I had no idea where to begin with this new world of entrepreneuring. After my accident in 2021 I simply started to slowly move back into society and tried to find something closer to my passions than my previous activities. I had lost most of my connections to my old job, I was relatively new in town (not counting the pandemic) and I had nowhere to begin. A friend simply recommended me to try something she thought would suit my personality well: Improvisation Theater at EasyLaughs Amsterdam.
The workshop was amazing! I felt this was something I had missed at work and in life. It was nourishing for my soul. For someone who had just learned how to walk again, this was within reach of my capacity and challenged me mentally more than physically. It was great to interact with other people, while being proactively creative in building imagined scenarios. This experience was a basis for my new plan for life. A career and life based on being free to share the stories and ideas I want to share.
I spent the next year talking to a career coach, who helped me pinpoint the things that made it hard for me to find the right job in the last decades. I discovered that the role I was born for was that of a trainer, facilitator or teacher. It is a role I had experienced as a judo/jiu jitsu teacher, as a researcher and eventually as a trainer during the Corona pandemic. It was very interesting taking a look at my CV from the perspective of a values and roles, rather than just a compilation of achievements.
Additionally, one of the things I was most proud of during my studies was not even related to what I studied. It was facilitating the Science Quiz with a wonderful committee back in 2011 – a decade before my accident. The event involved the three technical universities of the Netherlands and a bunch of celebrities and political figures. Bringing people together for something bigger than just one University. It felt like combining entertainment and education on a big stage (see vid below!)
I always presumed life was just a question of adhering to school, university and then rolling into some job that fit my academic profile. That was my parents’ dream though, not mine. My dream was to tell my stories, share my emotions and make people smile. Sadly that was always discouraged by parents, school and my surroundings. As a result, I kept it all under a tight lid, buried deep inside.
Looking back, I found that much of my spare time was dedicated to making content, related to less personal topics. One example was a movie as part of the Campus Ninja series, a tradition of the martial arts association I was part of during Uni (see vid below.)
It turned out I also took part in the making of another video as part of my PhD. My colleague Tijmen Hageman and I put together an award winning video for a conference in San Antonio, Texas. The video combined the use of magnetic fields, music, a Nintendo 8-bit controller and a microscopy to make magnetotactic bacteria line dance. The idea come from my experience in salsa dancing teacher, who jokingly said that the only people who like line dancing more than latin Americans, were Texans. This was the result:
It was interesting to see how subconsciously I took part in and focused on so many projects that were creative and funny, with the purpose of being shown to an audience. I always loved explaining things to people, but I was never aware of that fact about myself. The combination of explaining things and being in front of an audience very much narrowed down the disciplines and fields I would get to work from 2022 onward: Writing, comedy and educating people.