filia Team

Meet the current members of our team at our office in Hamburg.

Since June 2021, I have represented filia’s strategic goals both internally and externally and, together with the team and the volunteer committees, have taken care of filia’s further development and strategic orientation. As a long-time consultant for anti-bias and discrimination-critical diversity, I also focus on the power-critical perspective, which is becoming increasingly important in the national and international foundation context. Maintaining and developing collaborations and networks is just as much a part of my job as ensuring efficient structures, shaping team development, and evaluating our funding policy. Finally, I am responsible for the budget, manage the finances and deal with fundraising and our assets. Before joining filia, I worked for many years as a manager in project management and fund acquisition. What excites me about filia is its clear feminist and intersectional orientation.

l.wazinski@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 990

Since August 2023 I have been working in finances and administration at filia and I am happy to support socially and politically relevant ideas and projects in my daily work. I am primarily concerned with the possibility of creating participation and opening up spaces where resistance and innovative thinking are possible. I think it is important to explore the question of how we want to live in our society and how we can change it together. And how we make those voices heard that are marginalized in a white, hetero, and cis-male dominated society. Promoting self-organization and empowerment, and redistributing financial resources so that they reach structures that otherwise get few opportunities for funding, is something I feel is a very important practice to initiate change at the core of society. I am happy to be part of the filia team and to promote structural change in a foundation with a feminist and intersectional orientation.

c.besier@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 990

I have been part of filia’s Communications and Fundraising team since November 2020. I have been working in the foundation sector for over ten years on the topics of participation and empowerment and I am happy to be able to do this at filia with a feminist focus. I would like to make the courageous, creative and important engagement of women and girls even more visible and mobilize further resources for it. My wish for all supporters, partners and of course for myself is this: Check your privilege!

c.claus@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 992

Before joining filia, I worked for five years at TERRE DES FEMMES as a communications and fundraising officer. At filia, I particularly appreciate the different focus areas we have, but most of all the general empowerment of all women and girls. I am happy to be able to contribute with my work to the fact that many great projects by and for women and girls are supported by filia. As a fundraiser, it is particularly important to me to set up our internal structures in such a way that we can respond appropriately to good fundraising opportunities. Furthermore, it is important to me that more people get to know and appreciate filia’s unparalleled work and participate in our community.

r.bartusch@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 993

I joined filia in September 2023 to work on the Central and Eastern Europe programme. Having grown up in Poland, many of the topics and issues addressed through filia’s work resonate with my interests and experiences stemming from my background and political engagement. I am looking forward to helping shape the direction of the Central and Eastern Europe programme, strengthening filia’s network in the region, and working closely with international partners. I hope to support the resistance and resilience of feminist grassroots organisations in Central and Eastern Europe through my work, at a time when this feels more necessary than ever.

h.grzeskiewicz@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 994

Since July 2021 I am part of filia as program coordinator to the GirlsEmpowermentProgram. I am looking forward to developing and implementing new ideas for participatory women and girls work here. I see my work as an opportunity to strengthen girls and women, especially those who are subject to multiple discrimination, in the development of their potential, but at the same time as a task to become aware of my privileges and to reflect on myself. As a person with their own experiences of racism and many years of experience in pedagogical work with children and youth, I feel sensitized to this area and am motivated to make my contribution at filia.

n.ulusoy@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 9981

I have been part of the filia team as a program officer since January 2025 and, among other things, I support cooperation with international partners. In my work, I am guided by the principles of empowerment and trust, which also play a central role in filia’s participatory funding approach. It is particularly important to me to understand participation as a transformative and political practice that not only enables co-determination, but also challenges power structures and drives social change. I look forward to working directly with partners and building networks, and I want my work to contribute to ensuring that the needs of women, girls and LBTIQ are at the center of social change processes.

a.winchester@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 996
+49 (0)157 86 202 302

Since January 2025 I have been working as a consultant for the Girls’ Empowerment Program and Empowerment Program for Refugee the Women*. Through my studies in cultural studies and my work in project management in the non-profit sector, I bring experience that I would like to contribute here in order to support the advisory boards in their decision-making and the funding partners in the implementation of their projects in the best possible way.
The aspects of power-sharing and participation are particularly important to me in my work – because empowerment can only succeed through joint design and genuine participation. An intersectional approach is essential for me in order to include diverse perspectives and experiences and to reduce structural inequalities in the long term. In addition to coordinating and implementing the two funding programs, I am also looking forward to working on the further development of the programs and in the areas of communication and fundraising. Through my work at filia, I want to play my part in creating a future with equal opportunities.

s.elbasiouni@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 997

I have been the project coordinator for On The Right Track (OTRT) Europe since October 2024. OTRT is a cross-regional initiative of women’s funds that strengthens and promotes alliances between feminist, LGBTIQNB+ and human rights movements in Latin America and Europe. Being rooted in both regions myself and committed to decolonial feminism, I see the goals of this project – to create connections and interweave feminist practices, methodologies and alternative worldviews between Abya Yala* and Europe – as deeply intertwined with my own biography. As right-wing and repressive movements organize and work closely together internationally, it is crucial that we respond with clarity, prevent the regression of hard-won rights and continue to fight for more just and inclusive societies. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this collective effort and learn together.

*Abya Yala is the pre-colonial name for the Americas.

a.werkstetter@filia-frauenstiftung.de