Journeys of Empowerment

#59 Owning life now!In this episode, I connected with Gabriela Alvarez Burgardt, a global inclusion leader now Global Senior Director People & Culture at House of Inclusion, whose life was reshaped by moments she never chose, yet chose to meet with intention.Raised in Brazil and long successful in international corporate roles, Gabriela’s life changed radically during pregnancy when she temporarily lost her sight, followed years later by a near-fatal Covid experience. Those moments forced a reckoning with time, values and agency. Instead of retreating, she chose to move forward consciously. Today she lives in the Netherlands, working at the intersection of inclusion, leadership and lived experience, helping people and organisations move from survival to dignity, from comfort to courage. Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 living with urgency: choosing intention over waiting;👉🏾 disability and dignity: navigating a world not built for everyone;👉🏾 identity and work: reclaiming agency after life disruption;👉🏾 inclusion beyond labels: belonging as a human need;👉🏾 courage in action: showing up fully, even when it hurts;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 life is now, not later;🙌🏾 discomfort can be a doorway, not a threat;🙌🏾 owning your story changes how you live;Gabriela’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “I didn’t choose what happened to me, but I chose what I did with it”Books mentioned:📚 Courage: seven choices for living a life without regret (referenced as a resonant lens on regret and intentional living)Closing reflection:If time were no longer guaranteed, what choice would you stop postponing?Connect with Gabriela:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriela-alvarez-burgardt/ Website: https://www.house-of-inclusion.com  Learn more about our sponsor:https://reinforcer.ai helps leaders turn everyday feedback into measurable behavior change, right where work actually happens.

#58 Living without regret!A deep dive with Christopher O.H. Williams, NACD.DC, a writer of C.O.U.R.A.G.E: 7 Choices for Living a Life Without Regret, thinker and former global corporate leader who has spent much of his life wrestling with one quiet but persistent question: What does it really take to live without regret?Born in Sierra Leone and educated in the United States, Christopher built an impressive international career. Yet somewhere along the way, success stopped feeling like alignment. In 2018, that inner tension became impossible to ignore. What followed was a deep personal reckoning that led him to step away from corporate life and write his book Courage, not as theory, but as lived inquiry. His journey moves through identity, power, silence and responsibility, and always returns to agency. Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Courage versus fear: why knowing is not the same as acting;👉🏾 Regret: the quiet cost of postponing what matters;👉🏾 Agency and identity: reclaiming ownership of your life;👉🏾 Leadership and integrity: doing well without losing yourself;👉🏾 Joy and resilience: why courage needs lightness to last;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Courage needs something meaningful to work for;🙌🏾 Silence often becomes regret;🙌🏾 Joy reduces risk more than we realise;Christopher’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “I wish I’d had the courage to live the life I wanted, not the life expected of me”Books mentioned:📚 Courage: seven choices for living a life without regretClosing reflection:Where in your life do you already know what needs to change, yet still hesitate to act?Connect with Christopher:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherowilliams/ Website: https://www.christopherowilliams.com/book  Learn more about our sponsor:https://reinforcer.ai helps leaders turn everyday feedback into measurable behavior change, right where work actually happens.

#57 Unapologetically becoming self!In this episode, I connected with Rumailah Burden-Tuuk, a woman whose life has been shaped by courage, responsibility and an unwavering commitment to stay true to herself. We met in a crowded room at Microsoft NL and something in her presence stood out immediately. This conversation reveals why :)Rumailah grew up as the daughter of Filipino immigrants, became a mother at nineteen and was underestimated more times than she can count. Instead of shrinking, she chose to play big. Today she works as an AI advisory solution consultant at ServiceNow, translating complexity into clarity while holding a deep ethical compass around technology, leadership and human dignity. Her journey is one of survival turning into purpose, ambition grounded in gratitude and success shaped by values rather than titles. Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 becoming a mother young: responsibility as a catalyst for growth;👉🏾 unapologetic selfhood: refusing to play small to fit in;👉🏾 intuition and courage: knowing when to walk away;👉🏾 women in tech: navigating power, credibility and voice;👉🏾 ethical AI: engineering with integrity and care;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 your starting point does not define your ceiling;🙌🏾 intuition is a skill you can learn to trust;🙌🏾 success means nothing without peace;Rumailah’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “I am becoming my truest self”Book mentioned:📚 The rhythm of life: living intentionally and in gratitudeClosing reflection:Where in your life are you still dimming yourself to belong, and what might change if you chose yourself instead?Connect with Rumailah:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rumailahburden/ Website: https://www.servicenow.com  Learn more about our sponsor:https://reinforcer.ai helps leaders turn everyday feedback into measurable behavior change, right where work actually happens.

#56 What if it all works out?In this episode, I connected with Mirjam Heldmann, a trail ultrarunner and deep democracy facilitator whose life bridges intensity, intuition and the steady work of becoming fully herself. Raised in the German Alps and adopted as a baby, Mirjam grew up with loving Buddhist parents and a deep sensitivity she could feel long before she understood. Running entered her life at fourteen as a way to regulate her nervous system and return to herself, and it grew into both a physical practice and a spiritual anchor. Today she combines her work at Oxfam Novib with Vox Agora, where she facilitates conflict resolution and cultural transformation through deep democracy.Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Becoming fully herself: following yearly themes like self love and what if it all works out;👉🏾 Adoption and identity: the unseen layers of trust, belonging and the complexity of both;👉🏾 Deep democracy: learning to work with what is said and unsaid in groups;👉🏾 The body as compass: running, breath and ice baths as pathways back to presence;👉🏾 Love and safety: how a deeply safe relationship changed her inner landscape;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 The body often knows long before the mind understands;🙌🏾 Belonging begins within when no place feels fully yours;🙌🏾 Trust grows when you stay with the discomfort instead of checking out;Mirjam’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “What if it actually all works out....”Mirjam’s story invites a quiet shift:What would change in your life if you allowed yourself to trust the possibility that it might all work out?Connect with Mirjam:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirjam-heldmann/ Website: https://www.voxagora.org Learn more about our sponsor:https://reinforcer.ai/home/ helps leaders turn everyday feedback into measurable behavior change, right where work actually happens.

#55: Standing strong in the light!This time I sat down with Susan Vrolijk, whose story carries both the softness of island life and the weight of a childhood marked by silence, survival and a long road toward healing. Born in Curaçao to Aruban parents, Susan grew up between cultures languages and expectations, with a childhood shaped by warmth and family rituals and also by one of the deepest wounds: sexual abuse at a very young age. What followed was years of independence, imagination as escape and the instinct to protect her mother by staying strong. Only much later did she find the words for what had happened and the courage to begin her healing.Susan speaks with clarity, honesty and an unwavering sense of faith. Therapy, family constellations and her spiritual walk brought her to a place where she can now speak about forgiveness without bitterness and about pain as a place of formation, not definition. Today she is focused on connection, happiness at work and helping others find the freedom to stand in their own light.Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Growing up in Curaçao: color, culture, language and early responsibility;👉🏾 Survival and imagination: creating inner worlds to cope with trauma;👉🏾 The long path of healing: therapy, family constellations and rebuilding safety;👉🏾 Faith as anchor: finding identity and stability through spirituality;👉🏾 Becoming who she was designed to be: from fear to freedom;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Healing is not linear, but every layer brings you closer to your true self;🙌🏾 Pain can shape you without owning you;🙌🏾 Standing in your light is an act of courage, not comfort;Susan’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “I’m becoming the woman I was designed to be”Books mentioned📚 Tale of Three Kings: lessons on leadership and humility;📚 Tears by Dr. Michael Williamson: the forming power of pain;Susan’s story invites a quiet question: where have you been dimming your own light and what becomes possible when you let it shine?Connect with Susan:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-vrolijk/  Learn more about our sponsor:https://reinforcer.ai/home/ helps leaders turn everyday feedback into measurable behavior change, right where work actually happens.

#54: The art of meaningful connection!My conversation with Belén Hein unfolded as a quiet exploration of identity, movement and the inner compass that guides us through change. Born in Argentina, shaped by Germany and the United States, and now rooted in Utrecht, Belen carries a life marked by transitions. Those shifts taught her to build home from within and to meet the world with openness and curiosity rather than fear.Belén spent seven years as co-founder of Neurolytics, where she blended psychology, technology and a deep belief in human potential. Leaving her own company was a heartbreak but also a turning point. It led her back to the core of what energizes her: building, aligning teams, turning strategy into action and making workplaces more human through honest interaction. Her story carries the tension between ambition and loss, motherhood and identity, vulnerability and determination!Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Building Neurolytics: translating science into a fairer recruitment process;👉🏾 Leaving her startup: grief, clarity and learning to trust the next step;👉🏾 The power of meaningful connections: how her late mother shaped her understanding of presence and care;👉🏾 Tools for inner clarity: writing as reflection and conversations as mirrors;👉🏾 Adaptability across cultures: choosing home and learning to accept what is and what isn’t;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Clarity rarely arrives by itself. You create it through reflection and honest conversation;🙌🏾 Adaptation is not about losing yourself. It is about finding the version of you that meets life as it is;🙌🏾 The smallest interactions can carry the biggest impact when you bring presence into them;Belen’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “You can be fine and happy wherever you are. You just have to accept what is and what isn’t”Belén’s journey invites a gentle question:Where in your life can you slow down long enough to really be present with another human being?Connect with Belén :Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/belenhein/ Learn more about our sponsor: https://reinforcer.ai/home/ helps leaders turn everyday feedback into measurable behavior change, right where work actually happens.

#53: Leading with heart in a world built on head!An open conversation with Jamila van de Voort, founder of ChangewithJamila, whose journey moves from early survival into a grounded vision for a more human way of working. After more than a decade in change and transformation roles she saw how strategy fails when people feel unseen. Her own life taught her what fear instability and hypervigilance do to a child and how resilience becomes a way of navigating the world. All of that shaped The Love Strategy: a framework built on empathy openness resilience and collaboration.Jamila grew up between cultures and homes, often carrying responsibilities far beyond her age. That sensitivity became both her burden and her gift: the ability to walk into a room and sense exactly what is happening beneath the surface. Later she walked the long path of infertility and IVF, found her own way through it, and became a mother of two daughters she now sees as her greatest joy. Her work is not theoretical. It is lived experience translated into a way of leading that honours emotion, truth and human connection.Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 The Love Strategy: a human-centred way of working built on empathy openness resilience and collaboration;👉🏾 Survival and sensitivity: how instability shaped her ability to read people and patterns;👉🏾 Infertility and resilience: reclaiming her path after years of IVF;👉🏾 Turning wounds into leadership: transforming hypervigilance into grounded presence;👉🏾 Heart-to-heart conversations: why safe connection is the real catalyst for change;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 You can rise from survival into creation when you learn to listen to your body🙌🏾 Hardship shapes you, but your response is where your power begins🙌🏾 Empathy is not soft, it is courageous and transformativeJamila’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “If our world had even one percent more empathy, we could create a whole new planet”Books mentioned;📚 Bob de Wit: Strategy an international perspective;📚 Frederic Laloux: Reinventing Organizations: human-centred ways of working;Where in your work or life are you still leading from the head and what might open if the heart was allowed in?Connect with Jamila:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamila-van-de-voort-77996a2/ Company website: https://www.changewithjamila.nl A word from our sponsor:Great strategies don’t fail because of process they fail when behavior doesn’t align. Neotopia helps teams turn awareness into lasting change through behavior that moves people forward: https://neotopia.nl      

#52 Returning to the true you!In this episode, I connected with Bea Salomma, whose path moves from corporate leadership into a life shaped by intuition creativity and the courage to rebuild identity from within. Bea began her career in advertising but stepped into an entirely new chapter when a layoff pushed her toward fashion and later toward guiding women to express their true selves through style. Her journey holds themes of identity rebirth motherhood playfulness and the slow return to who she always was beneath the labels.She grew up in Poland and built her first life there until she moved to the Netherlands at thirty six. In that new chapter she studied fashion began a fresh career and shaped the Icon Framework, a method that blends psychology color energy and deep listening. Her story is grounded and human and reminds us that you only need one step to begin again.Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Identity without labels: how she moved from defining herself through roles to owning the simple answer I am;👉🏾 Motherhood and selfhood: navigating the identity shift that arrives with becoming a mother and finding a bridge back to herself;👉🏾 The ICON Framework: guiding women to dress their vision and claim their visibility;👉🏾 Empowering beliefs: why everything is possible became her internal North Star;👉🏾 Playfulness rediscovered: how style helped her reconnect with the parts she had hidden;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Returning to yourself asks for courage and also for softness;🙌🏾 Your style can be a bridge between who you were who you are now and who you are becoming;🙌🏾 Change begins the moment you trust the quiet yes inside your body more than the fear in your mind!Bea’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “Everything is possible”Bea’s story invites one simple question:Where in your life are you still wearing the safe version of yourself and what might open if you allowed something more truthful to take its place?Connect with Bea:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bea-salomma-brand-stylist/ Company website: https://www.beasalomma.com  🎁 A gift for listeners: https://beataimagecoach.lpages.co/million-dollar-style-elements-evergreen/An exclusive masterclass on refining your personal brand style so your presence matches your next-level impact and positions you as the obvious choice for high-stakes opportunities:A word from our sponsor: https://neotopia.nl                   Great strategies don’t fail because of process they fail when behavior doesn’t align. Neotopia helps teams turn awareness into lasting change through behavior that moves people forward.And to all Men who want to be part of the next Women’s Health at Work session on December 3rd can find all details and registration here:👉🏾 https://luma.com/e7z1sxbv           

#51: When dedication meets vulnerability!In this episode, I connected with Sabine Bakkum CEO and founder of VitsAll®, whose journey moves between high performance, resilience and a very human search for balance. From growing up in a family of doctors to pursuing elite gymnastics from the age of four to becoming an entrepreneur at twenty three, her path carries both discipline and vulnerability.She trained more than twenty hours a week, broke bones, chased perfection and still believed she wasn’t good enough. Leaving gymnastics pushed her into a long stretch of identity searching. At the same time her own endometriosis was dismissed as stress for years. Through it all she built VitsAll with the same drive she had in sport, but now with a deeper understanding of what vitality really asks of us!Deep dive talking points:👉🏾Movement and meaning: how elite sport shaped her drive and her blind spots;👉🏾 Vitality at work: why habits, fun and maintenance matter more than quick fixes;👉🏾 Endometriosis: speaking up after years of not being heard;👉🏾 Identity beyond achievement: quitting gymnastics and rebuilding from zero;👉🏾 Building VitsAll: turning personal experience into purpose driven entrepreneurship;Nuggets of empowerment🙌🏾 Sometimes the bravest step is simply saying this is my limit and choosing a different path;🙌🏾 Strength without softness collapses, strength with softness becomes sustainable;🙌🏾 You can dream big and still take small steps every day. They are not opposites, they are the way forward!In Sabine’s empowering words:"Everyone has a story and it is okay to be not fine and to speak about it"Sabine’s story is a reminder that dedication can take you far, but honesty with yourself will take you deeper. Maybe the question to sit with after listening is this: 👉🏾 where in your own life is it time to stop pushing and start listening to what your body has been trying to tell you?Join Journeys of Empowerment and stay close to these weekly stories of resilience and purpose!Connect with Sabine:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabine-bakkum/ Company website: https://vitsall.com A word from our sponsor: https://neotopia.nl                  Great strategies don’t fail because of process they fail when behavior doesn’t align. Neotopia helps teams turn awareness into lasting change through behavior that moves people forward.And to all Men who want to be part of the next Women’s Health at Work session on December 3rd can find all details and registration here:👉🏾. https://luma.com/e7z1sxbv              

#51: What if joy was never meant to be postponed?In this episode, I sat down with Lara Ferreira 🍄, founder of Mindful Experiences, a platform that helps individuals and organizations rediscover balance, purpose and joy through mindfulness, embodiment and conscious microdosing. After more than a decade in global corporate roles across LATAM and Europe, burnout forced Lara to pause and realign her life. Her journey is one of unbecoming, letting go of the roles and beliefs that no longer served her.And learning to live from presence rather than performance!Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Unbecoming and alignment: releasing the parts shaped by expectations and rediscovering her true self;👉🏾 From burnout to balance: how her body became the first messenger that change was needed;👉🏾 The role of microdosing: how psilocybin helped quiet mental noise and restore inner clarity;👉🏾 Feminine and masculine energy: learning to flow and receive after years of chasing and achieving;👉🏾 Joy as a practice: designing life and work around playfulness, purpose and mindful presence!Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Sometimes unbecoming is the bravest path to becoming whole;🙌🏾 Healing begins when we stop performing and start listening to what life is asking from us;🙌🏾 Joy is not a reward for success, it is the compass that shows the way!Lara’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “Be the star of your own life show and not a guest in others”Books mentioned:📚 Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: exploring purpose, suffering and the inner will to live.📚 Inner Mastery, Outer Impact by Hitendra Wadhwa: a guide to leading from mindfulness and self-realization.👉🏾 Lara’s story reminds us that balance is not found by slowing down but by tuning in. It invites us to ask: what if fulfillment isn’t about doing more, but allowing ourselves to simply be.Connect with Lara:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferreiralara/  Company website: https://mindfulexp.com A word from our sponsor: https://neotopia.nl                  Great strategies don’t fail because of process they fail when behavior doesn’t align. Neotopia helps teams turn awareness into lasting change through behavior that moves people forward.And to all Men who want to be part of the next Women’s Health at Work session on December 3rd can find all details and registration here:👉🏾 https://luma.com/e7z1sxbv      

#49: Can happiness be rebuilt after everything falls apart?In this episode, I connected with Nuthan Manohar, a happiness researcher, two-time TEDx speaker and founder of Me Met Me and The Happiness Tour.Once a corporate strategist leading global projects across Asia Pacific, Nuthan’s world came undone through depression, anxiety and chronic insomnia. What emerged is a life devoted to helping others reconnect with joy and resilience through science-backed, sensory-rich experiences.Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 The anatomy of happiness: why joy is not a mood but a practice rooted in awareness and physiology;👉🏾 Falling apart to awaken: how burnout and insomnia became Nuthan’s teachers;👉🏾 Embodied science: the bridge between neuroscience, Ayurveda and lived experience;👉🏾 Designing happiness: creating immersive experiences that transform well-being at work and in life;👉🏾 Courage to be gentle: redefining strength through compassion and self-trust;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 True happiness is not found in intensity but in consistency;🙌🏾 Gentleness can be the most radical form of strength;🙌🏾 Healing begins the moment we stop performing wellness and start living it!Nuthan’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “When your nervous system feels safe, happiness becomes your default state”Books mentioned:📚 The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor: exploring how positive psychology fuels performance and success;📚 The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk: a foundational work on trauma and the wisdom of the body;👉🏾 Nuthan’s story reminds us that happiness is not the absence of pain but the presence of safety. It asks each of us: what does your body need to finally feel at home!Connect with Nuthan:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nuthanmanohar/ Company website: https://www.thehappinesstour.nl A word from our sponsor: https://neotopia.nl                 Great strategies don’t fail because of process they fail when behavior doesn’t align. Neotopia helps teams turn awareness into lasting change through behavior that moves people forward.And to all Men who want to be part of the next Women’s Health at Work session on December 3rd can find all details and registration here:👉🏾 https://luma.com/e7z1sxbv        

#48: What if coming home means returning to where your story began?In this episode, I connected with Hartini Kandari, a Dutch-Indonesian therapist, author and musician whose journey moves between loss and belonging. Born in Indonesia and adopted to the Netherlands at four months old, she lost her cultural identity overnight only to spend decades finding her way back. Today, as she prepares to remigrate to Bali, her story bridges healing, heritage and faith.Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Adoption and identity: how language, smell and ancestry shape belonging beyond nationality;👉🏾 The body remembers: early loss expressed through tension, skin and voice before words could catch up;👉🏾 The therapy of music: violin as her first language of connection and resilience;👉🏾 Writing through wounds: creating her book 𝗔𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗲 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 to help adoptees reflect, heal and feel seen;👉🏾 Faith and homecoming: rediscovering God, roots and rest after decades of inner restlessness!Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Healing isn’t about fixing what’s broken it’s about remembering what’s whole;🙌🏾 Sometimes our restlessness is a compass pointing us back to where our story began;🙌🏾 Real connection starts when we stop performing and begin allowing ourselves to feel!Hartini’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “With ACT therapy we don’t aim to heal what’s broken because we are not broken we learn psychological flexibility”Books mentioned:📚 Adoptie Impact: invites adoptees to pause, embrace both gratitude and grief, and gently reclaim their place by giving every feeling the space to exist!📚 The Primal Wound by Nancy Verrier: a foundational work on the separation trauma experienced by adoptees.👉🏾 Hartini’s path invites a question that lingers beyond adoption: What happens when we finally return physically emotionally spiritually to the place that once felt lost? Sometimes the journey home is less about geography and more about remembering who we’ve always been.Connect with Hartini:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hartini-kandari-75105844/  Company website: https://www.hartini.nl   A word from our sponsor: https://neotopia.nl                Great strategies don’t fail because of process they fail when behavior doesn’t align. Neotopia helps teams turn awareness into lasting change through behavior that moves people forward.And to all Men who want to be part of the next Women’s Health at Work session on December 3rd can find all details and registration here:👉🏾 https://luma.com/e7z1sxbv         

#47: What if loving yourself could become an act of service?In this episode, I've had an amazing convo with Samantha V.P. Noten, a Dutch-Surinamese artist whose Ikigai-inspired creations bridge art, self-love and soulful connection. Her journey has moved through loss, anger and awakening, from corporate life and caretaking roles to a deeper calling as a visual guide who helps others remember they are enough. Through her intricate pen-and-ink symbols, Sam translates emotion into reflection, creating art that reminds people to return to their essence.Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 The language of symbols: how each drawing becomes a mirror for self-awareness and healing;👉🏾 Art as a compass: tracing her path from corporate structures to intuitive creation;👉🏾 The ripple effect of self-love: how one person’s inner alignment can inspire change in others;👉🏾 Guidance and ancestry: being led by unseen wisdom from her roots and nature;👉🏾 People first leadership: why empathy and emotional intelligence redefine what management can be!Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Self-love is not selfish. It is the foundation that allows you to love others freely;🙌🏾 What you create through alignment ripples far beyond your intention;🙌🏾 Every act of gentleness toward yourself is a quiet revolution against the noise;Sam’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “You are enough. My art is a reminder to be kind to yourself and to love who you are"Books mentioned:📚 Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles: exploring the intersection of purpose, joy, and contribution.👉🏾 𝗦𝗮𝗺’𝘀 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: it is the beginning of connection. When we dare to see our own light, we help others remember theirs!Connect with Sam:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samnoten/  Company website: https://samnoten.com/over-mij/   A word from our sponsor: https://neotopia.nl               Great strategies don’t fail because of process they fail when behavior doesn’t align. Neotopia helps teams turn awareness into lasting change through behavior that moves people forward.And to all Men who want to be part of the next Women’s Health at Work session on December 3rd can find all details and registration here:👉🏾 https://luma.com/e7z1sxbv  

#46 Isabel’s journey of becoming: what if leadership begins when women reclaim their own voice and redefine success on their terms?In this episode, I connected with Isabel Fonseca: leadership coach, founder of Nextfem Leaders School, and a someone who has turned loss and transition into a powerful mission of empowerment. Born in Uruguay and with a career that began in finance, Isabel’s journey has woven together corporate strength and spiritual depth. Her story is one of grief transformed into growth, of intuition reclaimed, and of helping women in corporate spaces lead with confidence, clarity and authenticity.Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Becoming her: exploring the constant evolution of self, holding both presence and vision;👉🏾 Women in leadership: redefining what it means to lead as a woman, not as a man;👉🏾 Grief as alchemy: turning life’s hardest moments into a deeper love of life;👉🏾 Friendship as chosen family: redefining who shows up in both highs and lows;👉🏾 Courage and compassion: navigating the liminal stage between who we are and who we are becoming.Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Embracing discomfort is often the doorway to growth, not something to avoid;🙌🏾 True empowerment begins when we learn to have our own back and become our own best fan;🙌🏾 Putting ourselves first is not selfish but an act of service to the world we want to shape;Isabel’s empowering quote:“Cultivate the courage and the compassion to go through that in-between that we are now”Books mentioned:📚 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: a reminder to pursue dreams and transform challenges into gold;📚 Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza: sometimes the right book arrives when we are ready;📚 Warrior Goddess Training by HeatherAsh Amara: integrating masculine and feminine energies;📚 Playing Big by Tara Mohr: for women who want to speak up, stand out and lead;Isabel’s story invites us to look at the liminal spaces in our own lives—the in-betweens where change brews quietly and discomfort holds possibility. What might shift if you fell a little more in love with that in-between?Connect with Isabel:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabel-fonseca-coaching/ Company website: https://www.isabelfonseca.com   A word from our sponsor: https://neotopia.nl          Great strategies don’t fail because of process, they fail when behavior doesn’t follow. Neotopia helps teams turn change into lasting action, through positive reinforcement that actually sticks.   

#45 Veroniek’s quest for presence: what if real success begins when you stop ticking boxes and start listening within?In this episode, I connected with Veroniek Vermeulen, founder of Silatha, who turned her own search for meaning into a mission to bring more psychological safety into workplaces. Moving from a career in engineering and corporate leadership to meditation retreats and entrepreneurship, Veroniek is reshaping conversations around taboo topics and creating cultures where people can show up as their full selves.Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Breaking taboos: why topics like menopause, monthly cycles, and men’s emotions belong in the workplace;👉🏾 Psychological safety: the invisible Wi-Fi every organization depends on;👉🏾 From ticking boxes to presence: leaving the picture-perfect life behind;👉🏾 Meditation and monasteries: lessons from sitting with pain and living in the now;👉🏾 Leading with respect: why dignity and connection must guide change.Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Real change begins when you dare to sit with discomfort instead of avoiding it.🙌🏾 Psychological safety is not a one-off workshop, it is a cultural foundation that requires ongoing care.🙌🏾 Presence is not found in achieving more but in learning to let go and simply be.Veroniek’s empowering quote:“I would love we really treat every human with dignity and respect”Books mentioned:📚 Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl: a timeless reflection on freedom and response to life.📚 Go Figure by Lisa Falco: a powerful exploration of women’s bodies through science and storytelling.📚 The Female Body Bible: understanding and living in tune with the female body.📚 The Authority Gap: uncovering gender bias and pathways toward equity.📚 Humankind by Rutger Bregman: a hopeful case for the goodness of people.What if the freedom you seek isn’t in proving yourself but in allowing yourself to simply be human?Connect with Veroniek:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veroniek/ Company website: https://silatha.com   A word from our sponsor: https://neotopia.nl          Great strategies don’t fail because of process, they fail when behavior doesn’t follow. Neotopia helps teams turn change into lasting action, through positive reinforcement that actually sticks.   

#44 Alexandra’s leap into entrepreneurship: what if trust was the missing bridge between promise and product?In this episode, I connected with Alexandra van Viegen, founder of Onboardly, a company reimagining how SaaS businesses keep momentum after the sale. With a background in mathematics and machine learning and as a mother of three, Alexandra made the leap from corporate stability into the unpredictable world of startups. Her journey is rooted in resilience and fueled by an intrinsic drive to build not only a business but a model of trust, relationships and self-care that her children can look up to!Deep dive talking points:👉🏾 Onboarding as the bridge: why customer success begins the moment a deal is signed;👉🏾 Breaking the chain: fixing the trust gap between sales handover and customer success;👉🏾 Habits and relationships: embedding human connection into scalable SaaS growth;👉🏾 Taking the leap: moving from corporate stability to the unknown of entrepreneurship;👉🏾 Extreme self-care: showing her children that choosing yourself can make you a better parent.Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 Growth starts with trust not with automation;🙌🏾 A successful day is defined by taking action that opens the next door;🙌🏾 Extreme self-care is a foundation for serving others fully.Alexandra’s empowering quote:🙌🏾 “I think I would be most proud 20 years from now that my children say their mother chose for herself”Book mentioned:📚 The Lean Startup by Eric Ries: the spark that turned reflection into action.Connect with Alexandra:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vvalex/ Company website: https://onboardly.tech A word from our sponsor: https://neotopia.nl    Great strategies don’t fail because of process, they fail when behavior doesn’t follow. Neotopia helps teams turn change into lasting action, through positive reinforcement that actually sticks.   What if the real key to sustainable growth isn’t in more technology but in honoring the promises we make to one another?

✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ - Episode 43What if showing up exactly as you are is the most powerful thing you can offer?In this episode, I had the honor of sitting down with Salmaan Sana, facilitator, trainer and infinite student of connection and purpose. His story is a gentle yet profound invitation to shift from performance to presence, from doing to being.In our conversation, we explored the small but powerful moments that shape our lives and work, from picking up your child while moderating a big event, to letting go of ego just before stepping on stage.What we explored:👉🏾 Authenticity in action: redefining professionalism through human presence;👉🏾 Parenting with purpose: letting our kids shape who we become;👉🏾 Community and connection: building spaces for non-transactional relationships;👉🏾 Worthiness and ego: trusting that you are enough, exactly as you are;👉🏾 Spiritual growth: finding meaning through books, belief and self-compassion;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 "Presence is more powerful than performance. True impact comes from being real, not perfect"🙌🏾 "You don’t need to earn your worthiness. It’s already within you"🙌🏾 #Slow is not weak, It’s where the real listening, living and growing happens;Books mentioned:📚 The Alchemist | Paulo Coelho📚 Conversations with God | Neale Donald Walsch📚 The Untethered Soul | Michael A. Singer📚 The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People | Stephen Covey📚 The Power of Now | Eckhart Tolle📚 A New Earth | Eckhart Tolle📚 Humankind | Rutger BregmanConnect with Salmaan:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salmaansana/ Company website: https://salmaansana.com A word from our sponsor:Great strategies fail without the right behavior.See how positive reinforcement turns change into measurable results.Learn more: https://neotopia.nl  What might happen if you showed up this week with more presence than pressure?

#42 Vassia’s work to normalize loneliness: what if loneliness wasn’t a sign that something is wrong, but a signal that something deeper is ready to be seen?In this episode, I connected with Vassia Sarantopoulou, founder of Anti Loneliness, a practice that’s grown from a solo effort to a thriving team of 12 psychologists supporting internationals around the world. Through her own journey as a therapist and expat, Vassia is reframing the narrative around loneliness, burnout and the high cost of perfectionism.What we explored:👉🏾 Loneliness as signal: breaking stigma and naming what so many silently feel;👉🏾 Perfectionism & performance: the inner toll of conditional self-worth;👉🏾 Therapy for therapists: why healing the healer is part of the work;👉🏾 Building Anti Loneliness: scaling a mission from pain to purpose;👉🏾 The human side of helping: boundaries, supervision and running a heart-led business!Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 “You can be high-functioning and still feel like you’re failing especially when perfection is your standard”🙌🏾 “Healing isn’t fixing it’s remembering who you were before you thought you had to earn love”🙌🏾 “Loneliness doesn’t make you broken. It makes you human!”Book mentioned:📚 “Locked in work mode” (upcoming), Vassia’s forthcoming book on perfectionism, self-worth and reclaiming authenticity!Connect with Vassia:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassia-sarantopoulou/ Company website: https://www.antiloneliness.com A word from our sponsor:Great strategies fail without the right behavior.See how positive reinforcement turns change into measurable results.Learn more: https://neotopia.nl   What if your need to be perfect is actually a call to be more fully yourself?

#41 Elisa’s Journey to integration: some people walk through fire. Others learn how to turn the ashes into meaning.In this episode which marks the 🥳1 year anniversary🥳 of ✨Journeys of Empowerment✨, I sat down with:Elisa Viaud, organizational psychologist, therapist and someone who knows what it means to carry complexity and create from it. From growing up as a cultural outlier to navigating burnout at Tesla and personal healing from early trauma, Elisa's story is a rich tapestry of dualities: pain and hope, intellect and emotion, light and dark. Her work is about weaving them together.What we explored:👉🏾 Pain as catalyst: transforming personal wounds into creative power;👉🏾 Belonging vs. fitting in: why embracing your outlier identity matters;👉🏾 Cognitive diversity: how multiple perspectives fuel real innovation;👉🏾 Integrity in complexity: standing in truth without polarizing others;👉🏾 Spiritual grounding in a corporate world: what she carried from Uber and Tesla into her own practice;Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 “Awareness is half the work once you see clearly, you begin to heal”🙌🏾 “Pain doesn’t disappear when ignored, it transforms when acknowledged”🙌🏾 “You don’t have to become someone else to be accepted. You have to become more of yourself”Books mentioned:📚 The Body Keeps the Score | Bessel van der Kolk📚 It Didn’t Start with You | Mark Wolynn📚 The Courage to Be Disliked | Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga📚 Happy Oysters | Rubem AlvesConnect with Elisa:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisaviaud-orgpsychologist/ Company website: https://elisaviaud.com A word from our sponsor:Great strategies fail without the right behavior.See how positive reinforcement turns change into measurable results.Learn more: https://neotopia.nl  Which part of yourself are you still trying to hide or fix, when it might be the very thing that holds your pearl?

✨Journeys of Empowerment✨ - Episode 40Simone’s rebellious rise in tech: some careers follow a roadmap. Others are built by those who dare to redraw the map entirely.In this episode, I had the chance to speak with Simone Mink, Product Operations Lead at Mendix and a self-described “rebel with a cause” Her path from leisure management to tech leadership is anything but linear and that’s exactly what makes it powerful. Her story invites us to embrace discomfort, show up fully and redefine success from the inside out.What we explored:👉🏾 From leisure to low-code: how a creative thesis at the zoo opened a door to tech;👉🏾 Reframing burnout: what it taught her about boundaries, energy and self-worth;👉🏾 Vulnerability as strength: the power of showing emotion, even on a keynote stage;👉🏾 Neurodivergence & advocacy: creating space for difference in tech and leadership;👉🏾 Redefining success: letting go of external validation and embracing her own pace!Nuggets of empowerment:🙌🏾 “You don’t need permission to take up space. You already belong”🙌🏾 “Self-worth grows when you stop outsourcing it”🙌🏾 “Discomfort isn’t a warning sign, it’s often the path to growth!”Connect with Simone:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonemink-lowcode-digitaltransformation/ A word from our sponsor: Great strategies fail without the right behavior.See how positive reinforcement turns change into measurable results.Learn more: https://neotopia.nl   Where in your life are you still seeking approval you no longer need?