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From Loneliness to Oneliness

Speaking · Workshops · Moderation

What does AI do to our capacity for genuine intimacy and what does our growing attachment to it reveal about us? What do we lose when we outsource our emotional lives to algorithms and artificial companions? Where is the link between political loneliness, extremism, and the rise of anti-democratic movements? What does loneliness have to do with ecological collapse, the longing for ritual, and the search for something sacred? Where does male loneliness originate and how do we move beyond hegemonic, patriarchal masculinity in our systems, workplaces, and lives? How do we talk about the taboo of loneliness at work and what would organizations built on relationality look like? How do we design gatherings that don't just fill time but turn people toward each other? What would it mean to practice community as a verb rather than a noun?

Keynotes & Conversations

Loneliness is not a personal failure. It is a structural condition, organized by centuries of individualism, capitalism, and the myth of separation. This talk traces the roots of modern loneliness through history, economics, social science, psychology, urban design, technology, and ecology — and asks what it would mean to organize our lives and institutions from our fundamental relational nature instead. The argument for Oneliness: not a cure, not a programme, but a different premise for how we build everything.
Millions now feel more heard by a machine than by another human. This is not a technology failure, it is a mirror. It shows us exactly what we have stopped offering each other. This talk explores what artificial intimacy reveals about unmet human needs, what we risk losing when we outsource our emotional lives to algorithms, and what genuine connection requires in an age of AI. Not anti-technology — a serious reckoning with what technology is telling us about ourselves.
Loneliness is the most widespread and least acknowledged experience in organizational life. Hidden in workaholism, disengagement, and the performance of leadership, it costs organizations enormously in creativity, in culture, in the capacity to genuinely collaborate. This talk names the taboo, traces its structural roots, and asks what it would mean to build workplaces around care and interdependence rather than productivity and self-sufficiency.

I speak on loneliness as a structural, ecological, and spiritual condition — and on Oneliness as a different premise for how we organize our lives, relationships, and institutions. Every keynote is developed to your specific context and audience.

Here are a few examples:

Workshops &
Masterclasses

Facilitated sessions designed to your context, your people, and the question that actually matters to your world. Each workshop moves between the intellectual and the embodied — inquiry, conversation, movement, and play. Most run 90 minutes to half a day.

Here are a few examples:

How to Make True Friends — for men, mixed groups, and organizations rethinking workplace relationships
How to Be Alone — on befriending aloneness and the fear of loneliness
How to Community as a Verb — on the difference between belonging that is consumed and community that is practiced
How to Stay Human in an Age of AI — a facilitated exploration of what genuine connection requires in an age of artificial intimacy

Moderation & Hosting

Book me as a host or moderator for your event, gathering, or panel. I bring curiosity, warmth, and intellectual rigor, and a way of holding a room that keeps people genuinely present in it.

A note on working with communities for men and persons socialized as male

I have facilitated multiple men-only gatherings and understand myself in solidarity with men who do the work. If you are building a programme, retreat, or conversation for men or about masculinity, I welcome that conversation.

Group of people, mostly women and one man, gathered closely, looking down at a sequence of papers or cards laid out on the floor, in a room with bookshelves and tables.

A group of people attending a meeting or discussion in a room, with some seated and others standing or leaning against the wall.

A woman is smiling and speaking into a microphone at a social gathering or event, with other people visible in the foreground and modern lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling.

People sitting on blankets in a forest, writing in notebooks and engaged in an outdoor activity.

People sitting outdoors around a pond with rocks and lush greenery, some reading or looking at papers, in a park or garden setting.

“A powerful and thought-provoking session. A meaningful reminder of the deeper responsibility we carry in creating spaces where people feel seen, connected, and less alone.”

— Sunardi S., General Manager, Pullman Hotels Kuching, Indonesia

“Monika’s talk was one of the most captivating and thought-provoking sessions of the day. Her ability to blend personal storytelling with broader societal observations created a rich, multidimensional experience.”

— Julien Gryp, Program Director, TheMerode Brussels

“Thank you for your generous talk on loneliness, and for creating space for conversations that are both uncomfortable and necessary.”

— Capucine Gros, Artistic Director, Unfinished Festival

Woman with short dark hair wearing hoop earrings and a sleeveless white top holding a microphone on stage.

Selected Talks & Conversations

L'Oréal Professional · Pullman Hotels & Resorts · Phoenix Group · P150 · Nebenan Stiftung · TEDxPotsdam · The Conference Malmö 2024 · World Beautiful Business Forum 2026 · Unfinished Festival 2024 · Future Days 2025 · The Merode Brussels · Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2026 · Accor Asia Leadership Conference 2026

Featured in Fast Company, Inspirators, Better Help Podcast, The Irish Times, Beauty at Work Podcast.