Kay Xander Mellish, keynote speaker on Denmark's working culture

“How to Work in Denmark” “How to Live in Denmark”
Author and speaker based in Copenhagen, Denmark

Kay Xander Mellish

“How to Work in Denmark” book & audiobook

Denmark is a great place to work, with good salaries and benefits plus excellent work-life balance. But how do you look for a job in Denmark, and how do you succeed in a Danish working environment? The new edition of “How to Work in Denmark” (2022) will help you understand the unwritten rules of Danish working culture. Learn how to find a job, succeed at work, and understand your Danish boss.

Get the book

Book Kay for a speech or workshop

Kay travels throughout Denmark and Europe delivering presentations and workshops that help newcomers understand Danish culture and Danish working culture better, and help Danes examine some of the aspects of their own culture that they sometimes take for granted. She tailors speeches and offers coaching for companies with specific challenges, such as how to work better with American colleagues, customers or suppliers.

Book Kay for an event

See Kay on video or hear her podcasts

Kay has been the voice behind the “How to Live in Denmark” podcast since 2013, and her five books are also available in audio form on Amazon Audible and Mofibo Storytel. You can also see Kay on video, both live at presentations and in-studio, via her popular “33 on Thursday” series for social media. You can book Kay for TV appearances or purpose-made client videos via the contact form below.

Watch Kay’s videos

What customers say

The presentation by Kay Xander Mellish was excellent and full of humor. We had a couple of meetings before the presentation, where Kay asked questions, trying to understand our needs. As a result, Kay has helped us to understand cultural differences in the workplace and how we could benefit from each other due to different backgrounds. There was great interaction between the presenter and the audience. We will definitely invite Kay to give another workshop regarding cultural differences.

ANNA KNUDSENNNE

”Vi er en stor offentlig organisation, som samarbejder tæt og på daglig basis med vores amerikanske it-leverandør. På en temadag i sektionen (35 pers.) holdt Kay Xander Mellish et foredrag om den amerikanske kultur og sprog, med fokus på som dansk institution at have amerikanske samarbejdspartnere. Det var et yderst underholdende og lærerigt arrangement, hvor vi alle havde aha-oplevelser. Vi gik derfra med en større forståelse af vores amerikanske kollegaer, som vi har samarbejdet med gennem flere år. Ved forskellige øvelser, blev vi udfordret på det amerikanske sprog, og lærte forskellige tips og tricks som vi vil gøre brug af fremover. Vi kan varmt anbefale Kay, som fanger sit publikum med sin humoristiske tilgang til kulturelle og sproglige forskelle mellem Danmark og USA.”

THOMAS DALSGAARD CLAUSENREGION H, CIMT

“It was great to have Kay at our Team Day. The topic was well presented, wrapped in humor and there was good interaction between presenter and team.”

MIA WEDEGEHead of Digital Leaders & Specialists, Ørsted

“I invited Kay to Horsens to hold a workshop about “How to Work in Denmark and How to be Successful” for international engineering students and some company representatives. Kay is a charismatic speaker who holds the attention in the room and makes a talk enjoyable. Her presentation received only positive feedback from the participants. It was full of useful information structured in a humorous way. She engaged in constant communication with the audience that gave an extra understanding to her points. She used her personal story and experience to create a connection with the crowd, which made the speech relatable and unique. ”

ENIKO TOTHSTUDENT REPRESENTATIVE, THE DANISH SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS

“Tak til Kay for et underholdende indlæg til vores konference. Vi blev opdateret på den sproglige udvikling i amerikansk engelsk og ikke mindst forskellene i dansk og amerikansk kultur. Det er så vigtigt, at vi med sproguddannelser stadig følger med i den sproglige udvikling, især nu hvor sproglige uddannelser beskæres/nedlægges. Derfor er det godt, vi har Kay til at holde os ajour. Vi anbefaler hendes forestilling, hvor hun involverer deltagerne med humor og indsigt.”

LENE LILIAN BRAUERENGELSKE SPROGNØRDERS NETVÆRK I HK

“We had the pleasure of having Kay Xander Mellish as a speaker at our seminar with the theme ‘Cultural Diversity in the Workplace’. Kay kicked-off the seminar with a great spirit and she kept her audience enthralled during the whole presentation. As one participant ‘she could have spoken about anything – we just wanted to listen to her’. She is a speaker who can ‘energize’ her audience in a calm way. Her knowledge, her understanding of cultural diversity and personal experiences were extremely valuable and made the presentation honest and credible, and for certain we all learned something new. Kay is a very professional speaker, and she is very concerned about making sure that her workshops create value for the participants.”

TINE KAMPMANNNOVO NORDISK DEVICE R&D

“Kay fik eleverne til at lave små rollespil på engelsk, hun fik dem til at rette ukorrekte sætninger på engelsk, og hun fik gang i flere debatter på engelsk, hvor eleverne bl.a. diskuterede, hvilke engelske bandeord der var “go” og “no go”. Eleverne fik på en sjov og aktiv måde finpudset og trænet deres engelske.”

RIKKE ARNHOLZDANSK- OG SPANSKLÆRER PÅ ALLERØD GYMNASIUM

We invited Kay to speak to our young international talents from our Postgraduate Program at Danfoss. Kay left a great impression in her fun, inspiring and informative way of delivering her presentation. Here are some of the comments the Postgraduates left: – Having workshop with Kay helped to realize the reason why colleagues in Denmark work and behave in a certain way – Super interesting, it explained so many things I never realized I did not fully comprehend! – Great content to immerse yourself in Danish culture – Kay is a great & engaging speaker and she helped shed a lot of light on the DOs and DON’Ts in order to fit in and have a successful working experience in Denmark! – It was so easy to understand Kay’s approach to Danish culture from a foreigner point of view, because you could tell she lived the same culture shock! Kay has my biggest recommendation.

RAMI ISMAILPostgraduate Program Consultant at Danfoss

Kay’s books

Kay’s audiobooks

Coming soon

Kay in the media

A former journalist with ABCNews.com and Dow Jones/the Wall Street Journal, Kay works closely with journalists in both Denmark in the US to deliver a realistic picture of Denmark and how Danes and internationals can work better together. She also occasionally writes articles for the Danish media.

Kay speaks Danish and can generally work to deadline. See Kay’s media appearances.

If you are a journalist who would like to use Kay as a source for a story about Danish culture or Denmark, contact Kay using the button below.

You can also see a selection of Kay on video.

Get in touch

The “How to Live in Denmark” project

When Kay first moved to Copenhagen, she wrote a few blog posts about her experiences – and then forgot about them, as she focused on her corporate work and building a family.

But to her surprise, she would regularly receive notes from newcomers to Denmark who had discovered the blogs online and found them helpful.

Later, Kay turned some of the blog posts into a podcast, originally designed to promote her voiceover business. The How to Live in Denmark podcast took off and has run continuously since 2013, with more than a million downloads.

Meanwhile, the How to Live in Denmark website became the basis for the How to Live in Denmark book, first published in 2014 and updated in 2017. Kay now travels all over the country with her How to Live in Denmark welcome presentation for newcomers.

Visit the website

Kay’s voiceover work

Kay is an experienced voiceover artist who has voiced videos for many of Denmark’s largest companies, including Novo Nordisk and Lego.

Her best-known voiceover is as Mona Lisa in Visit Denmark’s viral deepfake video, “Don’t be a tourist, be an explorer.”

Kay specializes in international corporate English and does a great deal of e-learning voiceovers.

You can hear more of Kay’s voiceovers at americanvoice.dk.

Visit the website

See Kay’s videos

Read Kay’s Blog

Listen to Kay’s podcast

Kay in the media

Book an event with Kay

Who is Kay Xander Mellish?

Kay is a writer, keynote speaker, and voice artist who grew up in the USA and has lived in Denmark for more than 10 years. She has been on staff at large Danish companies including Danske Bank and Carlsberg and now runs KXMGroup, which provides writing, editing, and voiceover services in Copenhagen, and How to Live in Denmark, which helps newcomers understand Danish culture.

A native of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, Kay attended New York University in Manhattan, where she graduated cum laude with a degree in journalism and art history.

She worked as a journalist in Berlin, Germany and Hong Kong before returning to Manhattan and working in the media industry at Dow Jones/the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and ABCnews.com before moving to Denmark.

Kay lives with her family in Copenhagen Northwest. In her spare time, she enjoys watching old Hollywood movies.

Get in touch

Contact Kay

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