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About me

I am a 42 year old, native Dutch web editor, journalist and content strategist living and working in London and Somerset, England.

Over the years I have worked as an editor and journalist across print, digital and broadcast media. This has given me valuable insight into the individual merits of different media and into the pros and cons to be considered when producing content for them.

I started as a cub reporter for Holland's largest privately-owned newspaper publishers at the age of 16. Writing accurate reports on local council meetings and interviewing people of all walks of life was a great start. When I subsequently joined the publishing firm as editor of a number of weekly local newspapers and regional business magazines, I was taught the importance of getting to grips with all aspects of the publishing process, from commissioning content from freelancers to printing and distribution.

The same happened when I enrolled in a talent scouting project for national TV and radio, outside office hours. On my first day I was made an apprentice in a team that consisted of two reporters, an editor and a producer - five people in total. We brainstormed at 10am over coffee to come up with ideas for a weekly one-hour current affairs programme on Dutch national radio that went out that afternoon. By 4pm I had organised a live telephone interview with a Cabinet minister and contributed to several other items. It was stressful, deadline-driven and tremendous fun. It also demonstrated that a small team could move mountains given the right tools, trust and confidence.

In the years that followed I learned the ropes from the very best in the television and radio industry. We were trained in many aspects of both media, but my passion was for radio journalism.

I eventually became an editor myself, co-ordinating a team of no fewer than 14 people. In 1986-87 I covered the preparations for two concerts by Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis jr. for radio, as the only Dutch journalist with 'access all areas'.

I could have gone on to work at the news desk of one of the radio stations perhaps. Who knows what my career would have looked like? As it was, most stations were making big staff cuts at the time and I faced the prospect of 'last in, first out'.

Instead I opted for a job at SDU, the Dutch State Publishers, in The Hague. After a few weeks I was asked to get involved in a new project, developing online information systems for government organisations. This was based on the French Minitel network, where monitors were made available in public places and households across the country. It wasn't quite today's Internet, more a very basic version of Ceefax. Before long I was having long meetings in which I negotiated ambitious plans to make government information available digitally. I had stumbled into my very first job as an online editor - as early as 1987.

It was the beginning of a lifelong passion for digital media and journalism.