About Us

Cross Cultural Cosmos was created after numerous professional and social experiences over 20 years proved the necessity of even a minimum of cross cultural awareness. In some cultures a meal can make or break a deal. Unintentional offense can have dire consequences. Working and living next to people from other countries is exciting, it teaches us more about ourselves, about the world beyond our front door, about how much easier our business and personal relations could be if we had just a little bit more knowledge on how to handle certain situations.

Cross Cultural Cosmos offers training on corporate and business communication and behavior and awareness on business practices of foreign cultures. In collaboration with consultants around the world and applying a combination of cultural and business anthropology, we provide guidelines and solutions for professionals to be productive ethically, professionally, and with integrity within the international corporate arena. Cultural anthropology is the study of living peoples, their beliefs, practices, values, ideas, technologies, economies and more. Business anthropology is an emergent field that applies theories and methods of cultural anthropology in the corporate realm.

Tailored consulting means a long-term relationship, follow-up and continuous support, as long as it is required, taking into consideration evolving international business standards which are essential so that you are current on international corporate and business practices.

Many cultural differences derive from the fact that Western cultures are based on rules and transparency, whereas most of the world's other cultures are relationship-based. Westerners trust rule-based institutions while others trust their friends and family instead and are, therefore, especially keen to cultivate strong relationships. Bribery, nepotism, cronyism are considered corrupt in the Western world, and yet in many other cultures they are relationships based on trust.

In keeping with our global eco-friendly environmental efforts, it is important that we also arm ourselves with the knowledge and skills to work and live productively with our fellow inhabitants from different cultures.

Transcultural Business Group: TBG, based in London, is an international business consultancy and a leading specialist on “transcultural” and “glocalized” international business development. They have identified the key forces that impact the global business environment and that are likely to have a significant impact on the future. TBG is at the cutting edge of new evolutionary trends in; co-existence, neuro-scientific and technological discoveries, environmental, socio-economic trends, business practices and cultural developments which allow open-minded individuals and businesses to transcend traditional and restricting cultural and business assumptions to embody change and contribute to human enrichment for the benefit of all. www.tbgint.com 

Europrotocol – The European School of Protocol: The European School of Protocol, based in London, is a leading global education company that offers world-class executive and government consulting and training programs on international corporate and diplomatic protocol to those who wish to improve their understanding of international communication and those whose profession requires communicating and socializing in the global marketplace. www.europrotocol.com

 
Annette Rondos-Pitera, of Greek descent, was born in 1957 and brought up in Tanganyika-Tanzania, East Africa. Since 1970, she has lived in Greece, South Africa, France, Switzerland, United States, Italy, in addition to periods in England, Germany, Serbia, Turkey, and Egypt.

Since 1978, upon completion of her business management studies in Switzerland, Ms. Rondos-Pitera has worked with U.S. corporations, the New York Times bureau in Greece, a Greek fashion designer, the Diplomatic Mission of the European Community in Washington D.C., a U.S. state health institute, a U.S. science museum, U.S. philanthropic organizations, the US Embassy in Greece, and an international research center in Greece.

In 1996, and for three years, Ms. Rondos-Pitera  was General Manager of a 25-room bed and breakfast in Baltimore, Maryland, which catered to leisure visitors from around the world and professional visitors attending the academic institutions and medical centers in the city.

In 1999, Ms. Rondos-Pitera relocated to Europe and served as a consultant to numerous boutique hotels and bed and breakfasts, as well as to other international businesses.

In 2002 Ms. Rondos-Pitera established Cross Cultural Cosmos in Europe. Cross Cultural Cosmos offers consulting and trainings on communication strategies to international corporations, businesses and small hotels. It is fully accredited to conduct international corporate, and business protocol training by Europrotocol (London) and cross cultural awareness training by the Transcultural Business Group (London).

Cross Cultural Cosmos has focused on these two areas because they are the essential soft-skills required by anyone who conducts business in today's business market and in order for our societies to co-exist productively, professionally and socially.

In 2010, Ms. Rondos-Pitera co-founded Building Powerful Influence (buildingpowerfulinfluence.com, with euronique+communications-USA), a forum for building international business communication strategies, through conferences and projects.