Who was/is your Role Model and why?

My role model is José Woldring, founder of The Media Nanny, a PR-firm for artists, events and brands. She was one of the first people I met when trying to enter the music industry, and I have been following her journey as a female entrepreneur while being a mom of 2 kids ever since.

She inspires me to dream big and shows how it’s possible to combine having a family and a private life while working hard and achieving great things. Furthermore, she has built a company where most employees are female, which stimulates women to enter this business. José is also actively sharing her knowledge and experiences in panels during conferences such as ADE. Altogether, she has become a role model for women in the creative industry. I hope that I can keep learning more from her in the future.

What advice would give your 17 year old (or younger) self, reflecting on your personal or professional  challenges, experiences or successes?

As I’m 21 years old now, I vividly remember what I was doing when I was 17. I was already active in the same industry I'm working in now, trying to be as proactive as possible in making new connections and learning from everyone around me. 

When visiting conferences or events, you meet a lot of new people of different companies. Some say that in the creative industry ‘your network is your net worth’ so it’s important to maintain all these connections. Even though I realised this, I’d advise my younger self to catalog and maintain this network even better and reach out more frequently, especially during Covid. Also, I could have made more effort to write down my other experiences and personal achievements, so I can look back on my journey.

The abovementioned advice is very specific. However, in general I’d say to my younger self ‘Keep doing what you’re doing and always give 100%’. I have been in situations where I believe others underestimated me and my abilities, whether that is because of my age or maybe because I am a woman. The music industry is a male-dominated business and unfortunately women are also not always supportive towards each other, so you definitely have to keep working hard to position yourself.