Clara Oeljeklaus

An astonishingly self-driven and curious woman, continuously learning and growing from her international experiences. Passionate about Public Speaking, Technology and Business Strategy, she is an innovative fast learner, with an eye for detail.

Since childhood, I have been passionate about technology. I have taken robotics and mathematic classes since I was 8 at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL in Switzerland), have learnt creating websites, etc. This passion is continuously growing, and I am fascinated about how technology is evolving at such a fast pace while benefiting multiple stakeholders and opening doors for new opportunities. Additionally, attending university allowed me to discover public speaking and I started loving this art. I had the opportunity to participate in numerous events in front of a large public. Public speaking is essential to share and debate about ideas, to positively influence and challenge the audience, develop ideas to find new solutions, but most importantly to connect with people.

Many ideas are worth spreading. However, if I had to select three main domains, they would be: sustainability, gender equality and human wellbeing, and technology. Sustainability as we rely on our environment, sustainable solutions and ideas to continue living in healthy conditions and encourage further innovations. Gender Equality and human wellbeing as we live in one world, one society, where people should be given equal chances as well as opportunities to reach a better world together. To do so, we need to make the global population aware that every human being should have a purpose and can have positive impact on our ecosystem, to be able to move forward together rather than let the gap between the top and the bottom grow. Technology as we are highly dependent on advanced software and hardware in our everyday life. This dependency was highlighted even further with the global pandemic we are all currently facing. However, while technology can enhance and facilitate our life, limits are also imposed such as cybersecurity (criminals use themselves technology to have unauthorized and bigger gains), accessibility to adequate material and stable connection, etc.

I attended my first TEDx event in St. Gallen in 2017. I was fascinated how speakers shared their ideas, the selection of speakers, the catering and extra activities that were available to the public, fascinated about how the event was organized, including the long months of preparation, determination and rigorousity the TEDx team demonstrated. For this reason, I joined in October 2020 the TEDxESCPBerlin team as Head of Events, and was then promoted as Co-President to achieve a successful event and inspire the world.

People don't know I'm good at negotiating. Listening to people, understanding their needs, wants and priorities, being diplomatic and clear, sharing ideas and generating solutions together, often helped me to come to a deal I aimed for.