Building the Space that Didn't Exist

This week on The Coffee Pod, Kelly sat down with Max: a self-employed journalist and editor who moved from Hamburg to Aarhus after his husband was headhunted for a job.Max’s background is in journalism and communications, having worked across major German media outlets, a comms agency and an events agency before the move. Now self-employed, he splits his time between editing for a large German publisher and freelance journalism, all while navigating very different client rules around AI use: some clients ban it outright while others lean in.In this episode, Max shares:* Why moving just 300km felt like a bigger culture shock than expected* How he helped drive AI initiatives at his old company, not to replace himself, but to shape how it gets used responsibly* Why he’s now learning Mandarin ahead of a trip to China* His goal to land his first Danish client and build a more local networkIf you’ve ever navigated a “similar but different” move abroad or wondered how journalists are actually using AI day to day, Max’s story is for you.🔗 Connect with Max on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-dockhorn/Host: Kelly RasmussenProducer: Kata Kaplar This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com

New Coffee Pod episode! Diana Lund Nordstrøm doesn’t drink coffee (chai latte girl, “very non-Danish”) but she’s got a great story. 12 years ago she couldn’t find a job, so she started a podcast about job seeking. That led to roles at Jobindex, a job center, KU, and now her own practice as a career strategist for internationals in Denmark.We talk about the mental health side of job hunting, why the “bad job market” narrative can be a self-fulfilling spiral and how to network without getting stuck in negative Facebook groups.🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/dianalund/🔗 Business: careerconsultant.dk This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com

In this episode of The Coffee Pod, Kelly chats with Meghna about moving from India to Denmark, building a communications career across journalism, content, and internal comms, and becoming a “best of both worlds” hybrid between Indian speed and Danish work-life balance. Meghna shares how her experience as an expat spouse led her to co-create a community for Global South internationals in Denmark, why she believes networking should be constructive rather than just cathartic, and her advice for anyone navigating culture shock: make friends with whoever feels right, not just with Danes.Meghna on LinkedInPillion Expats on LinkedInCredits Kelly Rasmussen (host and editor)Kata Kaplan (episode producer) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com

Fashion editor who followed her instincts from Hong Kong to London to Copenhagen: now launching an intuitive styling consultancy after years of rebuilding.In this episode of The Coffee Pod, we sit down with Ophelia Wu: fashion editor, stylist, writer, and founder of The Intuitive Aesthetic Studio. Ophelia shares how Copenhagen Fashion Week led her from London to Denmark, why fashion is much more than trends, and how personal style can help us communicate who we are before we say a word.We also talk about building a portfolio career, trusting intuition, navigating life as an international in Denmark and creating work that feels aligned rather than boxed in.Ophelia Wu on LinkedIn This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com

Construction architect who ended up on the cover of her local newspaper for her interior design and that "why not?" energy runs through everything she does. Mentoring international students at VIA, organising community walks, and now taking the leap into freelance consulting because sometimes going with the flow beats having a plan.Connect with Silvana on LinkedInSilvana will also be speaking at Everybody Networks Here’s workshop in Aarhus on 11th June, full details and tickets here This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com

From hospitality in London to accounting to business excellence in Denmark. Kata has some honest advice about making it in Denmark at an immigrant.Kata Kaplar on LinkedIn This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com

This week on CoffeePod, Kelly sat down with Sune Selsbæk-Reitz: data and AI strategist, poet, and author of a new book called Promptism that asks us to slow down and think before we let large language models think for us.Sune’s journey took him from studying history and philosophy to nearly two years of unemployment, into an internship at a pension fund and eventually to leading data and AI strategy at a hearing aid manufacturer. Along the way, he never stopped writing: poems for his wife and kids, stories and now a book about what happens to our minds when we stop questioning the machines.If you’ve ever wondered whether we’re trusting AI a little too much, or how someone with a history degree ends up in a data warehouse, Sune’s story is for you.Connect with Sune on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/suneselsbaekreitz/ Promptism book link→ https://www.saxo.com/dk/promptism-fluent-machines-forgotten-questions-and-the-fight-for-meaning-in-the-age-of-ai_bog_9798898160821 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com

International criminal investigations expert who wrote a book using 100,000 leaked documents, now volunteering at Kirkens Korshær and helping her small town survive. We also chatted about the pitfalls of learning Danish from a Klovn boxset.Telita’s Dirty Tobacco book Connect with Telita on LinkedIn. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com

She applied to study in Denmark before her parents even knew.Her mom said: “Shouldn’t we have a family meeting?”She said: “I’ve applied and I’m going.”That was 15 years ago. Since then, Greete went from marketing to career counselling in a country where she didn’t speak the language, had no experience in the field, and had to figure it all out through 100+ coffee meetings and a LinkedIn community she built from scratch.Get in contact with Greete on LinkedIn if you liked the episode.If you want to hear more episodes like this, you can subscribe and have it delivered straight to your inbox when a new episode drops. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com

Kalpita absolutely nails it in the latest episode of Last Week in Denmark (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJll7GLH8co) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit coffeepod.substack.com