Perhaps it was the bullying at the new school I had started at as a 10-year-old that eventually made me feel the urge to get out and away. At the age of 16, I received a scholarship to the IB school United World College in the United States, and a whole new world opened up - literally. There I was one of 200 students from more than 70 countries, and identity, conflict and peace work took on a whole new meaning.

With a new passion for language, cultural understanding and conflict management, I shelved my plans to study medicine, became a volunteer human rights observer in Guatemala and then threw myself into a bachelor's degree in international relations and Spanish. Since then I have taken a master's degree in international relations, peace and conflict resolution, trained as a mediator and worked for the UN in seven countries. I even managed to get kidnapped in Yemen in 2012 and understood the extraordinary power and magic of empathy during my 12 days in captivity. 

I first got to know IVK in 2002 through my work at the Center for Peacebuilding and Conflict Management (CCM) and met IVK's founder, Marshall Rosenberg, in Brazil in 2005. I had the pleasure of training with him for 23 days and after many more years of training and practice, I became Norway's second authorized IVK trainer in 2018.

I have previously held courses and practice groups in Argentina, Yemen, South Africa and Germany, and now offer courses, guidance, practice groups and online courses about IVK in Norwegian, English, Spanish, and Portuguese.  In addition, I have worked as a contact teacher at a primary school. Yes, it is actually the same school I was bullied at about 30 years ago. Now I want to contribute to learning, conflict management, empathy and safety for children, young people and adults.