Making the world more humane.
With you.

MY MISSION

MY STORY

Endless curiosity

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the world far away. As a child, I could get lost endlessly and dream away in atlases. Always curious about what life would be like there, who the people were who lived there, how it would smell and feel. And, why the people there lived the way they did.

I imagined what it would be like to live there, just like those people.

From the age of 7, I made little figures from different continents out of my fingers and drew villages inspired by cultures in Africa, Asia, and South America.

As the end of high school approached, there was no stopping me. I had to get away. Far away. To discover the world for real!

After working as an au pair in Sweden for a summer when I was 16, I participated in an exchange programme to South Africa when I was 17. I thought that was fantastic! Discovering the real life of the family and the peers I lived with. Completely immersing myself in the life and culture of others. Then all hell broke loose, and after my final exams, I left for a year: 3 months to Dublin (Ireland) and half a year to Quito (Ecuador). To improve my English and to learn Spanish. Personally, I would have preferred to travel the world with my backpack, but my parents didn't think that was such a great idea.

Fortunately, there were plenty of opportunities to travel, and so I discovered the Amazon, the Andes, and Peru. Thanks to the Spanish I had learned, I could talk to everyone, and that took me to places I otherwise would never have been. Among other things, I participated in an ayahuasca ceremony with a shaman in a stilt house deep in the jungle. At the time, I had no idea of the medicinal effects of this plant mixture. I let myself be guided by my boundless curiosity and a desire to experience everything.

Why do people live the way they do?

It was quite logical that I went on to study Cultural Anthropology. That field of study revolves entirely around the question "Why do people live the way they do?" The question I had been asking myself my whole life.

I read all the textbooks for pleasure, and my grades had never been higher. I loved it!

I soon learned about empathy. A trait and skill that is necessary as an anthropologist, and something I apparently already possessed naturally. I could easily put myself in someone else's shoes. Even if that person lived in very different circumstances, culture, or religion than my own.

And that empathy, and the fact that I could easily connect with people, was open to learn and immerse myself and always curious to truly understand the other, also helped me on subsequent travels.

Asia, South America, Africa, Australia, and North America. I visited every continent.

I lived in Nepal and India for extended periods. And I conducted research into the lives of child monks in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery.

We are all just people

The most beautiful thing was that what drew me so much to traveling and immersing myself in different cultures was precisely that enormous diversity of people. And at the same time, I noticed that the more I traveled, the less significant the differences seemed.

The more I traveled, the more I discovered that we are all just human beings.

Whether you live in The Netherlands, Belgium, Bolivia, India, Namibia, Tibet, or Australia. It doesn't matter. We have much more in common than we think at first glance.

And I experienced that I can feel at home anywhere. It is precisely through empathy and connecting with people and their fellow human beings that I feel at home.

And all those people, cultures, religions, and travels taught me a lot about myself. About who I am. What my sparkle is. And how I can use that sparkle to contribute to a more beautiful world.

Together for a more beautiful world

That is my mission with Antropomo: to create a more beautiful world.

A world that is more humane. In which, driven by openness and curiosity towards one another, we also come to understand each other better and can thus reconnect.

For I believe that if we are all unique people, with our own talents, wishes, dreams, cultures, beliefs, and lives, our own sparkle, that is what makes our world so beautifully colorful and diverse.

And as we connect, through empathy, with our own sparkle and with the other, we also see the beauty in the other. And we can pass that on to our children.

I believe that children know exactly what their sparkle is and live accordingly. And that they naturally see it in the other as well. Children always see what connects them to the other. They are champions in seeing similarities that we, as adults, have become blind for.

How beautiful it would be if they retained that sparkle, as well as their genuine curiosity and non-judgment towards others. So that they grow up in a world full of connection where everyone is allowed to be who they are, with everything that entails.

It is up to us, adults, to guide them in this. And that is only possible if we lead by example. Increasing our empathy, being open to connection with others, and motivating others to do the same.

Through my travels, years of entrepreneurial experience, and creativity, I know that people's stories, wisdom from other cultures and religions, rituals, and customs can be incredibly inspiring and help to increase that empathy for yourself and others.

Simply by stepping into someone else's footsteps, through stories of connection, meditations, art and photography, and by connecting with others.

That is why I am bringing all of this together now, and above all, bringing people together at Antropomo.

For more connection and a more peaceful world for our children and future generations.

It is so wonderful that you are here!

Love,

Monique

Making the world more humane.With you.