About us
Creating a space for conversations
The Week is a nonprofit project run by a group of colleagues and friends who, each in our own way, came to see that facing environmental and climate breakdown is likely to become the defining adventure for humanity in the next 10 or 20 years.
Our kids will ask us: what did you know and what did you do? Figuring out our answer to this question is perhaps one of the most important things we are all invited to do. That’s why we created The Week: to open up a space where everyone can explore this question and come up with their own answers.
Our kids will ask us: what did you know and what did you do? Figuring out our answer to this question is perhaps one of the most important things we are all invited to do. That’s why we created The Week: to open up a space where everyone can explore this question and come up with their own answers.
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It started on Zoom...
The idea for The Week started with two of us, Helene and Frederic, when we started grappling deeply with the reality of the climate emergency. We invited friends to meet 3 evenings in a row, on video calls, during the pandemic, to share what we were learning.
Our friends were so deeply moved they invited some of their friends, and then the friends of their friends, and their colleagues at work to watch the video recordings. In no time, more than 5,000 people had participated in this first version of what would become The Week.
Our friends were so deeply moved they invited some of their friends, and then the friends of their friends, and their colleagues at work to watch the video recordings. In no time, more than 5,000 people had participated in this first version of what would become The Week.
… and then we turned it into films.
We felt we were onto something. People really responded to having a space to look into these questions, in a simple, straightforward way, without drama or politics. So we thought: let’s turn this into films. We created a nonprofit, spent lots of time fundraising for the films, talked to a dozen potential film directors until we found the right film team. And the rest… well, you’ll see it when you experience The Week.
We focus on the US, UK, France, and Germany
In the films, we focus on the US, UK, France, and Germany. We didn’t feel qualified to talk about countries where we have no lived experience. Those of you living in Canada and other European countries might also find The Week relevant!
Team
Helene
Helene Gerin has done more things than we have space for here. Advertising. Doula. Therapy. Writing. Pottery. Grief work. And now The Week.
Frédéric
Frederic Laloux is a former business consultant who decided years ago to trade time in airplanes for more time with his family and projects that feel really meaningful.
Leila Hoballah
Leila Hoballah is a social entrepreneur who is co-leading the outreach and partnership work for The Week with Pauline.
Pauline
Despite the still somewhat short nights from becoming a mother recently, Pauline Magnat co-leads the outreach and partnership work with Leila.
John
John Hasan Yildiz is a Turkish-American human rights activist and environmental organizer who leads community building for TheWeek@Campus in the US.
Bhadraka
After a few years in the world of fast-growing start-ups, Thibaut Harang is now leading The Week’s community building in France.
We are supported on a regular basis by Charlie Gardner with scientific advice, by Jason Lorne-Giles for branding and graphic design, and by Jena Knapp and Shawn Gregory for research and advice.
