Serendipity

𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓲𝓹𝓲𝓽𝔂. If you look for it, it will be there. Maybe that is why walking the Way – or the Camino to Santiago de Compostela – is full of 'impossible' coincidences. Most people are in a pilgrim state of mind, or are at least taking a break from their day-to-day.

A year ago, I went for a long walk. And in those five weeks between Irun and Santiago de Compostela, everything slowed down. In Cantabria, I had some of my biggest insights into where I wanted my (professional) life to be headed. You know, while walking alongside cows, with the ocean on your right and green rolling hills on your left, or arriving at a closed 𝘢𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘴 after a 37-kilometer walk, things somehow fall into place. The region was so green and so beautiful, I had to pinch myself everyday.

And with conversations in Spanish, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanglish, and lots of hand gestures, the Camino was much more about communications than I could have imagined beforehand!

After traversing Spain over 900 kilometers on foot, being in a car or on a train felt too fast. So it took me a while to get back into the corporate communications zone – fast-paced, online, always connected. And it took me a while to bring the insights I had while walking in the Spanish mountains into practice – actually, I am still working on that. With wonderful coaches (shout-out to Lucia Baldelli MCC and Tijmen Rümke) and now, with The Break Fellowship!

So exactly one year later, I am preparing to go on another break in Spain. This time, together with 300 women entrepreneurs from all over Europe.

The Break Fellowship is a EU-funded programme for women entrepreneurs towards creating a stronger women-led business ecosystem in Europe. Last week, the journey began with a kick-off event. Imagine 300 women entrepreneurs on 1 call! I could not stop smiling.

I'm excited to dive into our local challenge: accelerating the impact economy in Cantabria, with local host organization The Social Circle and hosts Óscar Pérez Marcos and Olga Escobar Mejía. And perhaps, to walk a mini Camino on the weekends?

Thanks to the amazing Marlies van Heusden – soap magician and businesswoman extraordinaire at Nature Bar – for sharing this opportunity with me. 💛

Can't wait to meet to meet my ‘fellow Fellows’ in Madrid and spend a month in the Cantabrian hills! 🌻

📸 Cantabria, April 2022.