Here she comes, cycling along in her colourful clothes. She doesn't have far to go. Our neighbour is now a managing director – and has long been a familiar face at Markthalle Neun. We're talking about Olga Graf.

At home in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, in Gifhorn in Lower Saxony and at Görlitzer Park in Kreuzberg – she learned her trade in her parents' grocery store, in innovation management and in communal catering – and brought all of that with her to the market hall. An ideal candidate.

‘In our community, it was natural to lend a hand – and afterwards there was always something delicious on the table. That creates bonds. Perhaps that's what shaped me: work and food belong together – and it's best to do both in good company.’

When you meet Olga in our hall, she is usually already hard at work. With a focused gaze, quick steps and a to-do list in her head that is not to be underestimated. She is the one who keeps track of everything when things get hectic. The one who doesn't talk much, but gets things done with a clear goal in mind. And the one who is always in a good mood. The market hall is now a matter for the woman in charge.

But Olga's story begins far away from Berlin. In a small village in the Siberian Altai region, where temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees in winter, food is grown locally and exchanged with neighbours, and everyone has to lend a hand – at the latest when the wild berry or mushroom season arrives. "It was a matter of course for us to help out – and afterwards there was always something delicious on the table. That creates bonds,‘ says Olga. ’Perhaps that's what shaped me: work and food belong together – and it's best to do both in good company." Her mother was a seamstress and owner of her own business, her father a cooperative manager. When it came to getting things done, Olga was always right in the thick of it from an early age. Whether it was her father's farm inspections or sorting buttons in the tailor's shop.

‘I literally learned to write with the labelling machine and understood early on how much dedication goes into food retail.’

Then, in 1994, they returned as ethnic German repatriates and made a new start in Germany. Her father first worked in a sawmill, then opened his own small grocery shop, and later opened GUM – named after the large department store in Moscow: a full-range supermarket with countless Slavic products – from kvass to sprats, from pickled mushrooms to twarog. Demand was huge, the shop grew, and eventually they added their own wholesale business. With direct links to producers and farmers from Lower Saxony to Poland to Greece.

Olga was also right in the thick of things here from the very beginning. ‘I literally learned to write with the labelling machine and understood early on how much dedication goes into food retail.’ For her, her parents' shop was more than just a workplace – it was a school, a social space and a place of learning for everything that was to come later. First at the scales and with a labelling machine in her hand, later with keys and office responsibility. Pricing, stocking shelves, helping out at the fresh food counter – meat, fish, homemade goods. The latter according to her aunt's recipes, who, incidentally, still works in that supermarket today – and still uses the same recipes: herring in a fur coat, olive salad, pickled dill cucumbers, homemade coleslaw or cholodez (aspic). At the end of her A-levels, Olga represented her parents in the shop, placed orders, operated the cash register, and made bank transfers. The whole range.

‘I didn't want to sit at a desk and talk about nutrition. I wanted to go where it's made – in kitchens, in fields, in the midst of life.’

In 2012, the shop was sold, and Olga moved on – first across Europe, then to study product and service design, followed by semesters abroad in China, India and South Africa, and positions in innovation management and management consulting. Finally, her path led her to where cuisine, culture and politics meet: to projects such as Kantine Zukunft (Canteen of the Future) by Speiseräume – an office for applied food policy. "I didn't want to talk about food at a desk. I wanted to go where it's made – in kitchens, in fields, in the midst of life." There she visited agricultural committees, negotiated subsidies and campaigned for better communal catering – not from a distance, but with an eye for the reality on the farm and in the kitchen. Brandenburg's agriculture, Berlin's commercial kitchens – Olga knows both sides.

But how did she end up here? Everything has an end, except sausage has two – and sometimes a beginning. At the Stadt Land Food Festival 2018 organised by Markthalle Neun, for example. At that time, Olga organised the Butcher's Manifesto – an international network for artisan butchers that promotes transparency, animal welfare and respect throughout the entire value chain. In the hall, she brought together butchers, farmers and consumers. A shared understanding of quality, responsibility and genuine cooperation connects people – and the friendship with Markthalle grows.

"I no longer had to settle in – the hall had long since become a part of my home. Now I have the opportunity to develop it further in a leadership role with significant responsibility."

Since then, Olga has become an integral part of the market hall. During her time as a management consultant, she actively supported the market hall team behind the scenes and assisted with organisational and process development. That's why she knows every corner of the place, reads every Excel spreadsheet and contributes to every idea – even if it was scribbled on a piece of cheese paper. ‘I didn't have to settle in – the hall had long since become a part of my home. Now I get to take it further in a leadership role with a lot of responsibility.’ She loves good conversations, big ideas and clear structures. And above all, she believes in one thing: that we can do better together.

Since this spring, Olga has been the managing director of Markthalle Neun. She succeeds the three previous managing directors, Florian, Bernd and Nikolaus, who took over the hall from the city of Berlin in 2011 and, working hand in hand with the market community, turned it into what it is today. "After 15 years of reviving this hall, living with it and losing our hearts to it, now is the right moment. Olga is taking over with a team that has been working together for years – smart, reliable, full of attitude and incredibly enthusiastic about their work. It's a bit like good sourdough: we've nurtured and nourished it for a long time – now it's passing into new hands that know how to carry on. And what else can come of it," says Florian Niedermeier. The three of them will remain involved with the market hall in the future, as active partners and as part of the newly founded advisory board. Olga Graf is now in charge – with a cool head, a clear compass and a keen sense of what makes this place special. For the market community. For the neighbourhood. For new ideas. For things that are allowed to grow. And for those that may need to change at times to keep the market hall alive.

“I firmly believe that vibrant markets make cities more liveable. That analogue places like this – where people gather as a community around food, exchange ideas and share responsibility – are more important today than ever before. Perhaps even as places where democracy is lived out.”

What is she standing up for? For something that has become rare: a public place that is not arbitrary. A space where economic activity and social responsibility are not contradictory. Olga puts it this way: "I firmly believe that lively markets make cities more liveable. That analogue places like this – where people gather as a community around food, exchange ideas and share responsibility – are more important today than ever before. Perhaps even as places where democracy is lived out." For a city, then, where food belongs not only on the plate, but at the centre of thought. For a market that can do more than just trade – namely connect, move and change.

For what the hall already is today: a real marketplace. More than a place of trade – a place for production and education, a hub for craftsmanship and culture. A meeting place for many, in a historic monument in Berlin-Kreuzberg. A place that remains. And is being developed further.