How did you come up with the idea for Service95 and what is the philosophy behind?
The idea’s been germinating for years, honestly, because it’s based on my real-life experience with friends and family. I’ve always been a list-keeper. I love documenting places I love, and culture I enjoy, both to help me keep track of what I’ve seen and experienced, and also to be able to share it with those who mean the most to me. Service95 was born from those lists! It’s meant to expand worldviews, share insider tips and recommendations to make the things I love accessible to anyone who wants to experience them personally.
Why do you like the idea of “sharing” more than the idea of keeping experiences, moments, places etc that mean something to you as your secret?
Because for me, community and solidarity and connection is found in life’s shared moments. Why gatekeep an amazing jewelry maker from the world? Why hold back an artist’s work from a broader audience? If I can be even the smallest of connections between readers and these sorts of people, causes, art, and culture, then I’ll sleep well at night!
What would you say is the difference between sharing moments from your life on social media and putting them in a newsletter?
I get to go more in depth in the Service95 newsletter for starters! Social media is a great first step, but our short attention spans and the constant scrolling make it hard to connect. Maybe you’ll see a Mexico City restaurant I love on my social media and get to learn more about it, the chef, its mission, and more in the newsletter. They’ll work very much in tandem in that way, I hope!
We like the idea of building a community very much. How would you describe an ideal “Service95” community? And how can these “members” of the “Service95” community/subscribers get in touch with you to share their ideas for the platform?
For me, Service95 will succeed by building community in the communal – let’s share ideas, recommendations, tips, travel guides, life hacks, beauty musts, food heavens… we have an amazing team of writers who have brought stories from all over the globe to Service95, but we always can be doing more through the outreach of our readers. Come to our Instagram and leave us comments. We’ll really be reading them to see what you think, what you want us to cover next, and what additions to our stories you’d like to make!
“Service95” will also feature places that are special to you. How do you choose these places? Is there a special place in Germany that has stuck in your head?
It’s simple: I’m so lucky to have been able to travel the world for work and for fun, and along the way, I have fallen in love with so many places, from the tiny bistros down back alleys in Paris to the tucked-away beaches on the coast of Spain. The places Service95 will cover include those and more – many of the places I haven’t even had the chance to explore yet, but our guides and stories are motivating me to do just that, as I hope they will for our readers! As for Germany, I love Berlin and Munich and can’t wait to revisit both on my upcoming tour. Maybe I’ll even write about it for S95…
What was the last time or situation when you thought: “Damn, I’m feeling completely lost here… How nice would it be to get myself inspired by some “Service95” ideas”?
Oh, often, which is so much of the fun of getting to work on something like Service95. Sometimes I find myself at a loss for what to eat, where to eat, what to read, what to watch – there’s so much out there, it can be hard pinning something down. But Service95 is helping me trust my own instincts when it comes to what I want out of everything from travel to pop culture. It’s helping me fine-tune my radar, I guess you could say!
This project also includes a podcast called “At Your Service”. What can we expect from it? Whom do you want to talk to and what about?
At Your Service goes so perfectly hand-in-hand with Service95’s newsletter component – we’re having deep, expansive, exciting, and often quite warm and joyful conversations that teach and nurture me along the way. I’m so excited about our guests, you can expect people I’m friends with, a fan of, and quite familiar with all in the same series. We’ll talk journeys, hardships, triumph, hopefulness, and, in Service95 fashion, lists lists lists!
In your very strong and successful career… what keeps you still so curious? As you’re always sending out so much Energy…
There’s simply so much to be curious about in the world! Like I said, I’m lucky to do what I do, but there’s so much life left to live beyond the day-to-day. That’s what keeps me ticking. I know there’s a whole world out there left to explore, and I can’t wait to make my way through it.
