About
Tijen Onaran is a German entrepreneur, investor, author, and one‑woman ambassador for diversity in business. Born in 1985 in Karlsruhe to Turkish parents, she first gained attention for founding Global Digital Women (GDW), a community that spotlights women shaping Europe’s tech scene. Today she runs GDW alongside the diversity consultancy ACI and serves on several advisory and supervisory boards—from the ZKM | Center for Art and Media to corporate inclusion panels. In 2023 she became an investor on the hit TV show “Die Höhle der Löwen,” bringing a fresh, inclusion‑focused lens to the startup pitches and returning for its 2025 anniversary season before announcing that this will be her final round in the “Lions’ Den.”
Her influence travels well beyond television. Manager Magazin counts her among Germany’s 100 most influential women, and social‑analytics platform Favikon lists her in the 2025 Top 20 DACH LinkedIn influencers, underscoring a digital reach that now tops half a million followers across platforms.
Onaran’s books—Die Netzwerkbibel (2018), Nur wer sichtbar ist, findet auch statt (2020) and Be Your Own Fcking Hero* (2023)—offer plain‑spoken roadmaps on networking, personal branding, and courage. Her 2024/25 live “Mut‑Tour” (Courage Tour) packed auditoriums in nine German cities and spun into a video‑podcast partnership with FOCUS online called “MUT – Der Deutschland Talk,” where she chats with leading figures from politics and science about fixing Germany’s growth engine.
Before Fame
Before there were headlines and hashtags, Tijen was a student of politics with ambitions. She majored in political science, history, and public law at Heidelberg University, dived into electioneering at twenty, and even stood for the Baden‑Württemberg state parliament with the liberal FDP in 2006. The seat slipped through her fingers, but the experience honed her oratory skills and passion for policy. Stints in the German President’s office and as social-media chief for then‑Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in the 2009 federal election campaign. Those early years persuaded her that visibility is opportunity—and one that would become the central theme of GDW.
In 2015 she launched “Women in Digital,” an early networking initiative that morphed into Global Digital Women the next year. By 2018 she had introduced the Digital Female Leader Award (DFLA), giving a yearly stage to trail‑blazing women in tech, engineering, and finance.
Trivia
- Boardroom regular: Beyond ZKM, Onaran sits on university faculty boards for digital leadership and consults for companies eager to make diversity more than a buzzword.
- Podcast host: She has moderated over 170 episodes of the “How to Hack” career podcast in tandem with Business Punk magazine, grilling founders on lessons learned.
- Award magnet: From the German Excellence Award (2020) to Capital magazine’s “Top 40 under 40,” her trophy shelf is crowded, yet she jokes that the best accolade is seeing more women on conference stages than when she began.
- Stage name “Lioness”: Fans call her the “Diversity Lioness” thanks to her stint on Die Höhle der Löwen, where she steers deals toward female‑led or impact‑driven startups.
- LinkedIn power user: She posts almost daily, mixing business tips with behind‑the‑scenes glimpses—earning her the LinkedIn “Influencer” badge, a title shared by fewer than 150 Germans.
Family Life
Tijen has been married to entrepreneur Marco Duller‑Onaran since 2016; the pair first crossed paths in Karlsruhe’s startup circles and now base themselves in Munich with their rescue dogs Paul and Leo.* She often quips that Marco “pulls the strings offstage” while she handles the spotlight, reflecting their shared belief that partnership fuels professional risk‑taking.
Though intensely private about home life, she occasionally shares book recommendations, Turkish recipes learned from her parents, and candid reflections on balancing late‑night keynote prep with Sunday hikes in the Alps. Those glimpses humanize an otherwise high‑octane schedule packed with client workshops and TV shoots.
*The dogs’ names come from periodic Instagram story shout‑outs; no official dog‑bio exists, but the pups have become mini‑celebrities among her followers.
Associated With
Throughout her career Onaran has collaborated with a who’s who of German public life:
- Silvana Koch‑Mehrin – the former MEP for whom she managed a constituency office early on, sparking her passion for European policy.
- Guido Westerwelle – Germany’s late foreign minister; handling his social media taught her crisis comms under pressure.
- Judith Williams, Carsten Maschmeyer, and Ralf Dümmel – co‑investors on Die Höhle der Löwen, demonstrating that tough deal‑making and allyship are not mutually exclusive.
- Robert Habeck, Olaf Scholz, and Christian Lindner – political heavyweights who joined her 2024 “MUT” video‑podcast to brainstorm economic revival strategies, bridging activism and policy.
- Thousands of GDW members – from junior devs to C‑suite leaders—who credit her events and awards for turbo‑charging their visibility.
