Cultural Lights seeks to build bridges between cultures and people. Our experts offer intercultural knowledge and practice-related experience in the form of consultations, coaching, seminars, and training.
Founder/ CEO
“If you want to build a ship, do not ask people to find wood, prepare tools or assign tasks to make work easier. Instead, inspire people’s longing for the wide, endless sea.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Abdulhamid Douedari studied Law at the Beirut Arab University in Lebanon and Aleppo University in Syria. Thereafter, he worked as a lawyer and a building contractor in Syria. In 2014, he founded the placement agency “German-Medservice” which arranges the placement of foreign students and patients in Germany. Mr. Douedari worked as a self-employed entrepreneur and was involved in a variety of areas of international trade, particularly in Arabic countries. Since 2016, he has worked in intercultural communication and integration as a freelance lecturer and coach for educational institutions and various companies and corporations. This work ranges from youth and adult qualifications, coaching for managers, presentations on communication and motivational training such as further education of lecturers. Through Cultural Lights, Mr. Douedari founded a certified company dedicated to education focused on integration. Mr. Douedari works as a lecturer and trainer offering courses in Motivation and Integration in German and Arabic.
Founder/ CEO
“Problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them”
- Albert Einstein
Hedi Blödorn completed her Bachelor’s degree in Egyptology at the Helwan University in Cairo. Mrs. Blödorn studied a diploma in Political Analysis at the Institute for Political Analysis in Berlin and a Master’s in Islamic Studies, specialising in Radicalisation and De-radicalisation, at the Free University in Berlin. She has since been a coach, translator and lecturer for Integration, Communication and Motivation, among other things, for the German Red Cross, a lecturer for Social Competence at the Free University in Berlin in the Comparative Culture Psychology Department, volunteered as a lecturer for Communication, Politics and Integration and has been active nationwide in various national and private companies and corporations. On behalf of the senates of Berlin, Mrs. Blödorn was the chair of the Arabic division of the “My way to live” project from 2016-2019. Now she is a freelance trainer and lecturer, giving courses and lectures on Motivation, Political Analysis and Integration Strategies in German, English and Arabic. She also speaks English and French.
“If you want to build a ship, do not ask people to find wood, prepare tools or assign tasks to make work easier. Instead, inspire people’s longing for the wide, endless sea.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Abdulhamid Douedari studied Law at the Beirut Arab University in Lebanon and Aleppo University in Syria. Thereafter, he worked as a lawyer and a building contractor in Syria. In 2014, he founded the placement agency “German-Medservice” which arranges the placement of foreign students and patients in Germany. Mr. Douedari worked as a self-employed entrepreneur and was involved in a variety of areas of international trade, particularly in Arabic countries. Since 2016, he has worked in intercultural communication and integration as a freelance lecturer and coach for educational institutions and various companies and corporations. This work ranges from youth and adult qualifications, coaching for managers, presentations on communication and motivational training such as further education of lecturers. Through Cultural Lights, Mr. Douedari founded a certified company dedicated to education focused on integration. Mr. Douedari works as a lecturer and trainer offering courses in Motivation and Integration in German and Arabic.
“Problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them”
- Albert Einstein
Hedi Blödorn completed her Bachelor’s degree in Egyptology at the Helwan University in Cairo. Mrs. Blödorn studied a diploma in Political Analysis at the Institute for Political Analysis in Berlin and a Master’s in Islamic Studies, specialising in Radicalisation and De-radicalisation, at the Free University in Berlin. She has since been a coach, translator and lecturer for Integration, Communication and Motivation, among other things, for the German Red Cross, a lecturer for Social Competence at the Free University in Berlin in the Comparative Culture Psychology Department, volunteered as a lecturer for Communication, Politics and Integration and has been active nationwide in various national and private companies and corporations. On behalf of the senates of Berlin, Mrs. Blödorn was the chair of the Arabic division of the “My way to live” project from 2016-2019. Now she is a freelance trainer and lecturer, giving courses and lectures on Motivation, Political Analysis and Integration Strategies in German, English and Arabic. She also speaks English and French.
Julius Werthmann studied sociology, ergonomics and psychology at the Technische Universität Berlin and is currently studying social and political sciences at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Among other things, he worked as a team leader and communications trainer in Dialogue Marketing. During his studies, he worked for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH at the German Council for Sustainable Development. Mr. Werthmann volunteered as a trainer in youth work and is committed to the plight of refugees. As the head of office at Cultural Lights, he is responsible for the conception, auditing and coordination of seminars and corporate processes.
Lisa Werthmann holds a Master's degree in History and Culture of the Near East from the Free University of Berlin. During her studies, she also attended courses in Gender and Diversity, Political Science and Education, and received a scholarship for an extended language course at Ain Shams University in Cairo. In the course of her studies, Ms. Werthmann taught German voluntarily in an initial reception center for refugees. She has been working as a freelance Arabic and German language lecturer since 2015.
Lana Ayashi completed her master's degree in International Corporate Communications and Media Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Neu-Ulm. She earned a bachelor's degree in media and communications from the University of Passau. Ms. Ayashi completed an internship at AHK Germany in the field of media and communication in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. In addition to her native Arabic, she is fluent in English and German. Ms. Ayashi is responsible for PR and communication at Cultural Lights.
Maha Nagy is a communications and media professional with more than 17 years of experience in public relations, digital media and content production. Ms. Nagy earned her master's degree in media and communications from the American University in Cairo and a bachelor's degree in the same field from AUC. She was previously Chief Communications Officer and Commercial Director at DigiSay in Egypt, a regional media agency specializing in digital media. Prior to joining Digisay, Nagy was Head of Communications and PR at Qsoft Holding, one of the emerging media companies in Egypt and the Middle East at the time. Ms. Nagy's native language is Arabic, and she is also fluent in English and German. Ms. Nagy is the head of the "Foreign Employment Services" department at Cultural Lights.
Majdeddin Asfari studied Law at the University of Aleppo and thereafter worked as a banker and branch manager for the Industry Bank, the Banque Bemo Saudi Fransi and the Qatar National Bank in Idlib. In addition to his native Arabic, Mr Asfari is fluent in German, English and Turkish. For Cultural Lights, Mr Asfari is responsible for lecturer coordination.
Nader Ayashi is studying logistics and technical business administration at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg. In 2021, Mr. Ayashi completed his internship at Horbach in Financial Consulting for Academics. He is currently writing his Bachelor's thesis in Logistics and Supply Chain Management at HAW Hamburg. Mr. Ayashi’s native language is Arabic, he is also fluent in German and English. Mr. Ayashi is the logistics manager at Cultural Lights.
Ana Markewitz obtained her Bachelor's degree in law with a focus on public international law and European Union law from the European Humanities University in Vilnius and then her Diploma in law with a focus on consumer, sales intermediary and private insurance law from the Free University in Berlin, successfully passing the first state examination. Since 2016, Ms Markewitz has been working as a graduate lawyer in the field of general civil law, transport and logistics law as well as social and care law in a law firm in Berlin. In 2020, she completed a specialist lawyer course in the field of transport and forwarding law at Hagen Law School. Ms Markewitz speaks German and English in addition to her native languages Russian and Lithuanian. She has also worked as in-house counsel for Cultural Lights since 2022.
Layal Jazi studied Interior Design at the University of Fine Arts in Damascus. Thereafter she obtained a Master’s in the Conservation and Restoration of Photographed Cultural Pieces at the College of Technology and Economy in Berlin. She worked with refugee families for two years in Syria. She has also been part of various restoration projects in Syria and Germany. Ms Jazi is the team leader of our Flexible Integrative Training (FIT).
Marwa Kabbani is doing her training in office management at GPB college gGmbH Berlin. From 2018 to 2019, Ms. Kabbani worked as a volunteer and translator to Arabic at AWO Rathenow. In addition to her mother tongue, Arabic, she also speaks German and English. Ms. Kabbani is completing her one-year internship at Cultural Lights.
Elmira Amanova studied at the Lyceum of Foreign Languages in Ukraine, then studied International Relations at Baku State University in Azerbaijan. During her studies she did an internship at NATO Azerbaijan International School and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan. She completed her Master's degree at Leipzig University in Global Studies- European Perspective. She worked as a Market Research Intern and later as a Project Assistant. Besides her native languages Ukrainian and Russian, she speaks English, German and Azerbaijani. In 2022, Ms. Amanova completed further education in project management, e-commerce, online marketing, Professional Scrum Master (PSM) and obtained PSM1 certificate. For Cultural Lights, Ms Amanova works as a project coordinator.
Lilia Schlechter studied Pedagogy at the Bishkek Pedagogical University in Kyrgyzstan. She lives in Germany since 1992 and since June 2022 she is engaged as a volunteer helping Ukrainian refugees. Besides her native Russian, Ms. schlechter speaks fluent German.
Sabine Balow graduated with a diploma from the Bauhaus University in Weimar. Primarily she worked at the building academy in Berlin and later as a senior site manager nationwide and in Scandinavia. Since 2010, she has worked as a freelance German teacher for French language students. She supports the annual children’s chess Abrafaxe tournament as a volunteer. As well as her mother tongue, she speaks English. Mrs. Balow works as an office and project coordinator for Cultural Lights.
After graduating from №2 secondary school in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, Inna Kurchenko earned a bachelor's degree and a degree in business and organisational management. a bachelor's degree at the National Agricultural University of Vinnytsia and a degree in business and organisational management. She then worked in the hotel and restaurant industry for ten years. Since 2019, she has been studying philology, teaching English and German, literature and translation at the Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsubynskyi State Pedagogical University. In addition to her mother tongue, Ukrainian, she speaks English, Russian and Italian. At Cultural Lights she works in the field of communication with a focus on Ukrainian and as a coach.
Judith Schwab studied German and American Studies at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, graduating with a 1st State Examination. During her studies she also took courses in sociology, political science, educational psychology and educational science. After completing her 2nd state examination, she taught German, English, politics and German as a foreign language in a course for refugees at a primary school, an evening grammar school and at the Charité hospital school in child and youth psychiatry in Berlin. Ms Schwab is a volunteer for Safe Routes for Refugees. She works as a proofreader at Cultural Lights.
Judith Hollingshaus studied Pedagogy at the Johannes-Gutenberg -University in Mainz. She first worked as a teacher in a Waldorf kindergarten and as a socio-therapeutic school assistant in Mainz. She also worked as an actress and theatre pedagogue in the children's theatre collective "Wishmob Theater" in Mainz, where she volunteered as a theatre pedagogue with refugee children. In 2015, Ms Hollingshaus moved to Berlin and started working as a family helper and social group leader. At the same time, she began training as an actress in 2016 and has been working as a freelance actress and dubbing artist in Berlin since graduating in May 2020. She has also been working as an editor for Cultural Lights since the beginning of 2022.
Daphne Schild studied theater, film and media studies at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Vienna. During her studies she also made detours into in classical philology (Latin and Ancient Greek), anthropology and journalism. After an internship in the field of culture and reportage for the magazine "annabelle" in Zurich she first worked for the Berlin State Museums and then as a freelance (screenwriter) author for various magazines and directors. Since 2017, she has found her true calling as an found her true calling as an editor - for the German Bundestag, various small publishing houses and Cultural Lights. In addition to German, Daphne Schild speaks English and Modern Greek.
Olena Havrylytsia has a Master's degree in Banking from the Bukovinian State University of Finance and Economics in Ukraine. She began her professional career as a client manager in a private bank and later worked as an inspector in the Surveillance and Analytical Support Department of the police. She also gained experience as a project manager in the language school "Way Up". She speaks Ukrainian, German and Russian. Ms. Havrylytsia is currently working as a project coordinator at Cultural Lights.
Ola Abseh studied business administration with a focus on management at the University of Damascus, Syria. She later worked as an administrative director in Syria. Since 2018, she has been volunteering in Germany as a language communicator and interpreter for refugees in the Berlin district of Wedding. In addition to her native Arabic, she speaks German and English. Ms Abseh works as a projectcoordinator at Cultural Lights.
Office Assistant and Lecturer
Alona Kushnerevych graduated from the Odessa National Law Academy in Ukraine and holds a Master's degree in law. She has worked in the legal industry in Ukraine and has a diverse professional experience. She was an assistant to a private notary, worked in a private company in the legal department and also has experience in an administrative court. Ms. Kushnerevych likes to communicate with people and help them. She speaks Ukrainian, Russian, English and German. She works as a coach at Cultural Lights and helps to create reliable bridges between people.
Tamara Duedari studied English literature at the University of Aleppo and has since worked as an interpreter and English teacher, first in Syria and later in Germany. She also works as an artist and does voluntary work for women and children. In addition to her native Arabic, she speaks fluent English and German and has a basic knowledge of French. For Cultural Lights, she teaches in German, English and Arabic.
After graduating from school, Jinan Suleyman was able to gain experience in a wide range of areas. She has worked as a security officer, interpreter and social worker, among other things. In addition to her native Kurdish, Ms. Suleyman is fluent in German and English. She teaches in German and Kurdish for Cultural Lights.
Manuel Girgis is currently studying for his high-school diploma at the International German School in Brussels. In 2020, he completed his internship at Cultural Lights and is currently working as an office assistant. Mr Girgis is responsible for the office organisation and room acquisition at Cultural Lights.
Fares Ayashi completed his high school diploma at the Education International School in Saudi Arabia. He is currently studying business informatics at the Technical University of Berlin and has already gained experience in various projects in the areas of data analysis, IT consulting and business process optimisation. In addition to Arabic, his mother tongue, Mr Ayashi is fluent in German and English. Mr Ayashi currently works as an office assistant at Cultural Lights.
Melody Rustom studied translation of English and Arabic languages in Al Baath University in Syria. Melody speaks Arabic and Turkish as her mother tongue and is fluent in English and German. She moved to Germany in 2018 and since then she has been volunteering and working in a primary school in Hannover. Ms. Rustom has also attended Intercultural Civic Education, Coaching with a focus on Awareness in addition to our Train the Trainer courses.
Safar Al-Hadj is doing her training in office management at GPB College gGmbH in Berlin. Since 2016, she has been working privately as a babysitter as well as a tutor for primary school children. Other than her mother tongue Arabic, she speaks German and English. Ms. Al-Hadj is an intern at Cultural Lights.
Tina Benzing is a business economist and foreign language correspondent for English. She lived in Great Britain for some time and then worked in industry with worldwide sales contacts. Her mother tongue is German and she is fluent in English. Ms. Benzing works at Cultural Lights as an office assistant.
Alleth Absa graduated from the high school in Potsdam in 2023. Mr. Absa is now looking for an internship in the field of accounting/logistics to improve his knowledge and prepare for his studies. Mr. Absa speaks Arabic as his mother tongue, English and fluent German.
