Influencer Myrthe Verhulst: passionate, dedicated, go-getter.

Could you share with us some information about your family life?
I was born in Leiden, The Netherlands.

How supportive were your parents in letting you become who you are right now?
My mother supported me unconditionally even though she had to go through a terrible divorce and many other challenges. She is kind, intelligent and I admire the fact she never complained I moved to Curaçao, although it must have broken her heart to see her only daughter leave. I planned to go for 3 months only and 20 years later, I’m still here! How time flies…

Do you have other brothers and sisters?
I have one older brother.

*Christmas ornaments made of recycled closures*

Are you married and do you have children?
Happily married with Menno and we have three children. So amazing to be a part of the kid’s journey and super proud of all of them!

Could you share something about your educational background and your experience?
Most people probably know me from my work as the Marketing, Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability Manager at Coca-Cola. Before, I worked at several commercial agencies.

I have studied Communication and also did a post-graduate in Human Resource Management. In 2019 I attended a Marketing program at Nyenrode Business University. I am the Co-founder Marketing Netwerk Curaçao and also the Co-founder of the Curaçao Clean Up Foundation.

Slightly over one year ago, you became the Chairperson of Clean Up Curaçao and we know you to be very active in the cleanup, recycling, and awareness creation on our island and the oceans, I would like you to expand a little on this?
The main goal of our foundation is a clean(er) island. The first step is to create awareness, by getting rid of people’s “trash blindness”. People pass by trash and they don’t even see it! The next step is to take action. Our foundation has grown from a one-day event, to a calendar filled with meaningful actions to support our vision.

We recently expended our scope to increase the percentage of recyclables on our island. We want to make people aware that “waste is not waste, until it’s wasted”. Our goal is to help closing the loop, so that bottles and cans can be recycled into new products. The foundation will facilitate by placing recycling centers, large and small, on various locations on our island. But since they won’t filled-up by themselves, we will launch an innovative “E-learning”-program with easily accessible information about waste and recycling. This year we will motivate at least 3.000 teenagers to start recycling. We have hired an intern to do research why our target group doesn’t recycle. Once you have pinpointed the resistance, you can work on a solution.

*The board of Curaçao Clean Up from left to right: Corinne Senior- van Hal, Lisandra Martis, Myrthe Verhulst and Sharo Bikker*

So in short, we now focus on three pillars: facilitate, educate and innovate. The foundation aims to connect several stakeholders with each other, because we firmly believe in the saying: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Can you tell us something about what inspired you to take up this responsibility to become the chairperson?
I have been involved with the Clean Up Curaçao Foundation from the beginning. I was and still am very passionate and driven about the work we are doing. The board approached me with the request to become Chairwoman, which I accepted as I wanted to expand the vision of Curaçao Clean Up. In the past 9 years, we have collected 3,2 million kilo’s of waste. This is equivalent of over 70 Boeing 737 airplanes, together with over 21.000 volunteers. During the 3rd Saturday in September, we are all ‘learning by doing’! People are amazed about the amount of foam containers, beer bottles and other trash they find and that makes them more conscious about the waste they create themselves.

“Love is the only thing worth everything”

What is your BIG WHY or driving motivation to be who you are right now?
Many years ago, I embraced the quote: “Love is the only thing worth everything”. I guess you can say that ‘Love’ is my drive: To treat people and animals with Love; to do my work with Love; to treat Mother Earth with Love, and so on. This, combined with a tremendous curious mindset, drives me to explore why things are as they are.

What are your plans for the coming years and when do you consider that you have been successful in your personal and business/professional life, let us say 5 years from now?
Honestly, my family and I are healthy, happy and blessed, so I am content where I am right now. But more of this is always welcome! I am a very curious person, always looking for new opportunities and improvements. This continuous drive forces me to take breaks and realize to be grateful and satisfied with what we have. I would also like the best for my children, that they continue to develop themselves and that they are ready for and content with whatever comes their way.

What are the challenges that you are dealing with? And how are you dealing with these different challenges you confront?
I am always looking for opportunities and improvements and by doing so, I tend to set my own expectations extremely high. Looking back, there were times I was setting myself up for failure. Even though the outside world was applauding me for the final result, internally I was disappointed. Being kinder to myself is a learning process, but I’m getting there.

*Myrthe standing in front of her brother’s painting in Punda*

Do you use your inner voice to evaluate when dilemmas show up? How does that work for you?
During the first lockdown, as the world was in distress, I sensed that from this setback a new perspective had to arise. I decided to meditate and from April 1^st, 2020 I have done so every single day. I am grateful that I have picked up this routine. When you work long and intense hours, you can develop a tunnel vision, whilst meditation expands this focus and gives you a broader vision, so you can keep seeing the bigger picture.

How are you trying also to keep up with your knowledge and skills levels?
My curiosity helps me to keep up my knowledge and skills. Of late I am trying to stop searching for everything that crosses my path. But I still read lots of marketing related newsletters that I subscribe to and I listen to various podcasts. In the newsletters and during these podcasts, they always refer to books to read. And I want to read them all…

What are your strengths?
To mention some, I am passionate, curious, loyal, responsible, committed and of course a marketeer heart and soul.

Do you have hobbies or interests that you are also passionate about?
Hiking, swimming, reading and writing, I see meditating more like a lifestyle and not a hobby.

If you as Myrthe would meet a stranger on the bus (let’s say in New York or Bogota Columbia) and they would ask you to introduce yourself, what would you answer?
I will start by saying I am from Curaçao, since I am very proud to call myself a ‘Yu di Kòrsou’. Usually the conversation then continues about our wonderful island.

How would you describe Myrthe in one word or one sentence?
Kind, passionate, curious and dedicated.

Who are the persons that have inspired you the most in your career?
In my career what would be my mother-in-law, Mrs. Lucille George-Wout: intelligent, charismatic and not afraid of anything or anyone. Her faith is also an inspiration for me. Also my current boss, Andrew Pinedo, because he is intelligent, patient and combines his ‘business sense’ with excellent leadership and people skills.

What is a trait that is still a work in progress?
The tendency to set the bar too high.

*Myrthe and husband Menno at the Clean Up*

What was a defining moment in your life?
The defining moment in my life, was the day I met my husband. Dating, living together and eventually marrying him changed my life in a very positive way. Before meeting him, my professional life was everything to me. Since he already had two children from a previous relation, I became a part of his family and this change brought a healthy balance in my life.

Where do you want to be 10 years from now with your career?
Still being able to do what I love and sharing my knowledge and energy with others.

What would you want your Loved Ones, family, friends, and others to say about you let’s say 20 years from now?
She does what makes her happy.

What makes you stay optimistic about the future of Curaçao as we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, recession, and in the middle of growing environmental challenges because of the global warming consequences?
I am inspired by people that see opportunities in the challenges we are confronted with. Nowadays, doing nothing is not an option, as we would not be able to explain this to our children and grandchildren. I’d like to recommend reading the book “ A Hopeful History (in Dutch: “De meeste mensen deugen”), written by Rutger Bregman, in which he explains that for a fact, things are not as bad as the media wants us to believe. Stop complaining, get involved in a cause you are passionate about and take action!

Is there anything else that you would like to add?
I can imagine it must be great to interview all the people on your list, and it’s inspiring to hear about your efforts to connect these and other people to create worthwhile impacts. Let’s meet again soon.

One of the 250 Influencers of Curaçao

Myrthe Verhulst is an energetic, passionate, dedicated, driven, spiritual, curious, ambitious, and authentic bridge builder who, for over 10 years has been working with increasing success towards cleanup, recycling, and awareness creation on our island and the oceans. First, as a contributor from the early beginning and since slightly over one year, as chairperson of Curacao Cleanup Foundation. Myrthe says: “Releasing people from “trash blindness” precedes taken action” and using her vast expertise especially as a marketeer, a curious mindset that is eager to learn and share, she firmly believes in: “If you want to fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Myrthe is passionate about collaborations to scale up. Being passive and not taking effective actions for her -considering the global climate crisis – is not an option. Myrthe has a family of three children and says: “How could we explain that inactivity to our grandchildren if we don’t take action?”. Based on three pillars, Curacao CleanUp, facilitates, educates, and innovates, they are now adding also a new via e-learning element, recycling called, “It is not waste until it is wasted”. All this and especially her collaborative mindset and transparency over what she intends to achieve, makes her stand out. That is why we deeply love and respect Myrthe and we consider her one of the 250 influencers of the islands representing the NGO sector focusing on “Sustainability”. Look at the list of the Influencers we have interviewed or reported on, up to now.

The goal of the core group of Share2Uplift for 2022

The goal of the Share2Uplift movement is to: “Identify 250 leaders from all walks of life to connect, align and create impactful changes in all walks of life, which includes intergenerational collaboration by the end of 2022.” We will use interviewing Influencers, meet-and-greet events, “train-the-trainers”-programs on “Emotional Mastery” and “Intentionality “as national intervention strategies, to reach this goal on top of our goal to scale up the possibilities to connect, align and create impact via a virtual platform. We believe that by collaborating with Miguel Goede on the virtual Vision 2030 platform, we will accelerate the possibilities to connect the diaspora and others elsewhere in the world and on the island willing to constructively create impactful changes in Curaçao, to join.

As Share2Uplift we are fully trying to align with this thinking of Center for Curriculum Redesign to promote this agenda in our educational systems and workplace. So, in that sense, we fully support any initiative to make our educational system 21st-century proof.

Share2Uplift aligners are those that: – Create an inspiring vision of the future; – Motivate and inspire people to engage with that vision; – Manage the delivery of the vision; – Coach and build a team, so that it is more effective at achieving the vision.  These criteria are now being polished. We also consider these 5 values the most important ones for Share2Uplift aligners. They are  • Peace from within; • Compassion; • Respectfulness • Integrity; • Responsibility.

As we will progress towards this goal, we will update you on the progress.

Personal Coaching tips

This week we will share some short videos based on “Recycling of garbage”. We will upload one of these videos every day on our facebook.com/share2uplift page.

Chemical Recycling: Making Plastics Circular – YouTube