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TRAILBLAZERS
WE ARE
​We challenge the status quo, try new ways and pave the path. ​
We are here to guide you to your next height and help you reach your full potential.
Our founder Natalya Permyakova spent years advising CEOs of large companies on growth strategies and was stunned by how individuals don’t take as nearly a rigorous approach to their life.
She wanted to change that and created a set of tools to help people navigate what’s coming and all the new work, life and relationship models in a structured way to figure out how to make the most of their future and life.
This is how Life Startup was born, as a next-generation personal development space for those who want to be chefs, not just cooks, and for those, who have what it takes to pave their own path. At Life Startup, we call them trailblazers.
Over time, more and more inspiring trailblazers have been joining the team. Together, we are on a mission to help you achieve your full potential and live your best life.
Anyone can design and live their dream life. All you need is the right support, motivation, and approach.
We believe you can achieve anything. The impossible just takes longer.
Our Coaches
Natalya
Permyakova
Founder & Life Strategy Coach
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Strategist, innovator and a coach. Spent years as a strategy consultant
Strategist, innovator, and coach. Spent years as a strategy consultant in London working with CEOs of large corporates helping them develop growth strategies. Now does the same for Life Startup clients. Natalya is a digital nomad and has a portfolio career.
Jacquie
Patton
Holistic Life & Career Coach
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Life-coach and Emotion-Code practitioner with 15 years’ experience
Jacquie is a life-coach and Emotion-Code practitioner with 15 years’ experience in career counselling & development, cross-cultural adaptation, and empowering people to achieve their goals.
Petra Hangweier
Leadership & Life Strategy Coach
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Senior business executive with years of experience in leadership functions
Senior business executive with years of experience in leadership functions at Unilever - a global FMCG company. Left corporate career to become a yoga teacher, marketing professor, and coach.
Caroline
Von Koenig
Wellbeing & Life Strategy Coach
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Caroline spent years in management consulting helping companies
Caroline spent years in management consulting helping companies land complex transformation programs.
On a mission to empower people to feel more fulfilled and balanced, she also helps individuals transform their lives, re-evaluating priorities and investing time and energy in what really matters.
Olga
Kugatkina
Researcher & Contributor
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Business consultant and PhD in economics
Business consultant and PhD in economics. Olga specialises in international transitions and personal finance and acts as an expert and the SME for Life Startup team.
Lutz Goerendt
Interpersonal Communications Coach
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MA in Health Promotion and
Psychology
Lutz is an MA in Health Promotion and Psychology. He works in corporate health management and a certified coach in Healthy Leadership.
Meet the Team
Olga
Permyakova
Programme Director
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Psychiatry PhD and a psychotherapist with 35 years of experience
Psychiatry PhD and a psychotherapist with 35 years of experience. Professor at the Bashkir State Medical University, Russia. She has over 90 scientific publications. Olga brings a scientific lense to all our programmes.
Elizabeth Harris
Head of Marketing
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Innovation and growth ninja
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Elizabeth is an innovation and growth ninja. She leads our Marketing team, all the way from content strategy to day to day content creation and implementation.
Marije Roodhof
Product Development & Branding
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Brand strategist, communications guru and an innovator
Marije is a brand strategist, communications guru and an innovator. She is supporting our product development and brand srategy.
Evgenia Lysova
Organizational Behaviour
Researcher & Educator
Assistant professor studying people’s careers and work experiences
Evgenia is Assistant professor studying people’s careers and work experiences as well as their organizations. Her purpose is to help individuals and organizations to experience greater meaningfulness, flourish and operate in responsible and sustainable manner.
Mihhail Aktsoznoi
Head of Technology
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Experienced technology lead
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Experienced technology lead responsible for enabling technology and ensuring seamless customer experience at Life Startup.
Our Volunteers
Anne Elize
Viegas
User Research & UX Design
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Architecture and Urban Planning graduate
Anne Elize is an Architecture and Urban Planning graduate with a specialization in UX Design.
She volunteers with us as a User Researcher and a UX Designer, helping us to advance the mission to make the world more fulfilled.
Katharine
Pratt
Head of Proposition Development
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Leads our efforts in developing new digital propositions
Katharine leads our efforts in developing new digital propositions. She heads a cross-functional team of researchers, designers and strategists to build, test and learn new products and services for Life Startup. With her strong background in innovation and strategy she ensures our products are the best of the best.
Soyeon
Wartel
User Research & UX Design
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Our user guru - she researchers customer needs and pain points
Soyeon is our user guru - she researchers customer needs and pain points to translate those into exceptional solutions. Her multi-cultural background really helps Life Startup to be inclusive in our design.
Urte
Gluoksnyte
Illustrator & Graphic Designer
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Graphic designer and an illustrator
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Urte is a graphic designer and an illustrator. She helps Life Startup tell stories in an engaging and visual way by creating original images for our products, blog posts and more.
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She is our head illustrator for Life Strategy programme in charge of bringing the mission to life.
Selina
Nkoile
Community Manager
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Founder and Executive Director of Nashipai Maasai
Selina is the founder and Executive Director of Nashipai Maasai Community Projects in Kenya.
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She helps Life Startup to build a community of trailblaizers, leveraging her passion for bringing people together.
Our Manifesto
For some of us, having a corporate job, a nice family, annual holidays and meeting friends on weekends is not enough.
Some of us are ambitious enough, brave enough, daring enough to step outside that pre-defined life path and explore what else is out there.
Those are the people who are not afraid to work hard, conquer their fears and confront societal norms. Because they know there is so much more to them than what they could ever realise living a ‘normal’ life.
Those are the people making their own rules, inspiring others and paving the path.
​
Those are the people trying new ways and new models, they dare to start their own business, leave a corporate job behind to go on a multi-year world exploration, dare to see if an open or polyamorous relationship is for them, or what’s it like to be a digital nomad.
Those are trailblazers.
Because they know that everything around them was made up by other people who were not smarter than them and they have the power to change it and re-write the rules.
Life Startup in the News
Stop Mimicking Real-Life Interactions at Your Virtual Job
Harvard Business Review
Read our article, where Natalya Permyakova and Evgenia Lysova explore what makes it so hard for us to connect in the virtual world. In this article, you will find practical strategies for building meaningful relationships remotely.
Radical Future: Trends and Opportunities
CreativeMornings Hong Kong
Founder, Natalya Permyakova, presented at CreativeMornings HK as part of the Radical series.
Natalya spoke about the future, and the radical opportunities it creates. She shared practical tips and strategies for how to make the most of the new world and stay fulfilled.
