Kai Schnier, born in 1989 in Arnsberg, is editor-in-chief of KULTURAUSTAUSCH. He studied International Politics and Journalism at the University College Maastricht, the Chinese University Hong Kong and at the Otto-Suhr-Institute of the Berlin Free University. His writing on politics and culture have been published by Qantara.de, Epilog magazine and ZDF. Since 2019 he also works for Reporters Without Borders.
Jenny Friedrich-Freksa, born in 1974 in Berlin, studied Social and Business Communication at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin. Following stints in Paris, Geneva and Rome she worked for several years at the Süddeutsche Zeitung in Munich. She has been KULTURAUSTAUSCH Editor-in-Chief since 2005. In 2019 her book Pferde (horses) was published by Hanser publishing house. Jenny Friedrich-Freksa is currently on parental leave.
Gundula Haage, born 1992 in Freiburg, is print and online editor at KULTURAUSTAUSCH and deputy chief editor. She studied Geography and Global Studies in Delhi, Cape Town and New York, amongst others. After working for ARTE and taz, she completed a journalism traineeship at KULTURAUSTAUSCH from 2018. Since 2023, she is also a board member of the association journalists.network and organizes international research trips for young journalists.
Friederike Biron, born in Duesseldorf in 1971, studied Literature and Philosophy in Bonn, Essen and Berlin. After her studies she worked for the Berliner Ensemble and the Schauspielhaus theatre in Zurich. For the German Cultural Foundation she has curated conferences on Culture of the Fracture and the Political Romantic. She works as a freelance editor at KULTURAUSTAUSCH.
Ruben Donsbach, born in 1981 in Bremerhaven, studied literature and journalism in Berlin and Paris. He was a Berliner Festspiele young authors award winner and has worked as an editor for ZEITmagazin Online and as editor-in-chief at Fräulein magazine. His texts and interviews have appeared in the newspapers including Berliner Zeitung and the taz. He joined KULTURAUSTAUSCH as editor in May 2022.
Denise Naumann was born in the Erzgebirge in 1978 and grew up in Karl-Marx-Stadt. After training as a foreign correspondent, she did stints in the film business and the music industry. For a long time she worked for an international event agency. She has worked as a screenplay writer since 2015 and is the editorial assistant at KULTURAUSTAUSCH.
Jess Smee, born in 1974 in Clacton-on-Sea, is a Berlin-based journalist, writing for The Guardian, Deutsche Welle and Spiegel Online International among others. After studying Latin American Studies at Liverpool University she worked for Reuters as a reporter in newsrooms in London, Madrid and Frankfurt. As part of the training project "The Niles" she worked as a trainer and editor with journalists in Sudan and South Sudan. She works as a freelance English Editor at KULTURAUSTAUSCH, writing for the website and the print edition.
Lena Fiedler was born in Essen in 1991. She studied Comparative Literature and Theatre Studies in Berlin and Copenhagen, as well as Communication in Social and Economic Contexts at Berlin University of the Arts. She has worked as an editor for ZEIT Online for five years as well as an editor for the TRU DOKU series for the FUNK channels of German broadcasters ARD and ZDF. She writes for media including ZEIT and FAZ, and has been freelance editor at KULTURAUSTAUSCH since January 2023.
Atifa Qazi, born 1991 in Schleswig-Holstein, studied International Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg and International and European Relations in Linköping, Sweden. She worked at the Centre for Political Beauty and the Goethe-Institut in Brussels. As part of her master's thesis, she explored EU external border policies and artistic activism from a postcolonial perspective. She has been an editorial trainee at KULTURAUSTAUSCH since February 2022.
Sandra Rendgen was born and grew up in Leipzig. Her academic background is in art history and cultural theory. After earning her degree in Amsterdam and Berlin, she worked as an editor and author. She has a special focus on interactive and digital forms of communication, and published several books on infographics and data visualization with TASCHEN and Princeton Architectural Press. As the freelance digital editor at KULTURAUSTAUSCH, she oversees the website, social media channels and overall digital strategy.
Thomas Weyres is a graphic designer and works four days a week as design director of Berlin's largest daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. He has worked as a freelancer for many publishing houses, agencies and start-ups – including Mario Garcia Media in New York, Krautreporter, MTV and arte. Since spring 2020 Thomas Weyres also works as Art Director for KULTURAUSTAUSCH.
Ole Witt, born in 1992, is a photographer and photo editor in Berlin. He studied photojournalism and documentary photography at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Photography Design at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India. His freelance photographic work has won several awards, been exhibited internationally and published in magazines such as Spiegel, Stern and Geo. He is a permanent member of Studio Stauss. He has contributed to KULTURAUSTAUSCH as freelance photo editor since 2022.
