Emilia van Hauen

I graduated in the social sciences (cultural sociologist), hold the HD(A) (bachelor in business administration and marketing) and IAA diplomas, and have taken the Copenhagen Business School’s Executive Board Programme (completed with honours). I currently work as a lecturer, writer, concept developer, strategic consultant and commentator and am one of Scandinavia’s most popular speakers and sought out for interviews on trends and society.

I am primarily concerned with the social zeitgeist, specialising in modern ways of life and social trends, with a particular focus on the contexts, ideals, values, behaviour, relationships, conflicts and desires of people in the contemporary world. I am a regular contributor to many of the major, tone-setting daily newspapers, magazines, TV stations and radio channels in Denmark, and have also had the opportunity to comment on Danish society in foreign media, including BBC World, the BBC, RTL, Libération, French Elle and various Swedish and Norwegian media outlets.

My specialism is interpreting and communicating the cultural and social environment in which we live, the conflicts we meet in everyday life and, not least, how we can situate ourselves in our time and social context in a way that gives us a sense of meaning and purpose. With my background in sales and marketing and my present sociological perspective, I provide a bridge over socio-cultural currents and issues, creating (hopefully!) connections within the chaos of reality. I work both privately and for organisations.

As an author I have written five books, the most recent of which came out in March 2014 with Politikens Forlag: Ladycool: Your Gender is a Strength – Use It!, which immediately leapt up the bestseller lists. My previous book was the bestseller Goodbye Egofest and Hello to Goals and Communities. It was published in March 2009 with Akademisk Forlag, and focused on the shift happening in the contemporary zeitgeist. The others are Motherhood, Leadership (2004), The Myth of the Perfect Mother (2003), both with Aschehoug, and The Elite (1998) with Forlaget Møntergården.

I am on the board of the Danish cultural institution Messecenter Herning and real estate firm Danbolig Niels Hald, am an ambassador for the Heart Foundation and CARE Denmark, and am a founding member of several networks with a business or social mission. My major strength is a strong sense of professional intuition based on twenty years’ experience, which has given me the ability to develop and create new terms, concepts and ideas that reflect modern society’s greatest challenges.