Mentoring Tandem Nora Els and Friederike Ott
“An outside Perspective Is Incredibly Helpful”
Mentee Nora Els und Mentorin Friederike Ott haben oft miteinander telefoniert, bevor sie sich zuerst in Innsbruck und dann an der TUM persönlich getroffen haben (Bild: Magdalena Jooß/TUM).
“I knew that I wanted to start working soon and wanted to find my way out of academia and into the field,” she says, “but I also had some bad experiences when I mentioned in my applications that I had a child.” That’s why she applied for TUM Mentoring Professional, in which alumni support other alumni as sparring partners and provide advice and their experience. According to Nora Els this was a stroke of luck, because she was put in contact with TUM Alumni Friederike Ott, who immediately provided her with active support.
MY MENTOR ALWAYS MANAGES TO MEET ME EXACTLY WHERE I AM WITH MY PROBLEM AND SITUATION AND POINTS OUT PERSPECTIVES FROM THE OUTSIDE THAT I SOMETIMES DO NOT SEE FROM WITHIN THE SITUATION.
“In the application process, she helped me to be more confident in my cover letter and the way I present myself”, she says. She supported her in “analyzing my role in complex situations and conversations and pointed out possible solutions.” Especially the view from outside is incredibly helpful as well as indicating new perspectives, “which I myself sometimes don’t see in the situation”. Within a few weeks, a new employment at Climate Alliance Tyrol opened up for Nora Els.
Bild: Magdalena Jooss/TUM
I WAS THRILLED AND PLEASED BY HOW MUCH MY MENTEE TRUSTED ME AND HOW OPEN-MINDED SHE IS.
Find out more about TUM Mentoring Professional.
Nora Els and Friederike Ott (photo: Magdalena Jooß/TUM).
Dr. Nora Els und Friederike Ott
Master Ecological Engineering 2016 and Diploma Ecotrophology/Nutritional Science and Home Economics 1977
Dr. Nora Els
Prior to joining TUM for her Master’s degree in Engineering Ecology, Nora Els studied Geoecology at the University of Tübingen. Subsequently, she earned a doctorate in Biology from the University of Innsbruck and completed further training in Corporate Environmental Management and Environmental Economics. After her maternity leave and an internship at SOS Kinderdorf International in Innsbruck, she is now working for Klimabündnis Tirol and supports companies on their way to becoming more sustainable. At TUM she enjoyed above all the interdisciplinary teaching and the exposure to different disciplines, their topics and vocabulary: “Today I am very grateful that I was able to delve into different areas of interest and that I could have a go at everything I wanted to.”
Friederike Ott
Friederike Ott has studied Ecotrophology/Nutritional Sciences and Home Economics at TUM in Weihenstephan, passed the teacher’s examination and added a degree in Adult Education from the Munich School of Philosophy in 2000. She was Deputy Head of the Department of Nutrition and Home Economics Consulting at the Bavarian State Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Head of Department at the Augsburg Office for Agriculture and Nutrition and Deputy Head of the Academy for Health and Food Safety in Munich. In 2017, she was responsible for the commemorative publication for the 50th anniversary of the Bavarian State Chancellery’s course in Administrative Management. Since 2016 she has been working as a trainer and coach on a freelance basis. Friederike Ott used the lockdown to declutter, which included her study materials. Here she found a term paper from 1976, copied on thermal paper, with hand-drawn sketches and tinted by time: “When I think back to my student days, I sometimes wonder how we managed to do all this without the Internet and digitalization.”
