My inner branding journey

Being born and raised in The Netherlands, in a highly competitive family, I learned to value and strive for success from a very young age. Next to playing sports at the highest national level, I dedicated my focus and attention to achieving the best results in my studies. I studied BSc International Business Administration and MSc Organisational Change and Consultancy with the sole intention of having a successful career perspective.

During my graduation thesis I quickly discovered that working within a corporate was not going to be my thing. I needed flexibility, freedom and autonomy. Even more so, I longed for creativity, authenticity and connection. Something that I found in my first job at a creative digital agency.

For 2,5 years I worked as a creative strategist for that agency before I decided to start on my own. I have worked as a freelancer for 7 years on projects for various international organisations, all strategy and marketing related. I was successful in it and for a couple of years that external recognition and validation was exactly what I needed.

It gave me the life I thought I wanted to live: all the (financial) freedom to travel the world and live in my own apartment like a young urban professional in the city centre of Amsterdam.

Yet, there was something missing. I felt empty and purposeless. I started searching and seeking and investing most of my time and money into personal growth & development processes. Those experiences brought me indescribably profound insights and understandings about myself and the relationship to my outer world and led me to a clarity and a calling that was too loud to ignore.