The Guide: Boldly blooming, unapologetically you

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A year ago, during the summer holidays, I was sitting right here on the Italian beach of Forte dei Marmi when I told Martin, my husband, about my idea to create a new book. My first book,

The Art of Aging Unapologetically, had been published three years earlier, and it felt like the right moment for a follow-up.

Every Friday, I receive the most beautiful flowers from @tofbloemenamstelveen. Thanks to my subscription, Fenneke from Tof handpicks a variety of seasonal flowers each week, letting me create a bouquet that’s truly my own.

Category

Friends

Date

16/10/2024

Length

3 min read

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I work as a project manager in mental healthcare with mentally challenged people.

Many people are being excluded from our society because they are unable to participate. I organize special or everyday activities to make up daily life.

In my heart, I have always been and will always remain a photographer, even though Instagram has, over the years, shaped me into many other roles I am also grateful for: an inspirer, a strong voice, a fashion and beauty enthusiast, a reel creator, and an ageism activist. But at my core, I am still a photographer.

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So, after that holiday, I decided to dive into a new project called

The Guide, and now, exactly one year later, I am writing this because tomorrow I will send the final manuscript to the printer. The project is complete. For this next book, however, I chose not only to focus on portraits and interviews with a select group of women who, for various reasons, had crossed my path, but also to bring together my AndBloom Instagram journey and everything I have learned over the years (backed by some incredible experts from whom I learned) into one book.

In the end, I photographed 16 remarkable women with inspiring stories and invited 8 female experts to share their knowledge on topics such as perimenopause, nutrition, exercise, and more, through expert videos. Beyond being incredibly proud of this book, I found it truly special to gather a group of women who, together, shaped this book into what it is today—a personal journal, a best friend, a place to return to after a long day, full of advice but never with the intention to change you, only to support you in this stage of life.

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I hope this book will inspire you just as my AndBloom community has inspired me to create content over the past years. As with every post I share on Instagram or other social media platforms, my goal is to inspire the belief that life becomes more fun and more meaningful with every year, and that, in my opinion, it truly matters who you surround yourself with and who you allow to inspire you. And I thank my AndBloom community for being my inspiration.

For the portraits, I worked closely with my best friend and fellow fashion enthusiast and stylist, Dayenne. I collaborated with a professional makeup artist to make each woman look even more beautiful than she already was.

The Guide is adorned with collage art by Saskia Kemperman—I’ve been a fan of her work for years, and I find her collages endlessly inspiring; I could look at them for hours. My Instagram friend Mathilda created coloring pages for The Guide, and I’m grateful to Yuri, my graphic designer, for the stunning layout.

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Curious and want to be among the first to receive it in September? You can already pre-order your copy now. I’ll be personally signing and sending out the first 1,000 Guides.

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BUY THE GUIDE

What’s even more exciting is that, together with my team, I decided to host a “Book Lunch” in six cities—an exclusive lunch for a group of 30 people. Right now, Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, London, Paris, Barcelona, and Milan are on the list. During the lunch, we’ll have the chance to meet in person, you’ll receive your signed Guide, and you’ll take home a beautiful goodie bag worth €150. I hope to see you there!

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BUY YOUR SEAT