Manuela Lieflaender

Inspirational stories are Manu Lieflaender’s great passion. Even as a teenager, she put together a team of graphic designers, spent her savings — and her best friend’s — and launched her own music magazine. A publisher took notice of the magazine and its unconventional interviews and released the follow-up title with Manu as editor-in-chief. When the publisher fell ill, she decided to continue writing as a freelancer for various music magazines, including Metal Hammer (Axel Springer). She interviewed major artists and bands such as Metallica, Eminem, Rammstein, Bela B. (Die Ärzte), Korn, and others.

When the era of the “real” rock stars came to an end and new bands seemed interesting mainly because of their image, Manu devoted herself to her second passion: dogs and horses. At first, she remained connected to the celebrity world and spoke with stars about their four-legged companions for various magazines. Soon after, that animal connection turned into a lifestyle. Today, she has been a prominent figure in the dog-journalism field for 20 years. She is especially known for her clear opposition to the “adopt, don’t shop” trend. As an author and keynote speaker, she advocates for purebred dogs from controlled breeding as the only sustainable form of animal welfare, and she does not shy away from exposing the gaps in the current debate on inherited disorders in dogs.