Know-it-all passport and our sister site, knowitall.ch, have partnered with the Living in Nyon website for many years. Catherine Nelson-Pollard now has one foot in Switzerland and one foot in the UK and was fortunate to come into contact with Mandy Bronsil last year. Mandy has jumped into the website and article-writing with her own style of enthusiastic dynamism... and after meeting with her, and finding out about her other company, we couldn't wait to introduce Mandy Bronsil to our readers.
Tell our readers who you are and your background
Although I am originally Dutch, I grew up in Spain and came to Switzerland originally to study at the Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne. After coming and going from Switzerland for a short time after graduating, I finally moved back here in 2009.
I have a professional background in career development and recruitment, mostly in the Swiss French part of Switzerland. In 2019 I founded my own company called B-inspired Partners where I support people positioning themselves clearly and confidently in their careers through an online course as well as creating individual “career roadmaps” with them.
I took over as the editor of Living in Nyon at the end of the summer due to the fact that Catherine, the website’s previous editor moved back to the UK with her husband.
What has been the inspiration for you to take over LIN?
Aside from working, I’ve always been active in committees and I really enjoy contributing to a community and connecting people or businesses. Living in Nyon does this wonderfully and I am very lucky to have the opportunity to take over a website that has been up and running for 11 years and was created with that exact same spirit. It really felt instantly like it was something I wanted to carry on with.
When you don't know how you are going to do everything on your "to do" list done by the end of the week, or can't figure out how to organize your tax papers, or are not well enough to take your pet to the vet, or any other situation that overwhelms you, then please read on. Marie Davies, Head Angel™ from Leave it to me™, along with her other Angels™, Lory Da Costa and Shirley Temple, spoke to knowitall.ch about their services. No job is too big or too small and she has created a fantastic menu of services and transparent pricing structure that can suit anyone. She is even offering a whopping prize to one knowitall.ch reader... check below.
What has been the inspiration?
Working as an Executive Assistant, then in facility management for a large Swiss company, I decided I would like to take my skill set and set up a business helping new arrivals. With a background in hospitality and the service industry, this job is perfect for me!
As each client is different and never knowing what the request is going to be, keeps us on our toes and makes this one of the most interesting jobs I have ever had! I am curious by nature, love learning new things, and have different challenges everyday.
Have you been working on this idea forever?
I am a natural doer, problem-solver, doing this just seemed like a natural step into the next phase of my life.
What are the biggest obstacles you have had to overcome?
I think the biggest obstacle was in the beginning when we were all set up and raring to go; building a client base, getting people on board with our concept. The first break through client opened doors for us to a huge clientèle and was a major turning point in the company!
Also, I should add that we learned a lot by error; I realised spending lots of money on advertising didn’t really bring in any clients, it was word of mouth, you are only as good as your last job!
And finding the right people to become Angels™ is not as easy as it seems! A lot of time and devotion is put in for each client; you really have to be dedicated and really earn your wings day after day.
Free printable personalized calendar
Every year I print my own calendar off the computer to stick on my fridge. Yes, I know, I am very old-fashioned in this day and age of computerized this and that, but I still like to work this way.
If you are like me then I would like to recommend this free website where you can personalize your own calendar to reflect the country in which you live (even canton!) with local holidays, phases of the moon, week of the year, etc. Also, you can choose to start the week on a Sunday which is quite helpful for those who haven't yet adjusted to start the week on a Monday as they do here.
You can also enjoy our content on your phone or tablet because the website make apps for iOS and Android too.
Go to www.timeanddate.com/calendar/create.html and personalize your calendar the way you like to have it.
Obviously, if you saw the above sculpture on top of a pole in downtown Geneva, you probably wouldn't have even stopped to admire it. It just looks like a bunch of distorted oversized wires. But suddenly, as you walk this way or that, the juxtaposition of these wires start to play with each other. They start to mean something. As you try not to trip over the curb, you don’t want to take your eyes off it, for fear of missing a millisecond of the new shape emerging! Amazingly, on one extreme you can make out the word OUI in French. On the other side of the square, you make out the word NON. It is quite amazing and brings to mind other works that the artist has worked on in the past.
The artist, Markus Raetz, entitled this work simply OUI/NON. It was finished in 2000 and erected in 2001 on the Rue du Rhône (at Place de la Fusterie) in downtown Geneva. Markus Raetz works on the real and unreal of the negative/positive and the perception and the deformation on shapes in a mirror or facing each other. He invites the viewer to interact, because many works by the artist reveal themselves only by the movement of the viewer in front of the sculpture. Markus Raetz was born in the canton of Bern in 1941. He is one of the most renowned contemporary Swiss artists.
Composting at home is one of the many ways people can focus on other activities while at home. If you have ever considered recycling food waste at home, this is a great time to start.
One product that is now available in Switzerland is Hotbin. Do you face the challenge of food waste disposal? HOTBIN is a solution to significantly reduce this waste and make a positive impact along the way – creating healthy soil for the gardens, promoting community recycling and gardening, taking steps individually and collectively for our environment.
“The first summer using the Hotbin has been great! It has helped us greatly reduce the amount of grass clippings that we take to the communal composting. We are also composting 100% of kitchen scraps in it as well. Best of all, it will provide us with a steady supply of nutrient rich, organic compost with which we will fertilize our vegetable garden and flower beds. We are happy that the Hotbin is saving us money and reducing the number of trips to the store to pick up garden fertilizer.” Don, Bern
