About us

Accommodating career and family

When founder and managing director Julia Pedersen went back to work after having her daughter in 2016, she wondered how she would combine career and family, in other words a successful professional life with parenthood. The answer is Sandburg’s concept of transforming work-life-balance into work-life-combination.

Julia Pedersen, managing director of Sandburg and Maya’s mother since 2016:

“When I fell pregnant, I was working for the United Nations and I had just the three months’ parental leave customary in the U.S. Despite having my dream job, returning to work when Maya was still so tiny was difficult. Her dad regularly brought her in at lunchtime, and sometimes I took her to the office with me. My partner and I did everything we could do spend as much time
as possible with our newborn, but the system just isn’t built that way. When my partner was offered a position in Germany, I quit my job at the U.N. and moved with him, which gave me some much-needed time to spend with Maya. It was during this time that the seed for the Sandburg idea was planted by a friend of mine who wondered out loud why work and children are always necessarily seen as separate.

My goal in both my personal and professional life is to always work towards gender equality in our society. Sandburg is a small step in that direction, as it allows both working mothers and fathers to continue advancing their professional goals while still seeing their children develop. Every parent who works at a Sandburg Hub can decide how much time they spend with their children while working, there are no guidelines or requirements. The Sandburg concept gives both moms and dads the option to work and be actively involved inthe lives of their children.“

Innovative childcare at work: an idea takes shape

Julia hired her brother, the architect Timo Rötzel, who helped her with his expertise to design the rooms, which optimally meet the needs of working parents and their children. Today, Sandburg is a small team of highly qualified and highly motivated professionals with a wide range of expertise. We are based in Germany, Austria, England, and Denmark, and we work towards translating the Sandburg concept into reality for working parents. All Sandburg’s contributors share Julia’s passion and work pro-bono.