I was born and bred in Germany, and this is where I completed my degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management at the International School of Management in Dortmund in 2008. Through internships and project based worked, I have developed a true passion for the tourism, leisure and hospitality industry. My practical experience is very diverse and includes jobs such as guiding bicycle tours through Barcelona, developing a repositioning strategy for a theatre in Berlin, or working at the second largest Airport in Germany. I travelled a lot throughout my studies and have studied and/or worked in Germany, Spain, Venezuela and UK. Particularly through travelling I got fascinated by the benefits and potential that social media offer for travellers.

I then went on to complete a Masters in Tourism Marketing at Oxford Brookes University, where I discovered my interest in e-tourism from an academic point of view. It was ultimately the experience of conducting academic research form my Master thesis that prompted me to pursue my passion for social media and the tourism industry by undertaking a PhD.