I am Cari, an entrepreneur and media producer from Berlin.
I was born and raised in Münster, a small town in Western Germany. I first started using a camera and microphone at the age of 15 when I started to host my own TV show on a local public access channel.
Later, I was afraid of not making a living from doing videos, so I focussed on something else, which has turned out to be good and bad in equal measure. Bad, because back then I didn’t have the courage to follow what I had been really passionate about, and good because it opened up even more beautiful opportunities for learning and growing.
At the age of 19 I travelled outside of Europe for the first time; something I now look back on as a life-changing opportunity. Coming back from Namibia (Southern Africa) with a different understanding of myself and of the world around me, I followed a group of people who wanted to create new opportunities in youth education and intercultural learning. In 2005, we founded Solar Net, today known as The Global Experience, an international youth media network to create opportunities for intercultural learning both online and offline. I have been managing The Global Experience since 2009, which has had a huge impact on my professional and personal development. Over the past years, my own life has become a true global experience itself, with friends from all over the world, lots of travels and a great international office – first in Münster, now in Berlin.
Since about three years I dedicate more and more time to Easy German and Easy Languages, a YouTube language learning project that teaches languages in an authentic and fun way. The project has amazingly grown to about 500.000 subscribers in a very short period of time and will at some point soon evolve to becoming our full time job with the support of our fantastic Patreon community.
I finished high school in Münster with the age of eighteen. I wanted to become a journalist, started to work for a local newspaper but then dropped it after two years. I have studied medieval history, new history and regional science for 5 years, finished with a Magister Artium and 100 pages of paper on the 1st crusade. I don’t know if anyone ever read that.
I have worked as a project assistant for over 3 years at cross-border organisation EUREGIO, which has taught me a good basis of project management skills. I have travelled whenever I had money to spend and stopped when I was broke again, which has taught me more about life than any school. I have started a Master in International Migration and Intercultural Relations, which has given me a whole broad spectrum of perspectives on my work. And I have been self-educating myself on a whole bunch of stuff, including project conception, grant writing, financial administration and video production. More than that I have only learned through wonderful people who have been crossing my way, who have become friends, partners, co-learners and mentors.
It took me a while to figure out that not following a career path, but my curiosity is a fortune. I consider myself as a permanent learner. And I am happy for every experience, good or bad, to help me grow a better understanding of the world and myself.
In May 2014 I had the honour to speak about my personal learning experiences and the way I try help others learning about the world at TEDxDonauinsel in Vienna.
Together with my husband Janusz I produce Easy German, a video series that helps German learners all over the world getting to know Germany and accessing authentic and fun German learning material. The show has so far received over 50 million video views and airs twice a week on YouTube.
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It all started with Easy German in Münster. Today Easy Languages is global network with 32 languages and over 60 video producers from all over the world. We feature real language situations and expose our cultures beyond stereotypical images. Our Youtube Channels assemble over 80 Million videos views with currently 500.000 subscribers.
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Since 2012 we have been organising TEDxMünster under the license of TED with an amazing group of volunteers. Within 5 years we have produced 4 shows and have had 46 speakers and artists on stage who have amazed us with their ideas, creativity and endurance.
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Conferences are boring with just old white men on stage talking about decisions in the making? Not with us! We have created our own conference bringing together young digital activists from all over the world to actually work together and create new digital projects with a social impact.
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In February 2014 we shot a short documentary series for easyGo-easyCome in Namibia and Tanzania. In this part we accompanied German teachers during their internship at A.Shipena Secondary School in Windhoek, Namibia.
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In March 2014 we accompanied participants of the easyGo-easyCome program during their life abroad in Tanzania. In this part we see a day at Martins host family in Sanya Juu, Tanzania.
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In February and March 2014 Ohayla spend several weeks in Kibaha, Tanzania, for a combined internship at Galagaza Primary School and Buloma Foundation Center Orphanage. During her stay I accompanied Ohayla for a day to find out what life in Kibaha looks like.
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Earlier in 2014 we produced a series for Engagement Global’s program “Konkreter Friedensdienst” that supports young people from North Rhine-Westphalia doing projects and exchange programs in Africa, Asia and Latin-America. This part just came out lately and portrays the exchange of young hotel and cook trainees between Germany and Namibia.
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The 4th and most intense part of a video documentary we shot with easyGo-easyCome participants in March 2014. This part portrays the stay of Lynn, Lisa and Svenja at Sanya Juu Primary School in Tanzania.
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In May 2014 Yacouba, Aguia (Burkina Faso), Titus, Lydia, Sellah (Kenia), Anna and Magdalena (Namibia) conducted their teaching practice internship in different schools in and around Münster, Germany. During their stay we visited them with the camera to find out more about their experiences.
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Image video for the Global Changemates Fellowship program by Partnership with Africa Foundation. Shot in Berlin in November 2015.
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One of my favorite questions ever. We did this video with students from Friedensschule Münster on an exchange in York, England in 2013.
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1984.
Mit Isi.
Karneval 1990.
Sympathisch: Mein erster Brief
Wie alles anfing: Mit 16 im Bennohaus.
Unsere erste Show: Audio Complete.
2001 in Prag.
Rot und Blau trägt die Sau!
Partyhaus 2002.
Hier haben wir mal einen Schatz vergraben.
Hurricane Festival, Momente des Glücks.
Mit Christoph in Wroclaw, 2003.
Im Zug durch Polen.
Wie Janusz aus Polen floh (in seinen Träumen)
Namibia 2004, Geburt des Global Experience Logos in Karibib.
Ghana 2005. Ein Logo wandert um die Welt.
Namibia 2006.
Erster Easy German Shoot, kurz bevor wir des Supermarktgeländes verwiesen wurden.
Gabes und Janusz
Mitternacht in Windhoek, 27. März 2007.
Irland 2009.
Man soll es ja nicht übertreiben, aber das musste schon sein: Thailand 2011.
Immer noch Thailand.
Kuala Lumpur.
Vietnam.
Janusz und eine Plastikschlange.
Janusz und eine echte Schlange.
Namibia 2012.
Tel Aviv 2012.
Weihnachten 2012.
Kairo 2013.
Legendärer Ausflug nach Paris.
Italien.
Mein Leben vor Apple.
Unser Büro in Münster.
Bei Anruf Danger
Isi hackt sich in ihr eigenes Handy.
Als ich noch rauchte. Pfui.
Korsika von oben.
Tunis 2013: Damals wollte ich unbedingt in diesen Bus.
Tanzania, Mount Kilimandjaro
Mit Papa im Auto.
Die Zukunft: Augmented Reality.
Mein 30. Geburtstag.
Kurz bevor wir nach Berlin zogen.
Familienausflug in die Schnapsbrennerei, August 2014.
Nachts am Museum.
Schlauchbootführerschein mit Martin
Endlich angekommen in der Hauptstadt.
Einer von zwei Feiertagen im Jahr.
100 Leute, 30 Länder, 1 Familie.
Oktober 2016, unsere erste Easy German Tour.
2017 in El Gouna.
Vietnam 2018 | by Katja Nguyen
Ghana 2018
Responsible for the content of this page:
Carina Schmid
c/o Easy Languages
Florastraße 48
13187 Berlin
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