Ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated with what makes us tick and how we can feel free to bring our deepest being to life. How we can follow our destiny, so to say.
Before writing books, I founded and ran a communications agency. We wrote texts and produced videos for large corporations, until one day sat behind my desk my consciousness opened and I began to ask questions about sustainability. I sold one company to our best employees and the other to my business partner, obtained a BSc in Brennan healing science in the US, was asked to join the boards of Social Venture Network (Europe), the Findhorn Foundation (Scotland) and the Center for Human Emergence (NL). I ran a private practice in which I coached people towards bringing their whole self to life, until I started writing about topics close to my heart.
In a decade, I wrote five books, four of which have been published in English. In Alight (2014), I describe three simple and highly effective methods of unmasking inner limitations that I applied almost daily in my private practice. The Eldest Daughter Effect (2015) I co-authored with one of my best friends, Wies Enthoven, who – yes – also is a firstborn and as it turned out our friendship is not a coincidence. The Childhood Conclusions Fix (2017) is the insightful theory of early psychiatrist William Reich and his character defense structures made easy. Childless Living (2019) has a deceptive title as this book contains my exploration into the seasons of life of the increasing number of us who have no children through choice or circumstance. The title of my next book is The Inner Life of Money and after two years of research, I am almost at the point of starting to write.
Aware of the steering power of money, I actively invest in companies that aim to be a force for good for the future of our continued existence on this planet. Thus, I helped start Impact Hub Amsterdam and was among the first investors in the online Ubiquity University as well as in the steward owned Sumthing platform. I also invest through funds like Goodwell, Burning Issues Impact Fund BIIF and the impact investment cooperative Pymwymic of which I currently serve as chair. In the cultural field, I have invested in Symphonic Cinema and serve as chair of the Boymans van Beuningen Basis Fonds.
I hold an MA from Leiden University in the Netherlands where I studied the Classics, and later obtained a BSc in Brennan Healing Science in the United States.
I am delighted to live in Amsterdam with my partner, painter Jos van Merendonk.