Isabelle Sonnenfeld
Director EU AI Champions Initiative at General Catalyst / with tech at heart and politics in mind
Germany
Overview
Work Experience
Director EU AI Champions Initiative
2025 - Current
General Catalyst partners with ambitious founders to drive resilience and applied AI from seed to growth.
Head of News Lab, EMEA
2022 - 2024
Lead and spokesperson for Google News Lab in Europe, Middle East and Africa, an international and diverse team responsible for high-profile ecosystem partnerships to launch new global programs on AI x journalism, fighting misinformation online, protection election integrity and fostering a sustainable news ecosystem through collaboration with publishers and fact-checkers. People manager, x-functional project lead across EMEA and Google spokesperson on misinformation, election integrity, media literacy, and AI in journalism.
News Lab Lead, DACH
2015 - 2022
Lead and spokesperson for Google News Lab (DACH), a global team responsible for high-profile ecosystem partnerships to fight misinformation online, protect election integrity, enhance media literacy and empower innovation in the news industry. We initiated programs and partnerships with news organisations, fact checkers, civil society organisations and academics around the world. Since 2015, we've trained more than 2 million people via our in-person, facilitator led workshops and our online training hub. Lead for Google's DE election campaigns in 2017 and 2021, and the EU Election 2019 including product launches on Search and YouTube, and managing a x-functional team across 10 functions.
Google is a multinational corporation that specializes in Internet-related services and organizes the world’s information.
Raised $26,100,000.00 from Angel Investors LP, Kleiner Perkins, Signatures Capital, Sequoia Capital, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Shaquille O'Neal, Henry Kissinger, Google and Tiger Woods.
Founder
2015 - 2023
RoleModels is an interview podcast that captures and shares the stories from women who inspire us. With RoleModels we we make the stories of women who are questioning the status quo accessible. https://www.rolemodels.co/
Head of News, Government & Politics
2011 - 2015
As the first employee in Germany, I helped open the second EMEA office after the UK, build a partnerships team, defined the company’s strategy on market growth and partnerships to bring Twitter from a niche social media platform into the German mainstream with stronger brand awareness and user growth. As Head of News, Politics and Government for DACH, I pioneered Twitter's partnership work in Europe: - laid the foundation of product adoption and usage among journalists, politicians and the civil society. - managed over 300 top relationships with government organisations, politicians, political parties, NGOs and news publishers - drove product innovation for trust & safety, information integrity, protection against disinformation - partnered x-functionally with BD, PR, Product, Marketing teams to lead Twitter’s election campaigns for Germany and on the European level with high-level political institutions and partners. - shaped and advised on Twitter’s policy strategy with European institutions. - acted as Twitter spokesperson for TV, radio & news media, and frequent keynote speaker on election integrity and new forms of political communication.
X is a social networking platform that allows its users to send and read microblogs.
Raised $12,869,191,511.00 from Greenlight Capital, Binance, Litani Ventures, Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar Holding, The Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust, Fidelity, Alwaleed Bin Talal, Sequoia Capital and Vy Capital.
Founder/Editor-in-Chief
2008 - 2011
• Led a team of 15 voluntary editors as the Editor-in-Chief at Hammelsprung Magazin, overseeing content creation and fundraising efforts. • Managed the publication of four editions of the magazine since its founding in 2008, focusing on political decision-making and digital society topics. • Collaborated with a network of scientists, opinion leaders, and politicians to shape the magazine's content and ensure high-quality insights.
Co-Founder
2010 - 2011
Research Associate
2009 - 2010
Focused on the political system of Germany incl. party system, role of the media in politics, and geopolitical issues. Lectured on social media use in political communication (e.g. Obama’s social media election-campaign). Organised monthly working group meetings with scientists and political experts.
Program Manager
2009 - 2010
• Supported further development of the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification System (ISCC) by organizing international trainings for auditors and certification bodies with over 500 participants in various global locations. • Managed the set-up and maintenance of the CRM system, aiding in effective communication with stakeholders and certification bodies. • Conducted research on sustainable energy use in Brazil and Argentina to facilitate the expansion of the ISCC System into South American markets.
Junior PR Account Manager (PR and Corporate Social Responsibility)
2008 - 2009
Intern (PR and Corporate Communications)
2008 - 2008
Public Relations Intern
2008 - 2008