The long version
Hi there! Thank you for being here, whoever you are. I made this page to be findable for you and give a bit of information into who I am and why we might connect. Because in the end, this page is good for nothing else — if you think we might click, let’s connect in real life, the only one that matters.
I will say where I came from, where I am, and where I would like to go.
Where I came from
There are some crucial elements from my background. Firstly, I am a bicultural child. Raised with strong Italian culture on Dutch soil, I have incorporated the ability to take different perspectives on the world. I realised that geographical location shapes thinking, languages shape concepts, and human social interaction knows many different unwritten rules.
Secondly, I was raised in a rational, scientifically oriented educational context. Until I was 25 my body was mainly a vehicle to transport my brain. I cultivated and trained a way of thinking based on questioning, building arguments, critical analysis and agnosticism. Useful skills that still help me today.
Thirdly, I had a long road to accepting my queerness — in the sense of queer as being in opposition to the norm. Beyond gender and sexuality, I had a long road in accepting that my way of being in the world does not fit the norm of partnering up, buying a house and establishing a career. This road of acceptance has taught me a lot about human capacity for change, personal growth, social aspects and much more.
Where I am
My formal training left me with ten years of experience in the medical field, doing research and working in the hospital, after which I made a switch to building networks of sustainability. First within the medical and scientific field, and later expanding beyond. My endless curiosity and knack for connecting seemingly unrelated fields and people turned out to be of great value in building bridges between scientists and civil society, government and business.
Informally, I educated myself in psychology, politics, history and social change. Together with personal transformative processes I ended up being this hybrid being between worlds: the rational and embodied, science and art, thinking and doing, abstraction and concrete, lazy and ambitious.
After doing two years of art school, I decided to go a step deeper into subjective experiential research. I was frustrated with rooms full of rational, very smart and motivated people repeating the barriers to real change. Something was still missing — and a part of the puzzle was in the world of artistic and embodied practice.
“Be the change you want to see.” Living by this motto, I decided that if I wanted our society to be better able to adapt to the chaos of our times, I needed to open my own mind first. So I set out: quit everything, gave away most of my possessions and set out to find what I was not looking for.
Embodiment & movement
Learning about ecstatic dance, contact improvisation, authentic movement and contemplative dance in the context of personal growth and embodied decision making.
Community
Learning about ecocommunities and the fabric of holding communities together: building trust through forum, way of council and Scott Peck community building. Sociocracy, decision making and the importance of conflicts.
Artivism
Diving into clowning and performance as a way of expressing emotions in group dynamics, and as a form of activism through concrete street actions with Rebel Clown groups. And learning how not to take myself so seriously.
Place & culture
Realising that concrete change happens in place, and that land and location are ever more important in a globalising, urbanising world.
Finally, I realised that building a new culture that naturally brings peaceful living is a project beyond the scope of my lifetime, but one I want to contribute to. Spirituality is a necessary element in this culture — even though I have no clue how that could look like. I think it will have many forms, from tree spirits to cathedrals carved out of rocky mountains.