About Miss Butterfly…
Miss Butterfly, of 1970 vintage, can’t be caught, she only flies to you. No exceptions. There is hardly anybody, who wouldn’t be forced to smile, when she rests on their arms. She likes to be in the right place at the right time. Nothing is hidden from her if she so desires. With the tender flap of her wings, she spreads one resounding message. „I am not looking for headlines; I encounter them naturally.“ At first sight this Miss Butterfly is like a flower that can fly. Obviously iridescent! As a feature writer, trendscout and networker she is, just as a papillon, extremely proficient in changing, preferably with a bite and a little bit of bitchiness, close to the pulse of life. But never fear! If you treat her well, she’s not perilous!
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If you spot this butterfly you’ll be enchanted: A textbook ‘Girl Friday’. Her creativity is the force that lets her fly towards the sun. Not many people can do that and open hearts at the same time. This colourful papillon has many miles on it’s wings already, true to her motto to rock the world of publications.
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When she was just a little caterpillar, becoming conscious of her special abilities, she started her journalistic metamorphosis: At the age of six she traveled the surrounding area with little college blocks to jot down her impressions in form of metaphorics. She got her first ‘master’s tool’ a red ballpoint pen, out of a candy vending machine.
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Curled in a silk cocoon, secluded from the world the transformation to butterfly took place, day by day, month by month, year by year. First at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich (LMU); then at the German academy for journalism (DJS) and later during the daily grind in a newsroom, where there were stories, stories and more stories to cover. Since 1989 these stories molded her into a unique specimen: The StoryBeast!
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Barely out of the cocoon, she started a career at the German public TV networks. Kids- and youth-oriented programming, live broadcasts and news formats. She became a feature author for the science television department. Also long stretches at Italy’s RAI and at correspondent’s desks in Rome and Paris, which further formed her. Along the way she served as a midwife of sorts at the inception of the legendary trend and fashion magazine InStyle.
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Some encounters on her long flight will last forever and made her to the person she is today. Like for example the interview with the Dalai Lama. The assignment to proverbially sit on the arm of the spiritual leader didn’t worry Ms. Butterfly; more: „What language do I address him in? After all, he speaks eighteen and I only four?“ The editor-in-chief’s answer was: „Use the one you know best; the language of your heart!“
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And because of this language countless other important people like David Bowie, Zucchero, Lionel Richie, LaToya Jackson and Lewis Hamilton opened up to her and spoke frankly about their lives, their loves and their feelings. Rod Stewart, Michael Ballack, Flavio Briatore and Tom Cruise did not stop her dancing at their weddings, invited or not. She even managed to get visitation rights for the infamous Italian mafia boss Ernano Baretta in his jail and to the funeral of pope John Paul II in Rome. There, on the place next to her, sat Sister Nirmala; Mother Theresa’s successor from Calcutta.
While the rest of the world pres was still feverishly looking for the Italian maestro Luciano Pavarotti, ‘Signora Farfalla’ successfully picked up the scent. During a flight over the countryside of ‘Bella Italia’, thanks to her faceted eyes, she by chance discovered his well camouflaged last residence. The story in the German magazine BUNTE wrote press history and was reprinted worldwide.
Iridescent, endlessly colourful, professional and profound, that’s Miss Butterfly’s world. In the center, the papillon, always ready for takeoff!
