Could you tell us a bit more about yourself?
Michaëlla: My name is Michaëlla Ignacio Mendoza and I’m 24 years old. I’m Belgian and I’m living in Vaux-sur-Sûre near Bastogne. I’ve rounded up my study in Liège (Helmo St Marie) and graduated as a Management Assistant in 2019. I worked for 3 years as a Corporate Officer at Ocorian, a fiduciary located at Cloche d’Or in Luxembourg.
Apart from that I am an open minded and easy going person. I really like to discover new things, traveling, hiking in the mountains and discovering other cultures.
Jacob: My name is Jacob, and I’m originally from Denmark. I’ve lived in Zürich since 2002, I'm married to Miriam, who is a graphic designer from Rio de Janeiro, and I have 2 children (born in 2008 and 2011), and 1 step-daughter (born in 2006).
I grew up bilingual in Småland, Sweden, and graduated with a Master degree in Theology, Biblical languages, and Tractology (plus Webdesign and SME business management as subsidiary subjects) from Lund University in 1999. I’m experienced in on-site and hybrid events, as I was a co-founder of Interprefy Ltd. (in November 2014).
What distinguishes you from the rest? What is “typically you”?
Michaëlla:I have been passionate about cooking for years, and have a lot of cookery books (too many:-)). My goal is to try out the restaurants of my favorite chefs or other recommended places. I also make lists of restaurants for each city I’ve been to. To summarise: that’s where I spend all my money on…
Jacob: I’m known for delivering clear, concise, consistent information, and have a great social network amongst Brazilian-Portuguese translators and interpreters (my wife speaks Brazilian-Portuguese), and peer members of the Swedish Association of Professional Translators (SFOE.se). I am sensitive to hierarchy.
What do you hope to accomplish after 3 years at Presence?
Michaëlla: I hope to have a good relationship with my colleagues and to develop my skills and my experience to be more confident and competent in this new role.
Jacob: I believe that within 3 years, I've generated enough turnover in the DACH-region to allow us to open a Presence office here in Switzerland (either in Geneva or Zurich). I’ve extensive experience in points of sale and pre-sale relationships with all stakeholders–clients as well as with peer colleagues/interpreters.
What is your favorite charity and why?
Michaëlla: My favorite charity is an association called “Toi mon endo ASBL”. The association was created by a young girl who has endometriosis to raise awareness and support women with this disease. This association helped me a lot as I am also affected by this.
Jacob: UNICEF. Why? My cousin Karin Høgh is a journalist; she used to be Head of Communication & PR at UNICEF in Copenhagen, and I know and respect the organization well.
A more personal reason: During the divorce from my 1st wife, there was a process at the district court, and UNICEF helped me with a lot of info material on interviewing children, at what age the court can interrogate children, and how to keep the children out of the loyalty conflict.
What is your favorite motivational quote and why?
Michaëlla: I like the quote: “Less is more” means that simplicity is better than something advanced or complicated.
Jacob: My favorite quote is: “If you're going through hell, keep going,” by Winston Churchill. Why? Because he was certainly very good with words; he was nominated for the Nobel prize on 23 occasions for Literature (won it in 1953).
He also said: “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”
Thank you so much for your time! Looking forward to working closely with you both!
