WHO IS VIVIENNE DUEBBERT?

My #1 motivation is to inspire people to grow their mental strength and become emotionally agile when facing challenges. My keynotes and workshops offer my audiences a chance to recharge their batteries, reflect on their situations and regain fresh energy to better cope with all the stress, the pressure, the change and uncertainty that rule our “new world”. 

My name “Vivienne” stands for “happy to be alive” or "the lively one”: I therefore encourage my clients to live their lives seeing the positive aspects of their situations, all without putting on rose-colored glasses, pretending that “everything is just fine”. I provide my clients with simple techniques and mental strategies on how to foster a healthy “realistic optimism” in order to deal with adversity more efficiently.

When I first arrived in NYC, I spent my time at the Broadway Dance Center and danced all day long out of pure passion. My goal at that time was to get into the music industry, so I started working as a Marketing Assistant for a record company. However, as life so often goes, my plans changed: I dove into the fascinating and vibrant world of beauty and fashion. As a Trainer and Makeup Artist for the East Coast, I helped to establish high-end niche luxury brands in a highly competitive market. Sales events and trainings in the most prestigious stores of New York (Saks 5th Ave, Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Sephora, etc.), fashion shoots, TV shows, as well as celebrity weddings became my daily routine. This required a lot of perseverance, stress resistance and good time management, especially since I was also getting my Business Administration degree at the City University of New York.

As glamorous as this may sound, there are always two sides to a story. Thriving as a professional make-up artist and trainer while studying business - proud to achieve the BA award of best achievements amongst 2000 students - meant hard work. It meant little sleep, very high pressure at all times and of course many ups and downs. Additionally, I witnessed 9/11 right in front of my eyes. I was 21 years old and my family far away. 

This is when my resilience grew, and I learned how important a growth mindset is. Six years in New York taught me mental strength, self-confidence and self-motivation.

At the age of 25 years, I decided that it was time for a new chapter, a new adventure: Paris. Another big new city, another language, another new challenge. Again all by myself, not knowing anyone, I left for the city of love. This is where I began my eight-year career at L’Oréal Produits de Luxe, working as a Kiehl’s Customer Representative, Assistant Store Manager and finally Store Manager, opening the biggest shop-in-shop of Europe in the luxurious department store Printemps. During this period of my life, I once more learned how to work flexibly and independently in the most intense environment, mastering a myriad of changes and challenges, while adapting to all sorts of different types of people and mentalities.

After almost 5 years in Paris, I returned to Germany, where I worked as a Regional Manager in Travel Retail, managing all L’Oréal Luxe brands for Germany and Austria, and lastly, as Retail Director Kiehl’s for Germany. It became my passion to empower others, creating a strong team spirit, combining talent with fun and high performance at work. I collaborated and interacted with all departments, whether it be Human Resources, Training, Marketing, Merchandising and Finance reporting to the GM of L’Oréal Luxe Germany, as well as negotiating with external retail partners.

I loved what I was doing. There was only one catch: The only thing that existed for me was my work. I was executing 70-80 hours per week, investing all my time, energy and strength exclusively into my career. 

One day, my mother looked at me and asked: “Where did my radiant, happy daughter go?”. My heart dropped. She made me realize that I was only living for my job. That I had no private life. 

That moment, I knew I had to change something....

In order to regain my balance and get back into shape - mentally, emotionally and physically - I booked a wellness and yoga retreat in Bali. Thus, I dove into a completely new world of yoga and Ayurveda. Something I had no connection to, thinking yoga was boring, esoteric and silly. But I soon learned to be wrong. I experienced how liberating it felt to connect with myself, to breathe deeply and let go of my stress and worries…

The feeling I had after this experience was indescribable - I had found a way back to myself. I could finally relax, having regained clarity and the "radiance" my mother talked about was back. During this retreat I met an Ayurvedic expert from India who helped me find my balance.  He also encouraged me to transform my empathetic connection with people into a profession. Convinced that I too - like he did - had empowering effects on others, he showed me impactful techniques on how to help stressed professionals regain their balance and energy.

Back in Germany, I realized that this experience was life-changing for me. I decide to quit my prestigious position as Retail Director, put my belongings into a storage box and left for Bali to open an Ayurveda Spa in a luxury resort. A new adventure began. I did an Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga teacher training and then traveled to Kerala, South India, where Ayurveda was born and practiced. I was lucky to receive 1:1 training in ayurvedic practices and theory by my fantastic teacher Dr. Sooraj. Additionally I was trained in Kalaripayattu, the South Indian martial arts.  

My time in Bali and India was an unforgettable experience and chapter of my life. However, I did not want to spend the rest of my life abroad.

Back in Germany I created my holistic business vividbalance - LIVE.YOUR.LIFE. and helped my clients to get into shape with Ayurveda and yoga. Additionally I educated myself with approximately 2000 hours in the field of personal development, mental training for speakers, trainers and coaches. 

This is where my next chapter as Keynote Speaker & Mindset Expert begins…

The more I immersed into the world of personal development, the more my passion for a growth mindset, resilience and emotional intelligence grew. This lay the foundation of my work as a Keynote Speaker today: On all my different journeys of life, I have always learned how important the inner attitude is and that we can achieve our goals by learning to master our emotions and manage our thinking patterns. 

Since then, I have been intensively studying the latest findings on mindset in combination with neuroscience, showing my clients how exactly our brain works, how powerful our thoughts are, how we can deal with strong emotions and how we can positively influence ourselves accordingly. 

Change starts in the mind! Only with a strong growth mindset can we be resilient, powerful, balanced, emotionally agile and intrinsically motivated!

 LIVE.YOUR.LIFE.