Neuroscience Musings

Sarah Louisa

A Story With Yet Another Plot Twist (1/2)

I grew up in a tiny village in the Black Forest, which was beautiful, but I also really needed to get out once I hit my teenage years. I began working various jobs alongside school, issued a passport, and left home as soon as I graduated high school.

For 1.5 years, I backpacked, volunteered, and worked around the world on my own. Needless to say, this time was intense and ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! (I will share some of my experiences in the section Personal Musings.) After my world travels, I wanted to return to Europe to be closer to my family and to study something that would allow me to understand human nature as deeply as possible. London was the only attractive option for me and I decided to go for it. However, I needed to save up money first. 

Long story short: I became a flight attendant for Lufthansa and continued to travel the world for another two years, before moving to London to study Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience (I will share more about my studies later on). I continued working as a flight attendant part-time, besides my full-time studies. For three years, my life looked a lot like this: lecture hall –> library –> LHR –> FRA (my Lufthansa home base) –> whichever destination in the world I was scheduled for –> back to FRA/LHR/Uni life. 

I graduated in 2020, the pandemic hit, and my life changed once again: from aviation and science to finance. Another long story short, I started at a UK investment bank where I rotated across private and public divisions before joining my team on the trading floor. This is where Neuroscience Musings slowly started…

“Why don’t you write something to get your name out?” was my manager’s suggestion when I was stuck working from home (mid-pandemic) instead of meeting everyone on the trading floor in person, as graduates usually do. The idea was to become more visible while delivering valuable content from my studies that could be applied to the corporate world. What does (behavioural) science have to say in relation to business, sales, and leadership? 

My articles turned into a monthly publication, “Musings of a Behavioural Neuroscientist,” which was soon distributed to numerous teams across the bank, published in internal networks, and provided me with the opportunity to turn some of the articles into talks. At the end of the day, we are humans dealing with other humans, and understanding our nature is helpful in any kind of relationship—whether that is with clients, colleagues, employees, managers, or ourselves.

Fast forward to today, Neuroscience Musings has grown into a brand that makes science accessible and starts conversations around healthier ways of living—ways that align with our human nature. It is a place that allows me to integrate all my previous life experiences while connecting with you and the big ideas of life. 

Ultimately, Neuroscience Musings is about discovering who we are as humans and about redefining the metrics of a successful life. 

Now, happy reading! Enjoy the articles and let me know what you think.