While I have over 15 years of experience working with data, my path to where I am now was anything but straight. In my early years, I studied philosophy and teaching, with designs on becoming a high school math teacher. But what I quickly discovered once in the workforce was that I actually had a strong passion and knack for analytics. In every work situation, I often found myself intuitively using data to make lists and reports to help my managers obtain unique insights into their operations. Eventually I made the decision to follow my passion and talent by taking a job in the Financial Controlling Department at Lidl Supermarkets where I further honed my skills by automating their reporting and controlling tasks.
While I had fully mastered data analytics techniques using my own “blackboard method” and “outside the box” thinking, it wasn’ t until I joined Corilus as a Business Intelligence Developer that I was able to place technical labels on all that I did. It was here where I also learned valuable professional business intelligence tools such as Qlikview. Combining my intuitive skills with newly acquired BI tool skills, I went on to build reports for all their internal departments, using their data to successfully improve their operations.
The final step in my growth towards becoming a Data Strategy specialist was taking a position at Deloitte (multinational professional services network), where I used my talent to help innovate and transform large corporations into analytics-driven businesses.
While I may have swayed far from my initial career path, my background in philosophy and teaching certainly continues to help me to be more effective at identifying key issues and opportunities in companies to put them on their most optimal track. My background has also trained me to have a huge curiosity about everything and to be able to easily talk to all sorts of folks – from artists to programmers - in English, Dutch, French or German. In addition, I’m quite comfortable speaking to very large groups in such a way that everyone from the tech specialist to salesperson can both clearly follow my presentation and be equally inspired by it.
In 2013, my daughter was born paralyzed from the knees down. At that moment, I made the decision to build my own business so that she will always have a job waiting for her, just in case she doesn’t find her place in the open job market. This was one of the driving forces for working at Deloitte. In this way, I could get to know the consulting business with the plan of eventually creating my own company. And it worked! I am now running my own successful data analytics business, helping companies to realize their dreams.
I’m usually with my family. They’re good for my ego as they tell me that I’m a really good singer and dancer. The rest of my free time is mainly spent being active and learning new things. I enjoy powerlifting, surfing, orienteering and trail running. I’ve even done an ultra-trail marathon – mud and all! My newest “corona project” is getting my motorcycle driver’s license. Oh, and the Dungeons and Dragons (Dnd)board game is one of my faves as I get to do what I love most - strategically plan, think ahead, and adapt my strategy as the game evolves.
