the sozo story
Hi, I’m Zoé. I grew up in the bushveld of rural South Africa, never imagining my path would eventually lead me to Berlin. That landscape gave me an early appreciation for exploration, attention to detail, and noticing what feels deeply real. But it took many years before I understood how those beginnings would shape the work I do today.
After school, I studied journalism, visual communication, creative writing, and later psychology. My career unfolded across marketing and communications—from public relations to content in the tech start-up world—eventually leading an editorial team in Berlin. With each shift, one thread remained: an ongoing interest in how we communicate, create, and make meaning. Still, I didn't yet know how to bring these interests together into work that felt human, alive, and aligned with who I was becoming.
That changed when I was introduced to expressive arts during a retreat run by friends. What began as curiosity slowly turned into recognition. This practice reopened a creative part of me I had long assumed was closed off or reserved only for ‘arty’ people. Expressive arts became a way of listening, noticing, and meeting myself with honesty and care. It felt like coming home, and I knew this was the work I wanted to build my life around.
While still working in tech, I began training as an expressive arts facilitator in 2023. But in the midst of that dream, I injured my back quite seriously and was thrown into an intense recovery journey that continues today. Through this detour, I continue to learn more about surrender, perseverance, and the slow, tender work of healing.
the sozo space has grown from these experiences, the belief that everyone has resources waiting to be discovered, and the lived understanding that transformation often begins in small, quiet ways. It has been shaped by living across different countries and cultures, moving through changing careers, navigating injury and uncertainty, and continually returning to what feels true: curiosity, presence, creative practice, and the belief that we are always becoming.
At its core, the sozo space is a place for people to reconnect with themselves through creativity — to feel safe, seen, supported, and gently invited on their own adventure. It is a breathing space for expression and reflection, for reframing challenges, discovering strengths, and opening to new possibilities through being allowed to play again, to return to ourselves, to exhale, to explore, and to express through creative experiences.
Welcome — I’m glad that you’re here.
A little bit about me
I like words and wonder
New places and old rituals
Pancakes and Formula 1 on Sundays
Friends who feel like family, and family who feel like friends
Honesty, art that makes me think, open spaces, and blinding sunshine
And, I have an illogical dislike for most vegetables
Why ‘sozo’?
The name sozo has its own small story. "Zo" has long been a nickname of mine, and after a playful exchange with a friend ("So, Zo?"), I used SoZo as my freelance writing name for several years.
Ten years later, when I began imagining this work, I revisited the name and searched its origins out of curiosity. To my surprise, I discovered its ancient Greek root: sozo (σῴζω), meaning to restore, to heal, to make whole.
This unexpected discovery felt deeply aligned, as though the word had been waiting for this stage of the journey. And so it took root, and the sozo space was born.
“When creativity meets awareness, new possibilities can unfold”
How I work
We begin with what’s here, and follow what unfolds
My approach to expressive arts is grounded in presence, sensitivity, and a clear focus on process over performance. I begin with what draws your attention — a colour, an image, a movement, a word — and we explore that together. The work is not about artistic skill, but about allowing the creative process to reveal what feels meaningful, important, or what is waiting to be noticed.
I use a high-sensitivity, low-skill approach, which emphasises experience rather than aesthetics. Sessions unfold at your pace, using simple materials and an established structure to help you explore, build resources, and create. The work adapts to what feels relevant in the moment, allowing the making process to guide us.
Above all, I commit to hold the space with care — offering a non-judgmental, responsive, and supported environment where you can explore creatively, reflect deeply, and connect with yourself without pressure or expectation.
Values that guide my work
Curiosity: Approaching each session with openness; beginning where you are and following what draws you in without pressure or expectation
Creativity: Making space for expression, experimentation, and new ways of seeing, using the language of imagination and possibility
Care: Showing up with sensitivity, presence, and a deep respect for your experience and expression
Trust: Allowing the process to unfold at its own pace, trusting in its wisdom — and in yours
Non-Judgement: Creating space where nothing needs to be good, right, or wrong; it only needs to be true. You’re welcome as you are
Qualifications & Training
Academic Background
Bachelor of Arts (Journalism & Visual Communication), University of Pretoria
Postgraduate Honours in Visual Communication & Creative Writing, University of Pretoria
Bachelor of Social Science, Psychology, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Postgraduate Honours in Psychology, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Professional Training & Certifications
Advanced Counselling Skills in Trauma Counselling
Family Violence & Crisis Intervention Training
Mentor Training in Right-Brain Methods of Writing
Equine Therapy: Level 1 Workshop
Introduction to Basic Counselling Skills
Expressive Arts Training
Certificate in Expressive Arts Facilitation, The Expressive Arts Institute Berlin
Certificate in Expressive Arts Advanced Practice (CAP), The Expressive Arts Institute Berlin - * Ongoing
Let’s connect
If you’d like to ask questions, explore possibilities, or begin working together, I’m here