Since the day I started this blog I have researched, analyzed and met great bloggers. Storytellers, diary diggers and likeminded people who share the passion for Innovations, Internet, Marketing and Communications. Also I’ve had great dialogues with entrepreneurs and entreprenesses mainly through the CRAVE Network. As I met Founder Melody Biringer late 2009, she asked me to set up CRAVE Amsterdam with Cristina Stoain of Crisspix and Isrid van Geuns of ISWorks I first entered into a new way of meeting great people by using Twitter. Secondly I entered into a world of Amsterdam lovers from abroad through the digital dialogues on Twitter. The International inhabitants of Amsterdam who all have their own reasons for living here, are well connected and therefore easy to connect with. Some loved the Dutch Capital and some were pulled to Amsterdam for love, friendship of business. Above all they share an active lifestyle, with a positive mindset and great personalities. I needed the network of CRAVE to discover this and I am thankfull to have met you all!
Admire the world or Amsterdam?
In Holland we have active dialogues on integration. The aim is to enable foreigners to integrate into the Dutch society, learn about our history, Dutch sayings and religions and lifestyle. Personally I believe that any well integrated foreigner has more active knowlegde of The Netherlands than most reluctant natives. But as there is no need for me to take the intergation course I will never know. What I do know is this saying: “travellers admire the things the ignore at home.” Meaning we take time to admire, love and consume in our holiday time but we don’t take the time for this at home. And that is exactly how I feel about our new inhabitats. Integration is about a shared interest in people, cultural diversity, attention for individual stories and respect for differences. With CRAVE I have connected with many entreprenesses from abroad.
Expats in Business
What do you do when you live in a city but don’t speak the language? Companies will not hire you no matter what degree you have. I discovered that there many great people making their own living in Amsterdam with their own business. It is through the busine ss activities that we could connect and there are some many similarities, valuable additions, synergies and co-creations possible that I feel proud to have set up the CRAVE Amsterdam network. Here are some of the entreprenesses and their activities.
Teresa Hulst – Blogs about living in Amsterdam on het blog Amsterdamp
This is her personal and fun blog and she also has a business blog CaliforniaGirl. Teresa is wise women with many degrees, spiritual gifts and great achievements in healing. Her drive is to bring people in their own flow, to improve the Chi that runs through our bodies. Was it through accupressure and massages in earlier days, she now prefers to activate candidates by a healthy lifestyle and lots of exercise through Zumba.
Ashley Gilbert – Presence Wear is in to Yoga. She has brought organic Yoga clothing to our nation and is currently working on teaching us the value of natural clothing. At Crave we discovered that the knowlegde of sustainable clothing, natural care and conscious living is a chapter that will need serious attention by a lot of us in the years to come. When Ashley started her business she expected that The Dutch were as conscious than the Americans only to find out that that wasn’t the case! Ashley has a great story to tell, lets help her move forward!
Joyce Huisman – Chaloner Huisman Studio - is from Friesland, ha ha. Yes she is Dutch and Friesland is a region in The Netherlands, but used to be independant a very long time ago. They even have their own language and Friesland is well known thanks to Doutzen Kroes & Fado singer Nynke Laverman. Although Joyce her name is typical Dutch, her scope in business is international and reaches a global scale that most Dutch entrepreneurs admire her for. Joyce is passionate about Design. She is strong believer in concepts and quality and uses these values in her work. Joyce combines the love for design, authenticity and sustainability in het work and uses a variety of communication means to publish. I will share a few: Sustainable lifestyle is experienced by a unique holiday cottage concept – which is currently being build on Terschelling. The history of Dutch Christmas sweets “Borstplaat” will be brought back to live by high quality molds produced by Royal Tichelaar and completed in to a giftbox with recipies. Joyce is a conceptual designer who makes a story of a product and creates value by co-creating with the best suppliers in the world.
Personal Dialogues
In general, interactive communications in dialogues bring so much more than the stories of people. The passion of entrepreneurs, their missions in life, their instrinsic believes, values and love is what inspires me, where we connect on an active lifestyle and live positive and in happiness. If you live in or around Amsterdam, join us and attend the CRAVE events some day!
