NYC
NAVIGATOR

The daughter of a Foreign Service officer, Michelle’s experience living abroad began when she was just four years old with the family’s first assignment in Paris, France. Her passion for foreign cultures and languages only grew stronger with each new assignment and this led her to focus her studies and her career on working with the international community. Michelle returned to France 20 years later where she obtained her Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Paris and gained valuable work experience with the International Chamber of Commerce, UNESCO and the European Union. Michelle speaks and writes French fluently.

When Michelle moved back to the U.S. in 1998, she began her career in the relocation industry with Berlitz International in New York City where she managed key global accounts and was responsible to expanding and nurturing the company’s third party relationships. In this role, she worked closely with human resources executives to provide customized services for their expatriate populations and helped to ensure the smoothest possible transitions for their people.

A Manhattanite for 8 years, Michelle now lives in Fairfield, CT with her husband Tom, and daughter Aubrey.

Originally from Dietkirchen, Germany, Kathrin took her sense of adventure and passion for different cultures to the skies, travelling the world as a flight attendant for Lufthansa Airlines. She went on to graduate from the University of Applied Sciences in Munich with a Masters degree in Hospitality Management. Kathrin has also had the amazing opportunity to live and work in both Venezuela and Ecuador. In 2002, she relocated to New York City and decided to pursue a career in NYC real estate.

After 8 years of guiding and advising her clients on all the ins and outs of the housing market, Kathrin joined the team at NYC Navigator. We are excited to benefit from her tremendous area knowledge and expertise. Further, she particularly understands the challenges and needs of our clients as a result of her own first-hand experience of moving to the Tri-State area from abroad. Currently residing in Jersey City with her husband and two sons…and not to be forgotten, her newest family member, Ruby, a Goldendoodle. When not navigating, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends at her second home in Columbia County, NY.

A native of Perth, Western Australia, Louise has traveled throughout Australasia, Africa, Europe, Great Britain, Southeast Asia and the United States. Louise has spent much of her career in the architectural design and specification sales segment of the hospitality markets in Sydney, London and New York. As a relocation specialist for NYC Navigator, Louise brings an international perspective for our clients as she has lived and traveled on multiple continents. Furthermore, as a graduate of interior design in addition to her background in architecture and construction, she offers clients a keen understanding of real estate and ideal environments.

In 2007, Louise decided to settle in the United States and she currently resides in Greenwich, Connecticut with her husband and two sons. She enjoys hiking, skiing, boating, and any activity that includes travel and fun.

As a consultant for NYC Navigator since early 2011, Janine provides specialty services for the company and its clients out of her New Jersey office. She especially enjoys helping incoming transferees to identify their new neighborhoods and homes and settle in to them.

Concurrently, Janine is president of Accommogistics, a corporate accommodations services firm where the ideal client is a senior financial stakeholder of a firm with a mobile workforce. Once client firm’s mobility infrastructure and demand requirements are reviewed, a housing resourcing plan is presented. Upon approval and seamless integration to existing process flows, client’s firm’s ROI is significant calculable cost savings, increased firm control, increased flexibility among other benefits.

Janine formerly served as Vice President/Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, where for over 15 years was responsible for the development, continued integration and expansion of its Corporate Accommodations program. A firm-centric program delivered, in addition to 95%+ internal client satisfaction, 34-42% savings annually.

She served as global functional lead where leadership’s strategy and requirements were ensured, and critical data captured and analyzed to drive increasing efficiencies firmwide.

Brenda Levis, our president, worked with Janine in Global Mobility previously. They continue to leverage each other’s deep knowledge and experience within the relocation, hospitality and real estate industries for the benefit of their clients. Janine is delighted to be part of Brenda’s team in her consulting capacity.

Having moved to Manhattan when she was seven, Meaddows is our most seasoned New Yorker. During her youth her family moved throughout many neighborhoods within the city, including the Upper West Side, the Upper East Side, Spanish Harlem, Midtown, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, and even the Diamond District! Meaddows spent most of her leisure time in the West Village, Soho and Tribeca, and as a result has a real sense of the many varying moods and characteristics of the City.

To foster her love of cooking, Meaddows began her career in the restaurant and hospitality field, and worked in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and on the Connecticut shoreline. Desiring more business experience, she ventured into a sales support and office management position for a major jewelry manufacturer in NYC. This led to eight years in the jewelry business, with responsibilities such as running around to factories with trays of diamonds, merchant negotiations, and managing national sales orders for major department stores.

When Meaddows' son was born, she opted for work-life balance and in 1998 left the jewelry industry to offer bookkeeping, financial management, and organizational services to businesses. In 2008, Meaddows started working with NYC Navigator and has since become a vital team member. She enjoys her diverse and fast- paced responsibilities. Meaddows currently resides in Westchester County, NY and enjoys spending time with her son, sailing, and fishing.

Petra grew up in Germany and relocated with her Dutch husband to the United States in 1994. Prior to that she was working in the clearing, settlement and custody department of a private bank in Cologne and moved to Frankfurt to work for Deutsche Boerse AG in the customer relationship management.

Petra lives in Manhattan and is raising two teenage boys in the private school system. Trying to balance motherhood and professional life, Petra volunteers at her son's schools and started to teach German at the German-American School and at Berlitz Language Inc. Petra has an active lifestyle in Manhattan and Long Island with all her international friends. She enjoys traveling, yoga and working out at the gym. Petra is fluent in German and English and intermediate in Dutch.

In 2007, Louise decided to settle in the United States and she currently resides in Greenwich, Connecticut with her husband and two sons. She enjoys hiking, skiing, boating, and any activity that includes travel and fun.

Marcia grew up in the borough of Queens in New York City. When she graduated college she started her career as an elementary school teacher. She completed her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education at Hunter College and went on to teach in the New York City public school system.

After she married and had her two children, Marcia worked as a teacher in the parenting center at Central Synagogue. She also became a parent educator and taught and developed seminars and workshops for parents of infants and toddlers at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in NYC, as well as other venues in the city. Marcia then became certified by the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in the study of infant, children and family development.

Since 2004, Marcia has worked in admissions as an educational consultant. She assists NYC Navigator's assignees with finding the perfect schools for their families. Marcia has lived in the city for over 40 years and has brought up her two children in Manhattan. She truly loves the Big Apple, and is a die hard New Yorker!

Louise grew up in England & found a love of travel while studying for her BA. She has ventured all over Europe & America, and even took a year off to travel around the world. She worked in both New Zealand & Australia before gradually moving through South East Asia & China & heading back home on the trans Siberian railroad via Moscow.

Following her Masters Degree studies in Literature & Linguistics at London University, she joined the highly regarded retail management training programme at John Lewis Partnership in London. She later moved to Japan, taught business While working as a manager here she decided that she wanted to go overseas again so studied to become an ESL teacher.

She later moved to Japan and taught business English to adults, recording several English Language radio shows with NHK for high school ESL students & a variety of specialist curriculum writing. Her management skills were then put to the test when she managed the recruitment & programme development side of Linguarama Language School.

After attaining a post-graduate certificate in Japanese Language Louise became the International Coordinator & in-house translator for Hitachi Cable Ltd in Tokyo. She transferred to New York with the company in 1999. With motherhood came a change in focus & after spending time negotiating the minefield of the New York school system, she became the Chairperson for the Parents’ Associations in her daughters’ schools.

As you can see Louise doesn't sit still for long! She, her husband and three children have recently relocated to Hong Kong, but we couldn't let her go, so she continues her work for NYC Navigator remotely. Having personally relocated many times she is fully aware of the stresses & strains it can entail and is an absolute pro at organizing relocations!

The proudest "Quarter-Rican" you’ve ever met, Kate, our intern extraordinaire, has always been inspired by her multi-faceted ethnic background (Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Greek and Swedish). She is a 21-year-old rising senior at the College of William & Mary, majoring in Hispanic Studies and receiving her Masters in Foreign Language Education and ESL. Kate’s strong passion for languages and great curiosity about other cultures has led her to travel, study, and live abroad in various countries, including Brazil, Spain and Portugal. In fact, she has just returned from her second of two full semesters abroad, the first in Florianópolis, Brazil, and the second in Sevilla, Spain. She speaks Spanish fluently and has an advanced level of conversational Portuguese.

Kate’s experiences abroad have given her the opportunity to experience life and new cultures from a local’s perspective. She really understands what it’s like to make the transition to living in a new country! In addition, she has been a proud New Yorker all her life, currently residing in Westchester County. She enjoys helping newcomers explore the city and the Tri-State area.