When I finished my master degrees and became part of the research data management team at the Data Center for the Humanities (DCH) at the University of Cologne in September 2017, I was very soon introduced to international initiatives, e.g. GO FAIR and the Research Data Alliance (RDA), as well as to several national and regional research data organisations and competence centers. Later, taking part in the German RDA Society formation in March 2018 in Berlin and becoming its founding member meant that I could really come into contact with the Research Data Alliance.