Here you can find what i've been up to in terms of
Work & Vision
Back to nature
Reconnecting and protecting
After learning that we spend at least 90% of our time indoors on average in the Netherlands, I quit my job to reconnect to nature. I followed a year long Wilderness Course at Voshaar Outdoor to learn about plants, trees, birds and mammals, find my way in the mountains with only a compass and a map, making fire and building shelter but most of all experiencing the outdoors and spending as much time as possible in nature.
Bridging the growing gap between the outdoors and people and share the knowledge of the older generations with the younger ones continues to be my mission.
Impact Manager at Get it done and Cinetree
2021 - 2023
Get it done
An NGO based in Amsterdam that I always liked to call: Get sh*t done. Whatever the challenge, with get it done we looked out for people that were passionate to find solutions and supporting those who were already working on them. From lobbying for paid leave when losing a child or partner to assisting in humanitarian aid, from webinars about mental health to 'phoneless' days for young people.
Cinetree
A filmclub with a mission. Here my activism translated into the art of storytelling and its effect to change peoples hearts and minds before taking action. As Impact Manager my focus was to build campaigns and movements around productions with various goals. Sometimes we wanted to break taboos, highlight stories that had to be told, start the conversation or inspire people to look at things from a different perspective. Always linked to local initiatives and communities we transformed inspiration into activation.
UN New York 2019
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UN Youth Representative on Sustainable Development
2018 - 2020
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I had the honor to represent the Netherlands as UN Youth Representative on Sustainable Development. My mandate covered different topics among which:
- Youth emancipation
- Mental Health in relation to climate change
- Intergenerational Collaboration
- Intersectional Environmentalism
- Action for Climate Empowerment
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It's been such an interesting and humbling experience. Participating in global climate conferences like COP24 & COP25 to make sure the voice of youth is represented in policies that shape our common future. It felt like being in the eye of the storm of it all. To march with the youth of the world on the streets demanding action. To go into the slow-pace conference rooms of the United Nations climate negotiations and watch them sometimes succeed and sometimes fail at figuring out the way forward collectively. Talking to scientists pressing the urgent matter and its consequences and meeting and working with youth from all over the globe that are already on the frontlines of experiencing the climate crisis due to natural disasters, disappearing islands and extreme weather events.
I will continue to use my privilege and knowledge to work on the most urging challenges of our time for both the protection of people and the planet.
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Bonn 2019
Vogue Class of 2020
Panel on Action for Climate Empowerment at COP25, Madrid
Abu Dhabi Climate Action Conference 2019
Meeting Youth Delegates from China, Bonn
The Outdoors
Ongoing
This is actually play that always finds its way into my career.
Since my first long distance hike in 2018 i've walked thousands of kilometers throughout Europe. Walks include het Pieterpad in the Netherlands, the Via Francigena in Italy and various Camino's in Spain.
This love for hiking and the outdoors once translated into a 540km hike project throughout the Netherlands that asked attention for our changing relation to nature that diminishes every generation and how to find our way back. It also linked the effects on our mental health when we don't go out much and ways to learn about our local landscape. During this hike I walked and talked to youth from all over the country as well as various policy makers from local municipalities to the ministry of foreign affairs, together with a small team of amazing young women. It was called: 'Heel Holland Hiked'.
Since then I became an ambassador for time outdoors and restoring our connection with nature and ourselves.
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Humanitarian aid
Ongoing
Unfortunately, many people around the world have been displaced from their homes due to war or extreme weather events and many more will follow. Being born in a place where neither of those affect me directly gives me a sense of privilege and responsibility to aid those who are. I have witnessed the impact of war and displacement on people, but what stuck with me was their strength, resilience and generosity towards others to share the little they had left.
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Internationally I have worked in various refugee camps, some of which unfortunately still exist to this day.
- Providing shelter and aid for extreme weather
- distribute food
- creating a safe learning environment for children
- guiding a team of international volunteers
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Nationally I have worked on aiding victims of the floodings in the summer of 2021 by collecting supplies, gathering a team and help out in the affected area of Verviers together with Get it done and hosted webinars on how best to aid displaced people in our country and abroad.
I continue to voice my concern for the way providing aid without thinking it through can sometimes be very damaging for people in vulnerable situations and work towards a more compassionate environment.
Curious, a platform for youth
no longer active
Together with Ruud van Oeveren I co-founded Curious: a platform for youth where we don't trip over the size of the challenges of our time but instead focus on the possibilities and solutions. Our audience decided what the theme of the evening would be. Feeling stressed out? We'll organize an evening about the stress-society we live in. Curious about modern love? We got you.
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The idea originated when we were tired of always having to travel to Amsterdam or nearby cities for exciting events. So instead of complaining we figured we could also organize events ourselves and teamed up with the local Theater to make it happen.
