Biography

After working in the private sector for eight years in my native the Netherlands, I moved to South Africa in my mid twenties to study sociology and gender studies at the University of Cape Town. This is where I developed my interest in the sociology and politics of international development. A Fulbright fellowship allowed me to take this interest to Columbia University in New York, where I did a Master in Human Rights. At Columbia, I grew interested in the rise of philantro-capitalism and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) industry, and the ways in which these industries are linked to and perpetuate systems of power and inequality. My M.A thesis used the feminist philanthropy and humanitarian alliances of the sports giant Nike as a case study to examine the consequences of this trend, a topic I was able to further investigate as a journalist in Vietnam. For this investigation, which was published at Slate and supported by The Nation Institute in New York, I interviewed 18 Nike workers about their wages and working conditions. These conversations, coupled with other journalistic work on this subject and a consultancy project with the International Labour Organization sparked my desire to investigate the CSR industry, particularly its labour dimensions, as a PhD student at Cambridge's Center for Development Studies. I am both thrilled and honoured that I will have the opportunity to do so as a Gates Cambridge student and a member of King's College.

Previous Education

University of Cape Town
Columbia University in the City of New York