Shonda Rae Kohlhoff is the managing director of Berlintercultural, an intercultural consulting and training resource. Berlintercultural was established in the beginning of 2002 with the motto, "Building Bridges in Place of Walls". The company's name links historical aspects of the city of Berlin where Berlintercultural was founded, with the goal of creating greater understanding and more effective communication between people of all backgrounds. Ms. Kohlhoff designs and delivers predeparture and in-country living and working training and coaching workshops for relocating managers of multinational corporations. Ms. Kohlhoff also works as a trainer with Berlitz Cross-Cultural and has consulted firms such as Johnson & Johnson, Volkswagen Bank and Steinbeiss. She delivers intercultural communication management workshops for organizations such as Bausch & Lomb-Italy, Dr. Mann Pharma, EF Education, GlobeGround, GLS Education, Deutsche Telekom, and the Chamber of Commerce Berlin (IHK). Additionally, she lectures at various academic institutions such as Bremen University, the Verwaltungs- und Wirtschafts Akademie (Business Administration Academy), and the Berufsakademie Berlin (Professional Academy) on such topics as "Non-Verbal Communication," "Cultural Competence in Business," and "Intercultural Marketing." She recently translated two intercultural communication management books, published by Beltz, and an intercultural management training handbook written by German colleagues. She has a double Bachelor's degree in Communication and Modern French Studies as well as a Master's degree in International Communication, with a specialization in Intercultural Communication Consulting from American University's School of International Service in Washington, DC.

Ms. Kohlhoff has extensive international and intercultural work experience. As a graduate student she worked as a Program Associate with the Institute of International Education (IIE), where she prepared and arranged numerous professional exchange programs in the United States with the International Visitors Program for U.S. Embassy-selected participants from over 50 countries. At the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, Belgium she worked in the Foreign and Commercial Service, where she researched and wrote industry sector reports and coordinated a series of roundtables, creating a dialogue between Belgian and other European managing directors of U.S. firms in various industries and the American Ambassador. In Berlin, she worked as an international PR and marketing specialist for Oppenhoff & Rädler, Linklaters & Alliance, a large German/British law firm. She has lived extensively in France, Belgium, Germany, various regions of the U.S. and most recently South Korea, where she has learned firsthand about the cultural norms, language, and values, as well as the process of effective cultural adaptation.