About us

Who we are.

In 2022, we started rallying a crew of young folks who are totally stoked about wild nature and want to make a real difference. And guess what? Our team has grown to over ten passionate people who are all hustling hard for our vision of a wilder Europe. We’re on a mission!

Giving biodiversity a chance

our dream.

Vast wild landscapes full of blooming flowers, singing birds and bubbling rivers – and all of that belongs to you and your community! That’s what we dream of at Sylvester. We want to enable everyone to be an owner and creator of nature in the wildest way imaginable.

The climate crisis can seriously drain us. It’s a constant stream of gloomy news about crazy weather, dying animals, and the environment. Like many others, we at Sylvester, asked ourselves “How can we actually do something about it?” That’s when we came up with a simple yet effective idea: let’s buy some land and give biodiversity a chance to bounce back!

Unfortunately, our bank accounts weren’t exactly overflowing with cash. That’s when we figured it would probably be the smartest idea to team up with a bunch of people and buy and protect land together! Sylvester was born.

Julius Wenzel

Founder. He's the one who came up with the idea of fusing web3 and rewilding. As soon as he could articulate his vision he went out to assemble an able crew to join him on the journey! Julius has always been a nature enthusiast. Paired with a deep interest in social systems and modern societal problems, he has long searched for exciting new ways to preserve and rebuild what makes our planet so magnificent!

Hedda Werres

Head of Rewilding & Co-Founder. Hedda studied psychology in the Netherlands - whilst living in a Dutch garden shed (winters are cold there). As a consequence of sticking to her nr. 1 passion (getting stuff done) she joined Sylvester to build an awesome community of nature enthusiasts - being one herself. Conveniently enough Hedda is also a gifted photographer.

Lukas Poddig

Communicator & Co-Founder. When you think that everything has been said, Lukas is just getting started. Lukas is our master communicator. A nature enthusiast like everyone else on the team, he quit his job to do something more impactful for the environment. Having studied sociology and politics he is also excited to create a new power- and purposeful society of environmentalists in the realms of web3.

Julia Papaenhauser Fuster

Ecological Strategist & Co-Founder. Julia is currently rooted in Portugal where she likes to explore the coastline and skate through the city. When not out and about, Julia is completing her master’s degree in human ecology, tackling the relationship between humans and nature through an interdisciplinary lens.

Sean Gossler

UI Designer. Once you drive on a highway with Sean, it's hard not to get him started about cars and his passion for them. The same goes for watches, and the same goes for analog black and white photography. Besides learning a lot, you will certainly have a funny time hanging out with our UI Designer who built this homepage (not even mentioning his excellent whiskey sours)!

Clint Carl

Renaturation-Enthusiast. If there is one thing which really gets Clint fired up, it is the possibility of turning deserts into oases. Should you ever find yourself stuck in a lift with Clint, this is definitely a topic which will keep you talking until you get rescued. Clint is also a professional music producer and world class drummer - you should definitely check out his music (assuming you’re into hardcore punk).

Kevin Trenkwalder

Lawyer. Before starting his job and working day and night, Kevin thought it would be a great idea to support a start-up with their legal questions. Soon, he wrote our whole association and made us very happy with that. It turns out he liked it so much he'll still be our legal guru for any questions we come up with!

Solenn Alazet

UX-Designer. Working from home in a digital environment can be hard, especially when you have children to take care of - but Solenn makes it happen! She is the one who dives deep into understanding users and tests new designs with real folks to make your visit on this website as good as it gets. So when we are up for a new round of UX-interviews to understand you - our users - better, be prepared to talk to our UX-magician!

Beatriz Salema

Eco-Team. Being really excited about her studies in environmental sciences, Bea was quickly eager to become a part of the Sylvester Eco-team. Besides her knowledge in ecology and biological restoration processes, Bea impressed everyone at the Sylvester Week with her special talent: she sings and dances like Shakira!

Tom Kattwinkel

Author & Onboarding. When you don’t know how to best explain complicated things in a simple way, you should probably ask Tom for some help. After finishing his medicine degree, Tom now is a regular author at the German online newspapers ZEIT ONLINE Health department. Apart from that Tom is well known for his fascination for olive oil, coffee, wine, politics and chaos. Five things which go surprisingly well together.

Florian

Geographer. Florian is what you might call a hidden champion. Calm and quiet at first glance, he is not afraid to crack the wrong joke at the right time. Besides his humour, Florian is very interested in landscapes and how humans fit (or don’t fit) within them. Finalizing his geography studies, Flo is a crucial part of the solidification of our land strategy.

David Wenzel

Business Development. As you may be able to tell from the last name, David is Julius' brother. So the way for him to join the team was a really short one. Making the best out of two worlds, he wrote his master's thesis about the business model of Sylvester and calculated numbers for us. So when founding our association, we made him a treasurer - good on you, Dave!

Richard Wibbels

Business Development. Richie is our research and LinkedIn guru. Multiple times a week, he posts articles, events, or networking opportunities to our channels and provides us with plenty to read and check out. Besides that, Richie already got sent off a fair because he was marketing Sylvester to people… We say, that's just the right amount of courage for our aim!