bridges between science, art and entrepreneurship. www.paititi-lab.org

Born in 1978 in Zurich, she grew up in the Canton Solothurn. For extended periods of time she lived in Mexico City, New York and Brazil. She speaks fluent Spanish, English, German, French and Portuguese.