Picture the future. Chances are you imagined something to fear rather than something to hope for. We've become very good at anticipating crises and worst-case scenarios, but much less practiced at imagining the world we actually want to build.

This creative writing workshop, guided by journalist and facilitator Masuma, is an invitation to change that. Together, we'll create space to imagine hopeful, tangible futures as a way of reconnecting with our sense of purpose, possibility, and agency. Because before we can build new products, communities, or ways of living, we first need to be able to articulate the future we're working towards.

Through guided reflection, creative writing, and conversation, we'll explore what everyday life could look like in a future where people and places flourish. Come ready to dream out loud, think expansively, and discover that the futures you hope for may be shared by others in the room. 

*Time in Central European Time (CET)

About Masuma

Masuma Ahuja is a journalist and facilitator who has spent 15 years building and leading productions, projects, and companies that bring people together to look at the world differently.

She has worked at Freeda, CNN, and The Washington Post — building products that reached up to 550 million people a year, won awards including a Webby, Pulitzer Prize, and Murrow Award. She’s led innovation teams that have developed new storytelling and community products and formats, finding compelling new ways to make people feel safe enough to share their stories and to listen to each other.

Her company, Girlhood, was funded by Google as one of the most promising digital media startups in Europe in 2021. It facilitated workshops for young women around the world during the pandemic, giving them tools and space to develop their voices and build community.

She has hosted Little Revolutions, a podcast featured by Apple, Spotify, and Amazon, which shared conversations with leaders about how ordinary people can be stewards of change. She is an associate of The Imperial War Museum, advising on public engagement and futures facilitation, and she has created an exhibit running at IWM North showing the impact of war through young people’s eyes. She regularly teaches and facilitates innovation and leadership workshops and hosts conversations at Literature Festivals.

She is the author of The Infrastructure of Belonging (published 10/2026) and Girlhood, a book featuring the lives of 30 young women from 27 different countries.

About the Format

This is a creative writing workshop that combines reflection, imagination, and facilitated discussion. The aim is to help you reconnect with a sense of possibility by imagining a future you would genuinely want to live in. The session begins with a short meditation, poem, or video to create a reflective atmosphere before you are invited to write a letter from the year 2050, describing how one aspect of everyday life has changed for the better and imagining the turning point that made this future possible. The exercise is an invitation to think creatively and explore what a hopeful future could look like in tangible, personal ways. You'll then have the opportunity to share your reflections in a facilitated group conversation, where participants can explore common themes, hold space for both grief and hope, and learn from one another's visions. The workshop concludes with a short guided reflection to help you transition back into the present, and, if you choose, your letter may be included in a collection of participants' visions for the future.

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This NOE Circle is a little different: an in-person community gathering in Berlin for change makers who want to connect face to face.

Join us for an afternoon of storytelling, honest conversation, and genuine connection with fellow NOE members and friends. Our board will be there too, to listen, share, and build community alongside you.

Whether you're already part of the NOE community or curious to find out what we're about, this is a low-key, open-hearted space to meet people who get it. Come as you are.

*Time in Central European Time (CET)
We’ll be meeting at KUKUMU in Berlin-Moabit

About NOE Circles

Each Circle is built on the belief that shared experience is one of the most powerful forces for change. When change makers hear each other's stories - the struggles alongside the breakthroughs - something opens up. Solidarity forms. New perspectives emerge. The weight becomes more bearable, and the path forward becomes clearer.

NOE Circles are spaces to pause, reconnect with your purpose, and find the strength to keep going - together.

3 out of 4 Gen-Zs and Millennials have PTSD-like symptoms caused by financially induced stress. Mental health and trauma have gotten more into the mainstream, and yet we don’t apply the same lens to money - and it remains a staunch taboo in the West. Through Miho's research and her own personal story, she invites an inquiry around unearthing where our unconscious money beliefs may come from, what they reveal about the systemic reality and collective stories which we've grown up in, and how falling into binaries of such as romanticizing or rejecting money can prevent us from socio-political change. 

*Time in Central European Time (CET)

About Miho

Miho Soon is a researcher, facilitator, community organizer and coach-in-training from Malaysia. Her work focuses on money trauma and economic psychology. She has brought together hundreds of students, activists and organisations to talk about the human emotional relationship to money and work - and how that connects to a systemic context around capitalism and economic participation. She is the host of the recently launched documentary podcast Money Trauma, and an affiliate fellow of The Post Growth Institute. 

About NOE Circles

Each Circle is built on the belief that shared experience is one of the most powerful forces for change. When change makers hear each other's stories - the struggles alongside the breakthroughs - something opens up. Solidarity forms. New perspectives emerge. The weight becomes more bearable, and the path forward becomes clearer.

NOE Circles are spaces to pause, reconnect with your purpose, and find the strength to keep going - together.

This NOE Circle explores how one person's curiosity about the environment became a career, a community, and a movement spanning two continents. "Never Too Small to Make Big Changes" is about the power of accessible storytelling in driving real environmental action: how translating complex science into relatable conversations can shift mindsets, build communities, and influence policy. We'll explore what happens when you stop waiting for the perfect platform and start where you are. A question to sit with: What stops us from talking about the issues we care about most, and what would happen if we started anyway?

*Time in Central European Time (CET)

About Madina

Madina R. is a sustainability and communications professional from Kazakhstan, working on international initiatives at the intersection of food systems, science communication, and women's empowerment. Originally from Kazakhstan, she currently works as a Food Systems Officer in Australian local government and is completing a Master of Environment at the University of Melbourne. A sought-after speaker and science communicator, she has been recognised at COP29 as one of the pioneers shaping the sustainable future for Kazakhstan; and a Women Empowerment leader by the Asian Development Bank. She also creates viral sustainable living content on social media hitting millions of views, and has co-founded Women in Science, championing girls and women in STEM across Central Asia.

About NOE Circles

Each Circle is built on the belief that shared experience is one of the most powerful forces for change. When change makers hear each other's stories - the struggles alongside the breakthroughs - something opens up. Solidarity forms. New perspectives emerge. The weight becomes more bearable, and the path forward becomes clearer.

NOE Circles are spaces to pause, reconnect with your purpose, and find the strength to keep going - together.