The Team
“With THE bEAR, we’ve created an intimate, friendly atmosphere for aha moments, loud laughter, deep emotions, and heart-to-heart communication. We arrive as strangers, and leave somehow changed. - Dyane Neiman
Dyane Neiman
Founder & Host
Dyane is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and after 30 years here, has become the most German-like American you’ll ever meet. The former theater director and choreographer once told stories with moving bodies, now she creates with moving words.
By day, Dyane works as a speaker coach with her business Moving Speaker. And every third Friday evening, – she hosts, charms, persuades and twists arms so that Berliners will take the stage and share their stories.
“Stories make us feel connected and understood in unexpected ways. They make us take time to really listen and be open for empathy – values that we’re often missing as a society right now.” - Hanna Martus
Hanna Martus
Design & Strategy aka “Chief Shepherd”
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 her eye on THE bEAR's overall picture: Creating our own storytelling - branding, event formats, optimizing processes and resources, imagining our vision in a big way and making it tangible.
Read her podcast journal
Michael Rost
Story Coach & Videographer aka “Chief Wizard”
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 video recordings keep our YouTube channel active.
You can see Michael’s many Berlin stories on his YouTube Channel Berlin Erleben.