In this episode, Sofiia talks to Joanna Kaminska, a foreign policy and security expert at the European Parliament, who also serves as a Brussels local politician and an advisor to Zieloni (The Greens), a political party in her native country - Poland. As her daily job, Joanna is involved in a European Parliament’s democracy support and mediation programme with the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada), but during her weekends and evenings she is also working as a Council Member at the Municipal level in Brussels’ commune - Etterbeek, where she is elected as a local Council Member. Joanna is among a few non-Belgians involved in Brussels politics. In fact it was not Joanna’s dream or goal to join the local politics initially, but one unfortunately cut tree led her to get curious and take actions in her own hands to be part of the changes in the Brussels community. Lastly, Joanna is also a great and inspiring painter, and shares how important it is to balance one’s mind, body and soul. Tune in to this episode to learn more about Joanna’s journey and to dive into the insights of a political life from both international, national and local levels.  If you want to connect to Joanna, check out her LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.  Relevant links:  Joanna’s creative account  Partia Zieloni (The Greens in Poland) Ecolo (Belgian francophone green party)  For more on VONA: Sign up for our monthly Newsletter at www.VONA.international   Instagram @vona.international Twitter @VONA_int LinkedIn VONA International Podcast hosted by Sofiia Shevchuk Visuals and podcast production by Tamas Viski Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.