I am Malisa (1992), born in Kosovo, living in Berlin. Before sharing about my professional life, I want to give a glimpse of who I am before the profession defines me.

I grew up in a big house with both of my parents and three other siblings. Being the youngest kid gave me space to BE and verbalize every thought that was running in my head - without the fear of being judged. With my sister, we would run Pop Culture Shows in front of our guests, and with my brothers, we would play board games. And all together with my parents, we loved running away during the summer in the woods with a big tent and my dad's Renault 4.

A lot has changed since then, BUT my love for observing/studying humans, appreciating music and being surrounded by people.

I decided to study psychology, worked with refugees for over six years, lived in Sweden, Turkey, Kosovo, Iceland and Germany. Learned a great deal about cultures, although understood it's tricky to think you've seen it all. Having to provide therapy via online platforms gave me the opportunity to enter people's houses by hearing stories from all over the world, while sitting in my apartment in Berlin.

Always sensed in Art there's so much about psychology, and vice versa. I dared to start to combine them in very early work days while designing different media for different stories. I couldn't let those experiences end as a PDF report. Started collecting stories, designing illustration booklets and photo books. Got enough confidence to write a concept proposal for an exhibition. Then two. Then five. Realized playing with words is something very special to me, therefore took charge of writing chapters for collaborative books. Authored a worldwide card deck about the topic closest to my heart - Anxiety - by only using people's experiences.

To arrive where I started, from this year on, Master's students will be learning from all the experiences I carry with me, in the program called Creative Psychology.

I have always been driven strongly by mind and art. Having to integrate them together in my everyday work for years now has given me a major opportunity to feel at home in what I do.

Love,
-M