PlusFortyNine Podcast

What happens when you build a business before you’re fully prepared for it and then have the courage to let it go?

In this episode, Andrea speaks with Munay Zamorano, entrepreneur, mentor, and founder of the Female Founder Academy. Born in Germany to Chilean and US-American roots, Monaisa reflects on growing up between cultures, buying her first company at twenty-three, navigating German bureaucracy, and learning when growth becomes misalignment.

They talk about business succession instead of the usual startup myth, the emotional reality of entrepreneurship, failure as a learning space rather than a flaw, and why migrants are often more...

In this episode of PlusFortyNine, we talk to life and career coach Simon de los Rios about what really happens when you reinvent yourself far from home.

Simon grew up in Colombia, spent almost two decades in Miami, studied in Europe and eventually chose Germany as the “hardest” next step: new language, coldest climate, barely any prior connection. Behind that decision were years of high-pressure leadership jobs, a pattern of burning out every five years and several long sabbaticals that ended in a silent retreat in Indonesia – and the realisation that something had to change.

Together they talk about...

This week, we dive into something many newcomers think about sooner or later: getting a pet in Germany. And let’s be honest - nothing prepares you for how seriously Germans take dogs, cats, and every creature in between.

We talk with Katja Herbst, a Tierheilpraktikerin - basically an animal health practitioner who works with dogs, cats, and horses using traditional Chinese veterinary medicine. She explains what you need to know before adopting a pet, how to choose the right breed for your life, why some “trendy dogs” struggle with health issues, and what makes German adoption centers so thorough.

We...

In this episode of Plus Forty Nine, Andrea hosts her first interview in the series and sits down with Vanessa Muñoz-Pretzell - a yoga teacher from El Paso with Mexican, Lebanese and Cherokee roots who has been living in Berlin for eight years.

They talk about how yoga became Vanessa’s path, what it means to move from warm, open cultures to Berlin’s rough edges, and how language, community and small rituals can slowly turn a foreign city into home. Vanessa shares what shocked her, what she’s grown to love, why she still misses desert sun and good tacos, and how...