In the 80s I was trained as a visual artist and teacher of drawing and art history. After the Graphic MTS and the teacher training VLVU I completed the Academy for Visual Arts, which is now called the Breitner Academy. At the Graphic MTS I learned everything about the different graphic techniques, such as etching, lithography and letterpress. At the art academy the emphasis was mainly on painting and drawing from observation, art history and cultural studies, life drawing, graphics, watercolors and especially working with oil paint. In the years that followed I specialized in painting with acrylic paint.

Driven by a great curiosity, I then retrained in the ICT world and started my career as a computer programmer at Fokker Aircraft. After that, I worked for more than two decades as an independent consultant in the field of software analytics for all kinds of large and medium-sized organizations, including ING, KPN, Calvi, the Tax and Customs Administration, Interpolis, Rabobank, ABN Amro and various national governments.

I completed my MSc in Information Management at the University of Amsterdam in 2013 and my PhD at TU Delft in 2018 on the subject of Evidence-Based Software Portfolio Management. I became fascinated by artificial intelligence (AI) during my PhD research. Among other things, I developed the online learning program AI in Practice on edX together with ICAI and TU Delft and I was at the cradle of the AI ​​for FinTech Lab, an ICAI lab in which ING and TU Delft are conducting research into innovative applications of AI for five years. And in the podcast Snoek op Zolder I have had many inspiring conversations with AI scientists and practical specialists in recent years about the state of affairs regarding artificial intelligence in scientific research and in practice.

I myself have taken a rather winding study path - from mavo via graphic mts, teacher training, art academy to a master's in Information Management and finally culminating in a PhD in computer sciences at TU Delft - so I know how important the seven checkmarks can be. And that is why I decided in 2021 to use my knowledge and skills to make such a winding path possible for others at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Utrecht), where I enthusiastically helped to connect HBO students and SMEs to the rapid developments in the field of innovative AI applications.

And since 2024 I am fully focused on a next career as a visual artist. I am currently working on a series of large (acrylic) paintings around the theme of Passages, based on monumental stones, megaliths from prehistory in which themes such as passages, pilgrimages, and the question 'what would you do?' are central.