Nicole Galindo Sánchez

Nicole is a senior consultant and facilitator at LEAD Forward, where she supports organizations through inclusive leadership and practices that strengthen belonging. She helps leaders and teams build trust, equity, and meaningful change.

Her background spans public policy, grassroots organizing, and international development. Before LEAD, she led citizen participation projects in Ecuador, including early participatory budgeting in Quito and civic-tech collaborations with GIZ. She holds an MPP from the Hertie School as a DAAD Helmut Schmidt Scholar, and degrees in Law and International Relations from Universidad San Francisco de Quito.

Based in Berlin, she advocates for migrant rights and works with community-led initiatives for justice. She brings a deep commitment to community and believes in the power of personal and collective stories to shape a more empathetic world.

Nicole’s story is titled: TBA

Ben McGuire

A passionate believer in the ferocious power of story, Ben McGuire is a lawyer, writer, documentary filmmaker, and photographer. He is yet to find a better compass than story to help us find true north and to celebrate the joys and quirks of life along the way.

After a decade of storytelling on stages and at festivals across Europe, a two volume audiobook collection of his stories will be released to celebrate THE BEAR`s 100th show: How to Jump a Fence – True Stories, Told Live (Volume I) will be released in late 2025 and The Werewolf and the Weakling – True Stories, Told Live (Volume II) will follow in 2026.   

Twice a year Ben leads groups of intrepid travellers on a unique adventure into one of the most storied landscapes on earth - the Sinai desert in Egypt - with Nomads of the Heart.

https://nomadsoftheheart.com

BEN’s story is titled: Our Fathers Fishing

Khushi Pasquale

Growing up in a family of 9 children, Khushi competed for attention from an early age. An actress for 15 years, Khushi served the words of playwrights. In her 20-year career as a language and presentations trainer, Khushi prepared others to take the stage. Now she delights in taking her turn in the spotlight, putting her stories on stage, and finally being the center of attention. Khushi is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a presentations coach, and ardent storyteller. She lives happily in a small Brandenburg village and in her massive imagination.

KKhushi’s story is titled: TBA

Mike Trupiano

I am a comic actor, voiceover artist, story coach and host of the podcast Secret Son.

Check out my podcast here:

http://www.secretsonpod.com/

Get in contact with me at:  www.miketrupiano.com

https://www.instagram.com/themiketrupiano/

Mike’s story is titled: Rubicon

Live Music

James Harper

is the creator of award-nominated podcast Filter Stories, a show that uses our morning coffee as a lens to understand the world. His narratives explore history, science and sustainability, and he writes the piano music that underscore the stories. 

His podcasts have been heard hundreds of thousands of times, and he has produced narrative podcasts for a wide array of clients, including Porsche (Driven Minds), Duolingo (Spanish Podcast), World Coffee Portal (5THWAVE), Specialty Coffee Association (World Coffee Championships), and others. 

Growing up half Italian in Sydney, he’s lived in Hong Kong and Rome and began his career working for the Bank of England in 2009. However, his passion for coffee was simply too strong to resist, and in 2016 moved to Berlin to become The Barn Coffee Roaster’s Wholesale Manager, and then in early 2018 hopped on a flight to Guatemala to dive deeper into the world of specialty coffee as a documentary podcast producer.

When he is not traveling around the world, James generously accompanies storytellers at THE BEAR adding another delicious layer to our evening.

Show host

Izzy Ahrbeck

Born in Tokyo to German and Canadian parents, Izzy grew up with curiosity and wanderlust, eventually calling eight countries home before settling in Berlin—for now.

A storyteller from the start, she moved from childhood “newscasts” to community radio and freelance journalism, always aiming to amplify overlooked voices. This path led her into Toronto’s film and music scene, where she created award-winning projects and later co-produced Canada’s longest-running music festival. After losing her sense of purpose, she pivoted, relocating to Barcelona to complete a master’s in Sustainable Business & Innovation.

Today, Izzy pushes for radical change in the business world, advocating for more sustainable practices, hosting a podcast on the topic, and speaking internationally about impactful innovation. She’s new to live storytelling and excited to dive deeper into the craft.

Founder & Director

Dyane Neiman

Founder & Director of THE bEAR. true stories. erzähltes leben.
Host of the Eve of the Champs show

Originally from Philadelphia, Dyane may just be the most German-like American you’ll ever meet. A former theatre director and choreographer, she once told stories with moving bodies — now she tells them with moving words.

By day, Dyane is a sought-after speaker coach and founder of Moving Speaker, as well as co-founder of Female Speaking Berlin.

But every month, she transforms into the beating heart of THE BEAR — hosting, charming, persuading, and occasionally arm-twisting Berliners to step into the spotlight and share their stories.

“I believe stories help us make sense of this chaos we call life.”

Say hello: dyane@thebear-storytelling.de

Producer, Story Coach & Videographer aka “Chief Wizard”

Michael Rost

Michael moved from Bremen to Berlin in 1980 and fell in love with the city and its stories. He has turned his passion into a profession, and when he is not on stage, backstage or filmming at THE BEAR, he brings Berlin history and stories to people as a professional city guide and owner of "Berlin-Erkundungen" .

As THE BEAR’s story wizard, he helps storytellers get to the heart & message of their stories. His recordings are the source for THE BEAR’s YouTube Channel and our podcast True Stories Berlin.

You can see Michael’s many Berlin stories on his YouTube Channel Berlin Erleben.

Co-Producer

Deepanker Dua aka Deep

An award-winning storyteller and founding member of THE BEAR’s podcast team True Stories Berlin. Deep regularly hosts the TSB podcast as well as THE BEAR’s live events. Backstage he lends his entrepreneur spirit to helping THE bEAR’s mission to share and spread stories thrive such as THE BEAR Hamburg. His company Sales Chakras is a proud supporter of THE BEAR.

Say ‘hello’: deepr@hey.com

Hanna is a visual storyteller. As a designer, she consults with healthcare organizations, in improving the patient experience. A kind of perspective storytelling, where the main character changes in a whole system: the patient becomes the center in the healthcare system.

She also brings the ability for interdisciplinary problem solving to THE BEAR.

Hanna has created THE BEAR’s branding, and guided our event formats, optimizing processes and resources, imagining our vision in a big way and making it tangible. After leaving us on good footing, she has a new role as a mother. We miss her presence and are so grateful for all of her contributions.

Friday, 28. November 2025

18:00 hrs. Doors open
19 hrs. Stories begin

Tickets available here.

Light Design: Ingo Reinhardt

The Eve of the Champs is made possible by the enthusiasm of our storytellers, our team of volunteers and with our partners: Moving-Speaker.com, Theater-im-Delphi, Galerie Cafe Emma T., Berlin Erleben Youtube Channel, Unmaking Boxes, Sales Chakra, and Female Speaking Berlin.