In this episode of 4-Quarter Lives, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with Charlotte Japp. Early in her career, Charlotte noticed a huge gap between the 20-somethings she worked with and baby boomers like her parents. Older workers had decades of experience, but were forced to retire or start secondary careers due to ageist hiring trends. Her friends and colleagues wanted career mentorship, while her parents and their friends were looking for new skills and trend reports to stay competitive in their careers.

From this realisation Charlotte created CIRKEL, a platform connecting a community of professionals ages 20-70+ who connect for two-way career support and mentorship. CIRKEL also works with businesses to unite the 5-generation workforce. Charlotte has promoted this thinking at conferences around the world about the future of ageing, and currently serves on the advisory council for Stanford’s Center for Longevity.

In her parallel professional career, Charlotte is a creative leader who specializes in content development (video, copywriting, social content), events/conferences, community building, and brand partnership. She is currently Head of Platform at ff Venture Capital, a seed stage fund investing in FinTech, AI, B2B SaaS, and autonomy. In her role, she oversees all of ffVC’s brand marketing, as well as portfolio support for its 90+ portfolio companies in the US, Canada, Israel, and Central & Eastern Europe. Previously Charlotte has held roles at VICE Media, Live Nation, TikTok, and several startups. She graduated from Georgetown University with honors.

Charlotte Japp: Millennials Grow Up