What did you do before you came to WesselinkVanZijst?

After completing my bachelor's in Civil Engineering and master's in Water Engineering and Management, I worked in the water sector for seven years. I started as a hydrologist at the engineering firm Witteveen+Bos, where I worked on freshwater issues for water boards, municipalities, and provinces. In these projects, the various interests concerning water-related problems were central. This included issues like waterlogging, water quality, drought, and land subsidence. A crucial part of this often involved balancing the interests of agriculture, nature, and housing. I also worked on Nijmegen's multi-stakeholder drought issues and conducted kitchen table discussions with agricultural entrepreneurs for water area plans.

After that, I worked as an environmental manager at Vitens. Here, I was responsible for a number of groundwater extraction points, focusing on protecting them. I did this by safeguarding the interest of drinking water in the policies of governments, area processes, and third-party projects. Additionally, I worked on the search for new drinking water sources. In my role as an environmental manager, I organized environmental processes and held discussions with nature organizations, the agricultural sector, water boards, municipalities, and provinces.

What do you mainly focus on at WesselinkVanZijst?

My work at WesselinkVanZijst is very diverse and covers multiple domains. As a consultant, I work on various assignments in the energy sector, rural areas, the water sector, and the social domain. The variety is clearly reflected in the projects I contribute to.

For example, for the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth, I worked on the search for two new nuclear power plants in the Netherlands. Together with colleagues, I developed the environmental management strategy for all search areas, with stakeholders and issues at its core. Within one of these search areas, I also conducted discussions myself with, among others, agricultural entrepreneurs, the business community, and representatives from the public sector. This took place in various forms, such as round-table discussions, kitchen-table conversations, and webinars.

In addition to this national task, I also work at the local level. For a municipality, I developed an area agenda for a neighborhood together with stakeholders, holding discussions with various interested parties on themes such as social safety. To ensure integration, I organize working sessions where we collaboratively design this area agenda. Finally, I am involved in the environmental process surrounding the application for a water permit to discharge process water.

In addition to being a consultant, I am also a trainer within the SOM Academy. I love giving training sessions. Every group is different and brings its own environmental management experiences. I enjoy using as much wisdom from the group as possible during the training. Furthermore, I am also a member of the SOM Academy team, which means I get to contribute to shaping and improving the training sessions.

What drives you in your work?

What drives me in my work stems from multiple sources. First and foremost, I find it extremely important that stakeholders for whom a task has an impact feel taken seriously. Having conversations with these parties about that impact, and collaboratively searching for the interests of both them and the client, gives me a lot of energy.

I also like to work in a structured way. I believe that working out a plan in advance makes you more flexible when something unexpected happens. I love to bring structure and overview, and then enthusiastically change course.

Finally, I draw a lot of energy from collaborating with different people with diverse insights. Working together towards a common goal and actually achieving something motivates me immensely.

What do you like to do most when you're not at work?

In my free time, I love doing fun things with my boyfriend and daughters. This ranges from visiting a playground or the zoo, going for a walk, having a piece of cake somewhere, or playing games and cooking together. I'm also crazy about being outdoors: camping, hiking, gardening, wonderful! I also deeply enjoy having cozy dinners and playing games with friends and family.