A bit of insight into past projects & learnings…
Breathe, Nomad Academy, Life Accelerator, Panache, Mindful Rave
INJOY
Cofounder | July 2021 - Aug 2022 |
At INJOY we facilitate trainings to connect teams. We use our facilitation expertise in creating connection to yourself, your team, and your organization. Our purpose is to expand awareness at work in playful presence. Injoy was an experiment to see if we could run a company by just focusing on our state of being. We had an office in the center of Amsterdam at Amstel 62. Started with Andrea Demmer, and further developed with Camille d’ Ansembourg and Otto Scholten.
We also organized 100-500 person online engagement events for companies. Introducing completely new practices such as meditation, deep democracy, non-violent communication, improv-comedy, yoga, piano, storytelling, & much more to companies.
As of Aug 2022: 3 intensive leadership programs, and 10+ online conferences
LEARNINGS
How to run and host online events for more than 200+ people, including tech and facilitation
How to record and create a podcast with more than 15 episodes
How to put trust in letting go and focus on the state of being of team
How to design and facilitate leadership trainings for individuals and teams
How to find and develop an office space into the perfect environment for events
BREATHE
Cofounder | March 2020 - September 2021 | www.breathe.org
Breathe is a purpose-driven, ultra-long-horizon investment company. Our aspiration is to invest in businesses that are or will become purpose-driven in order to create a positive impact on society and our planet in a fair and sustainable way. We are convinced that this will contribute to a more purpose-driven economic system and thus a more sustainable and resilient financial system. We worked together with a wonderful team developing all the Breathe concepts for the first 1,5 year. (Roland Slot (Initiated), Huib Morelisse, Sylvia Gillis, Sveinn Hrjobartson, Jan Rodenburg, Antoinette van Lier, Diederik de Groot).
As of July 2021: New governance & distribution structure developed. First platform: home.earth | www.home.earth
LEARNINGS
How to work with Holocracy to enable self-organization so that an organisation can have distributed & empowered leadership
How to build a purpose-driven governance system where all stakeholders are represented at the board level including society and planet
How to build & maintain a safe & empowered culture by learning from our experienced team members
How to run a dynamic compensation & value distribution system for flexible salary and equity distribution
How to work with a branding agency in developing an authentic brand and high quality website
How to get purpose & values integrated into every part of the organization
NOMAD ACADEMY
Co-founder & CMO | June 2017 - January 2020 |
Board Member | June 2017 - July 2021
Started in June with a mission to bring personal growth to young professionals. Three-month programs where 30 young professionals go through intense periods of personal & professional growth. They travel to 3 countries, over 3 months in SE ASIA, AFRICA, or LATIN AMERICA. During these 3 months, they follow and attend weekly personal growth workshops to understand their WHY, while following an in-depth course on Data Science, UX Design, or Entrepreneurship.
As of December 2019: 20,000+ applications, 175 Alumni from 44 different countries, 7 programs in three continents
LEARNINGS
How to start and build a business from a legal, contractual, financial, and human perspective. Build a business from scratch up to 14 employees.
How to run the full marketing & sales funnel. Lead the entire process from start to end. Creating 20 second ads, Facebook / Instagram Ads, funnel optimisation, website conversion, full CRM design, entire email marketing optimisation, running interviews & sales up - to receiving more than 20,000+ applications turning over more than 1M in revenue.
How to operationally lead on-site intense transformational experiences. Dealing with stressful situations, arranging housing, 3-day meditation retreats, fitness bootcamps, while giving personal coaching and workshops. Organising and running over 7 programs in Africa, SE Asia, and Latin America.
How to convince investors and pitch a business to raise funds. Leading all the conversations & paperwork for our first seed round. Raising our first seed round after the first year in operation.
Professional video shooting & editing. Creating 30+ videos during the first 3 years.
THE LIFE ACCELERATOR
Cofounder & CMO | September 2016 - September 2017
Started this business during my masters in Technology Entrepreneurship at UCL. A business with the purpose of bringing personal growth to students & young professionals. Promoting workshops across the campus, and partnering with speakers to organise workshops all across london.
LEARNINGS
How to develop a concept with customer research, over 100 people interviewed.
How to market & sell personal growth workshops. With many participants across workshops.
How to explore different opportunities in a market, including looking at B2C & B2B segments.
How to pitch to investors & present viable business plans.
And, projects that were more for fun.
PANACHE
6 editions | June 2017 - September 2022
4 day weekend in nature. A gathering of 25 to 85 friends from all over the world. Every person organizes a workshop for the rest of the group. With the purpose to share individual talents and inspire each other to go deeper.
MINDFUL RAVE
5 editions | September 2017 - September 2019
Bringing dance to your early morning routine. 7AM dance raves in parks all over London. Getting people connecting with dance and each other in the early morning. Organised together with Claire, Filo, & Sebastian.