Carolina v. Gravenreuth

Project Manager

Carolina v. Gravenreuth studied business management and marketing. After graduating she did an internship with De Beers in New York and an additional internship with the magazine Harper’s Bazaar in Munich, where she worked as an editor after completing the internship. In 1990, she founded a PR and advertising agency in Munich. She began her Buddhist studies following her first encounter with H. H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang in the late 1990’s. Inspired by Tibetan Buddhism, she founded Otter Verlag in 2000, and at the wish of H.H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang published an art volume on the Drikung residence monastery Phiyang in Ladakh. From 2005 until 2011, she worked for Vodafone Group R&D as executive assistant. In 2012 she moved to Schneverdingen, and since then has been serving as the Milarepa Retreat Center’s Project Manager.

Angelika Binczik

Real Estate & Technique

As the daughter of an architect, Angelika Binczik spent her childhood at construction sites, learned all the tricks and tools of the trade at an early age and together with her family, always accompanied her father when he visited his many construction sites throughout Germany. It was there that she also acquired the knowledge of the various responsibilities of particular skilled tradespeople and what one must bear in mind when one checks the work of individual tradespeople. The idea of studying something in the areas of building and landscape architecture suggested itself. As she sang in a choir, she soon was given solo parts due to her tonal assurance and good voice, opening her path to music. She completed a study as an opera singer and was active as a concert singer until 1993.

Following an automobile accident, she worked as a commercial graphic artist and coach. In 1998 she met H. H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang and then travelled to Dehradun in India and visited H. H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang there. At H.H.’s request, together with Carolina von Gravenreuth, she undertook the task of photographing the entire art objects of the Drikung residence monastery Phiyang in Ladakh, interpreting them iconographically and in terms of art history, and publishing the results in an art volume. Thus she entered more deeply into Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and practice. Now she is delighted to devote all her energy and abilities in the Garchen Foundation and Milarepa Retreat Center.

Alina Binczik

Assistant Project Manager

Alina Binczik originally trained as a florist, and worked in recent years in Stuttgart, on the Baltic Sea and in Munich, most recently as a branch manager. During her time in Munich, she began to visit the Drikung Garchen Institute there, and developed an interest in Buddhism. In 2005 she took Refuge and since then has wished to increasingly integrate the Dharma into her life. In autumn 2012 she decided to help out for two months in the preparations for the inauguration of the Milarepa Retreat Center. Afterwards she went to Kathmandu for four months to study thangka painting. She is very happy to have begun a new path in life in the Milarepa Retreat Center following her return from Nepal.

Heidrun Tödter-Schmidt 

Office Administrator

Heidrun Tödter-Schmidt completed her training as an industrial clerk with the Röders Company in Soltau. She then worked for 14 years as an office worker and DTP qualified person for the Angel Company, where she was responsible for general office work and handbook layout. In 2013 she worked as an office clerk in a skilled crafts business and she has been active at the Milarepa Retreat Center since 2014.