Alexander Kluge — curriculum vitae (CV)
Address: Borkheider Str. 27, 12689 Berlin, Germany
Email:-Berlin, Germany,-
Profile
My name is Alexander Kluge. I’m an email, landing page, and ad copywriter,
frontend developer, UX/UI designer, voiceover artist, and an actor with a
background in sales, customer service, interdisciplinary design, applied arts, and
transmedia storytelling as well as an M.Sc. graduate of International Media &
Computing. I’m intrigued by holistic and meaningful projects that are beneficial for
our society and that increase human welfare. Being fueled by teamwork and its
various dynamics, I cheer up teams to do their best work, lead them, and
encourage individuals to reach peak performance while acting on their best
behavior.
Personal details
Date of birth
Place of birth
Nationality
Marital status
Oct 23, 1983
Berlin, Germany
German
Single
1
Work Experience
Timeframe
Company/Context
Position
06/2020 - today
Susé Patrola, Story Production
Founder & Storyteller, remote
Company
My production company for creative pieces in theater, voiceover, podcasts,
ads/copywriting, and film. I’m using my extensive knowledge in the arts and
business world as well as my network of professionals and creatives to make
counterculture. Instead of hoping for an audition or casting to call out our names,
we’re creating our own high-quality pieces because story-production tools have
been democratized, and we make use of that.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Position
06/2020 - today
Alexander Kluge, Actor/Artist
Founder, remote
at alexanderkluge.net
Voiceover art, in-person acting (stage, on-camera, street), and voiceover-demoreel-copywriting. I’m producing professional voiceover in my studio (Frank Zappa
Studios 611) which I’m making available to fellow creatives as well. People can hire
my pretty and versatile face for on-camera productions. And they can hire my voice
and body for on-stage theater productions and voiceover deliveries. I’ve been
honing my voiceover skills and teaching VO too. I also practiced my on-camera
performances. So, now it’s time to use these learnings, unite them, and create an
offer on a central place (alexanderkluge.net).
Timeframe
Company/Context
Position
05/2020 - today
Is There A Ghost? - Ghost
Founder, remote
artist (ghost- / copywriting,
ghostvoicing / voiceover)
An artistic space where words and voice meet. When doing commission work, you
get toasted copy that is so warm and gentle to the throat that they easily want the
whole pile. Compared to „Susé Patrola“, Is There A Ghost? is dedicated to
commission work only. Experiments happen on the job.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Position
05/2020 - today
freeVoiceCamp.org, Open, for-
Founder & Teacher, remote
free voice and voiceover
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education and a learning
community
As a result of my voiceover education (that started in summer 2017) and my
exposure to the industry, I wanted to give back. Similar to freeWriteCamp.org, I
intend to build a community where we are building new vocal skills and getting
vocal-performance jobs together. Business-wise, it’s going to be a donation-based
nonprofit because education should be free of charge.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
10/2019 - today (currently on
CopywritingExamples.com
Founder
hold)
At Copywriting Examples, I’m teaching the voiceover community and indie makers
to write better sales copy through case studies of real websites (as a free and
pro/paid version) and daily emails. Copywriting Examples is a sister project of
Studiolist. Both are rooted in the realm of voiceover (with an extended arm to the
indie maker community).
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
09/2019 - 10/2019
MySecondEar.de
Contractor/Partnership (Sales
texts, email copywriting, SEO
strategy and content), remote
MySecondEar is an ultra-young startup from Berlin, officially founded in late 2019
(when we started working together). I believe in their mission of making hearing aid
devices as attractive as Apple AirPods and helping people with hearing disabilities
to overcome their anxiety and their fear of social rejection. The founders are
wearing hearing aids themselves and they have friends and family members with
hearing impairments. The collaboration didn’t last long because of my high
communication, reliability, and accountability standards. Working with young
startups can also mean that young people are behind who are often overwhelmed
by the workload and therefore become unreliable business partners to works with.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
08/2019 - today
Last Thespians: Theater group
Storyteller, Facilitator, Project
& YouTube voiceover audio
manager (digital) and
play
individual success manager
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Believe it or not, facilitating a group of 20 theater people requires a good amount of
customer-centricity. Although it’s a volunteering position, I’m treating every
participant as a customer. Therefore I’m all ears regarding their concerns,
questions, and uncertainties. I’ve been part of the group from the beginning on and
pushed the project forward when times were tough and heavy discussions were
held (this now happened three times) and the project is still running. Because of
Covid-19, our on-stage theater play turned into a radio drama that deals with a
coronavirus (and we came up with the script before the actual virus hit the news). I
know it’s a little ironic.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
08/2016 - 09/2019
Kritische-Anleger.de
Contractor (content creation,
editorial work, customer
service, project management,
quality assurance, technical
debugging), remote
Kritische-Anleger.de is one of the most popular German finance websites for
private investors. As part of the editorial and customer service team, I provided
excellent email customer service always aiming for kindness, competence, and a
quick turnaround.
For this client, I was writing a monthly column that reached more than 2,200 email
subscribers. I finished the collaboration to shift my focus to new clients who need
help with their email marketing and copywriting.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
12/2017 - today
Studiolist.org
Founder
Studiolist.org is a growing database of voiceover recording studios of voice actors,
audiobook narrators, YouTube creators, and podcast makers! Originally, it was a
service for VOs to find VO studios while traveling, so I verified those studios by
meeting with the studio owner/manager in person and had a look at the recording
booth and control room. Up until March 2020, I had hand-verified 100+ studios in
the US, UK, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. But when COVID-19 happened, I shifted
my business model: Now, I’m building a list of voiceover artists who run remote
voiceover studio and who are ready to deliver stunning VO performances.
Timeframe
Company/Context
4
Position
12/2015 - today
freeWriteCamp.org, Open, for-
Founder & Teacher, remote
free writing education and a
learning community
You learn the craft of writing so you can stop guessing what works. I had small
study groups whom I taught story-writing and story-marketing. In 2020, I shifted
the focus to writing emails, landing pages, ads, and creative stories that work for
their readers, get them jobs, and get the job done. Intended as a donation-based
nonprofit because education should free of charge.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Position
10/2015 - 11/2015
Affenzahn, a Germany-based
Contractor (UI/UX design &
team management app
copywriting), remote
I worked with the Affenzahn team on the user interface and user flow of their
Android app.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Position
06/2015 - 12/2015
Titelheld., a Germany-based
Contractor (web/visual design
storytelling company
& copywriting), remote
I worked with their team on their new website and created visual assets.
Eventually, because I was asking many „why” questions, I also revealed some of
the things that were not working in their company. A big one was missing alignment
of the company’s direction and a CEO who was a little crazy and unable to get his
people on board.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
12/2013 - 02/2014
PhilippiNOW
Volunteer, Philippines &
remote
A humanitarian project and disaster-relief program helping typhoon „Yolanda“
survivors of the Philippines in a psycho-social manner. In a team of two (branded
as„PhilippiNOW“) we did a self-initiated crowdfunding and marketing campaign.
We also helped on-site in February 2014 and assisted the GVSP organization. I was
responsible for the visual and web design, video recordings, and photography, as
well as being a helping hand on-site in the areas where „Yolanda“ happened.
Timeframe
Company/Context
5
Role
11/2013 - 05/2016
ON BOARD, Colombia-based
Co-Founder & Head of
startup - We were traveling
Marketing, remote & Colombia
with a group of people to
different places (worldwide)
and learning from locals.
My tasks included the facilitation and moderation of the travel experience as well
as copywriting (email, website, social media), content production, web design &
programming, graphic design, photo, and video production.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
08/2013 - 03/2016
„EduAction“ film
Co-creator & Technical
assistant, remote
An independent documentary film about alternative higher education projects in
the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, USA. We were traveling to the
respective project’s locations and were interviewing students, staff members, and
CEOs. I was responsible for recording the interviews and assisted in technical
questions.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
05/2013 - 01/2015
ununi.tv (now: Flowcampus)
Contractor & Volunteer, Berlin
& remote
I helped out in terms of community engagement and I created graphical assets as
well as a landing page that contributed to the success of the crowd-funding
campaign: We raised 25,000 EUR on Startnext. I also led and published interviews
for the platform, and I talked to creatives, photographers, and specialists in the
education field.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
10/2012 - 04/2013
Single* film & transmedia
Student (self-initiated, self-
project
funded), Berlin
As part of my Master’s thesis, I created a concept for a transmedia storytelling
project called „Single*“. The main pillars were a self-funded film and a conceptual
web app. In the role of the overall project manager, I was responsible for the film’s
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script, casting the actors, photo-shootings, the film’s production and postproduction, marketing, the film’s poster, web design, and a prototype web
application.
In the end, a short film of 27 minutes was created and debuted in the cinema of the
German Film and Television Academy Berlin.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
01/2012 - 01/2016
PhotoCityBerlin
Contractor (content editor &
designer), remote & Berlin
I was responsible for content curation. I found the most appropriate photography
and photography-related events in Berlin. Before that, I designed the website and
its logo. Our niche site regularly reached more than 1,000 visitors per month.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
10/2011 - 07/2012
„Orange Lists“ web app
Design & project management,
Berlin
A project in cooperation with the Berlin-based company „Regis24“. The web app
was created to help the Regis24 production team in the process of digitally
scanning, processing, and saving debtors’ lists. I was responsible for the user
interface design, front-end development, technical documentation, user’s guide,
and project management. The project ran two semesters including a semester
break of three months.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
08/2011 - 12/2012
Stupid and Simple
Contractor & Collaborator,
Berlin & remote
Stupid And Simple is a design and branding agency that I worked with on various
client projects. I took the role of a content writer, project manager, and UX
consultant. It was a collaborative relationship at eye level. I focussed on writing on
content (on Facebook) and copy. I was also assisting the programmer and head
designer to make qualified design decisions and achieve a better user experience.
In-house I was assisting the project manager with suggestions to optimize the
agency’s workflow, work more organized and less chaotic. The result was the
introduction of „Podio“ to the agency. The software radically changed how we
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worked together and helped improve every area of the agency (finances, CRM,
project management).
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
04/2010 - 10/2010
„Ambernstein“ text adventure
Director & writer, Berlin
As part of my Bachelor thesis, I cooperated with a fellow student to create the
game prototype of a text adventure. I managed the project and was responsible for
the visual and functional design as well as for the logo. I wrote the screenplay-like
script and the front-end code.
In 2011, Akademikerverlag (AV) published the theoretical part of my Bachelor
thesis and the documentation of our practical project. The book is about the user
experience of text adventures.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
04/2009 - 07/2009
Greenpeace New Zealand
Intern (web & new media)
Astonishingly, I was the first intern to help in the web & new media area of
Greenpeace NZ in a team of three. Besides day-to-day web management and
audio-video supporting tasks, we were working in cooperation with the campaigns
and communications teams. With them, I coordinated a website project and I was
responsible for the visual design and the programming of a WordPress template.
Two years later (in 2011), the website I had created was copied 1:1 by the Czech
Greenpeace office. „Imitation is the sincerest of flattery“… so I took it as a
compliment not as an offense.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
10/2008 - 02/2009
living EQUIA
Volunteer (concept, design,
Berlin
In a team of three did we assist a student’s project (called „living EQUIA") on their
website. It’s an ecological project to build a solar-powered, plus-energy house. I
was responsible for the website’s concept and design.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
06/2008 - 07/2008
Motion detection app
Student, Berlin
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A small course project programming in Flash 8.0 (ActionScript 2.0) which detects
movement through the laptop’s internal camera. Despite its simplicity, my fellow
students liked the app a lot.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
02/2008 - 11/2011
evideo/eKompetenz (HTW
Student’s assistant, Berlin &
Berlin)
remote
In a core team of four, I was the technical assistant for several blended-learning
and remote-learning courses in social media environments and „Second Life“. I
designed the project’s website, set up different social media tools (MediaWiki, Ning,
blogs, etc.), fixed server breakdowns, recorded live video-streams, live-tweeted,
and created print and pure digital visual designs.
Working with the eVideo team and its various tasks introduced me to working
remotely, efficiently, and result-driven. It shaped my perception of work and life.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
12/2007 - today
Various clients & projects
Contractor (content and media
production & consulting),
remote
Currently, email copywriting, consulting on my client’s email strategy, and creating
results-driven content are my core client services.
Before that I’ve been designing and programming websites from scratch or with
CMS like WordPress, Joomla, Magento, xt:Commerce, Squarespace, and Shopify.
I also created logo designs, illustrations, graphical assets for web projects, wrote
longer texts, education series, live-tweets from events, and I was consulting small
businesses in terms of their web, social media, and content strategy.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
03/2007 - 06/2007
Cornelsen Verlag
Contractor, Berlin
In a team of three students did we assist a game development company for
Cornelsen’s strategy build-up-simulation game „Genius - Im Zentrum der Macht“. I
was responsible for the coordination of the scripting team. I also reported bugs to
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superiors, edited graphical assets in Photoshop and scripted in an in-house, Javalike language.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
10/2006 - 02/2007
„Porzow“ multimedia player
Visual designer & copywriter,
Berlin
In a team of two students did we design a website for a product called „Porzow“, a
fictitious multimedia player as an alternative to the Apple iPod. The semester
project focussed on web accessibility and conformity to HTML 4.01 and CSS 2. I
was responsible for the visual design (graphics) and the written copy.
After our presentation, a few people asked us where they could buy our fictive
product. The digital product design also had similarities to the iPhone although it
was created before the release of the iPhone in January 2007.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
10/2003 - 06/2004
Hospital „Queen Elizabeth“
Alternative military service,
Berlin
In a geriatric psychiatry, I assisted nurses and doctors by caring for elderly people
who have been suffering from symptoms of old age and mental troubles. I worked
in a three-shift-rotation (morning, midday, night). I was washing the patients,
preparing their food, feeding them, cleaning the rooms and doing their beds.
On a personal level, the alternative military service gave me confidence that I can
handle patients with heavy illnesses and yet keep calm. It was a very valuable
experience in hindsight.
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Education
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
07/2017 - today
Gravy For The Brain Ltd.
Self-studies, remote
Through my self-initiated and self-paced studies at Gravy For The Brain (and other
resources) I’ve been learning the craft of voice-acting. Voiceover is another way to
help business owners achieve their goals.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
12/2014 - today
seanwes community and
Self-studies, remote
various online courses,
communities and books
I started running my small client business during my studies but university only
marginally taught me the business essentials I need to know. So I educated myself,
and seanwes (Sean McCabe) was one of my most important informal business
teachers. I learned from him what it means to do proper client work and how
professsionals work (as opposed to technicians). Without his teachings, I would still
struggle.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
07/2014 - 08/2014
Phoenix Institute
Student, Trumau-Vienna,
Austria
As a 1st-year graduate at the Phoenix Institute, I attended the seminar for „The
Study of Western Institutions“ with courses like „A musical exploration how beauty
will save the world“ and „Philosophy of the human person“.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
02/2013 - 03/2013
Master School Drehbuch
Student, Berlin
A screenwriting course with a focus on the development of a screenplay and how to
sell it. Topics were: character development, outer action, inner drive, structure,
turning points, scenes, dialogues, marketing, production companies, broadcasters
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
10/2010 - 05/2013
HTW Berlin, University of
M.Sc. Graduate of Int’l Media
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Applied Sciences
& Computing
I studied international media and computing (Master’s program) with a focus on
web technology and transmedia storytelling. I graduated with 1,9 as a final grade.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
10/2009 - 02/2010
HTW Berlin, University of
Student
Applied Sciences
An optional writing course that was part of my Bachelor studies. The course was
about successful writing, delivering messages and reaching goals.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
10/2006 - 09/2010
HTW Berlin, University of
B.Sc. Graduate of Int’l Media &
Applied Sciences
Computing
I studied international media and computing (Bachelor’s program) with a focus on
visual design, usability, text and user experience. I graduated with 2,0 as a final
grade.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
09/2004 - 09/2006
Media Markt
Apprentice, Berlin
I was trained as a retail merchant—theory, and practice. The focus of my
apprenticeship was: Advising customers for a TV set, VCRs and satellite boxes and
selling them, as well as customer service for complaints and claims.
Timeframe
Company/Context
Role
09/1996 - 07/2003
High school „Oberschule an
General qualification for
der Weide“
university entrance, Berlin
My high school had a particular focus on languages and arts.
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Skills
Professional fields & Know-how
Further interests
Copywriting
Traveling, culture, sustainability
Content strategy
Alternative ways of living
Storytelling
Dancing, ball sports, outdoor activities
Email strategy and campaigns
Film, music, photography
Interface copy design
Podcasts, writing, drawing
User experience design
Voiceover, theater, acting
Media consulting and customer service
Languages: English fluent, basic Spanish and
French
References
Available upon request.
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University of Applied Sciences1 — what’s that?
The German Fachhochschule – University of Applied Sciences – is a fairly new type
of academic institution which emerged in the early 1970s and differs from a
traditional university mainly in its practical orientation. Its goal is to convey
scientific knowledge with specific emphasis on practical applications. Subjects
taught include engineering, computer science, business & management, art &
design, communication studies, social service, and other application-oriented
fields.
Coursework at a Fachhochschule generally totals six semesters of full-time study,
supplemented by two mandatory practical training terms during which the students
get hands-on experience in a real working environment. The course of study
involves a basic segment which concludes with an intermediate examination,
followed by an advanced segment with different options for specialization. The
advanced segment concludes with the degree examination plus a thesis. The thesis
is usually an extensive investigation of a current practical aspect of the profession.
Upon completion of all requirements, a final degree is awarded which is often
compared to an American B.S. While the two degrees tend to be equal in program
length, the subject component of a Fachhochschule degree is generally more
developed than that of a typical American bachelor program.
The aspect of curricular practical training is the strongest feature distinguishing the
Fachhochschule from other institutions of higher education in Germany. One of the
two practical terms may be waived if a student, as is often the case, has completed
a vocational-technical training (apprenticeship) before entering college. The aim is
to balance general and theoretical knowledge with practical training so that the
students obtain specifically applicable skills as well as a broad base of knowledge
to enable them to adapt to future technological changes.
The Fachhochschule represents a close relationship between higher education and
the employment system. The students’ up-to-date knowledge of the field enhances
their preparation for the profession, and the practical orientation of the graduates
makes them very attractive to employers.
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1. Adapted from: Georgeanne B. Porter, Federal Republic of Germany: a Study of
the Educational System of the FRG and a Guide to the Academic Placement of
Students in Educational Institutions of the United States. (American Association
of Collegiate Registrars & Admissions Officers, 1986)
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