Team

FOUNDER, CEO

Simone Brummelhuis

Simone Brummelhuis is the founder and CEO of The NextWomen, the First Women’s Internet Business Magazine and Community. She worked for 10 years as a successful lawyer before becoming an entrepreneur by setting up her own B2B publishing company Brummsbooks. Thereafter, as co-owner and managing director IENS, she developed this start-up into the no. 1 user generated content database publisher of restaurant guides in The Netherlands. With the Europeanmuseumguide.com, she intends to do the same. She is in the jury of the yearly Accenture Media Innovation Awards, she presents the internet program SHE (interviews with business women) on Blueshotstv, she is on the UK Advisory Board of Astia.org, supporting women led high-growth companies, she sits on the Dutch City Luncheon Committee, and is a frequent speaker through Women.Inc and TheNextSpeaker.

See her LinkedIn for more information about Simone.

COO, HEAD OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Joana Picq

Joana Picq joined the NextWomen in November 2009 to run operations and further develop the business through new partnerships. She earned a degree in Civil Engineering but worked for 8 years as an International Business Manager, for IBM and L’Oreal in Rio, then for Microsoft in Paris and Munich (incubating acquired software companies across Europe), before becoming a multiple entrepreneur in London. She also runs Brazilian Frog (business development services), she is a director at Fluxer UK (italian enterprise security software) and she is soon launching a website with partners in Brazil.

See her LinkedIn for more information about Jo.

EVENT DIRECTOR and EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Beth Griffin

Beth joined The NextWomen in December 2008 where she writes about female internet entrepreneurs and organizes the various events of The NextWomen. With a degree in Civil Engineering, Beth started life as a structural engineer at consulting engineers Arup. She also contributes for Alex Bellinger on the small business podcast site SmallBizPod. Initially with a plan to write about cycling, she has found a new passion for internet enterprise and hopes to progress in a career as an online journalist.

WEB SUPPORT

Chantal Coolsma

Chantal Coolsma is founder and CEO of ICT4SMB, a small company which delivers IT services to small and medium sized businesses, and is an expert in both Mac and Windows platforms. Chantal has been blogging for many years and is an expert in WordPress. Chantal became active on Twitter mid-2008.

BOARD OF ADVISORS

NEXT WOMEN-CONTRIBUTORS

EVENT EDITOR

Misae Richwoods

Misae Richwoods progressed from a successful corporate career into entrepreneurship in 2000 and has a particular interest in online marketing with both search and social strategies and online commerce. Misae currently runs MRMedia Group, a company specialising in helping start ups market themselves.

Pamela Poole

Pamela Poole is a freelance translator specialising in marketing for tech products and services, and a technical writer specialising in end-user documentation for web applications. Pamela is also a public speaker, most recently giving a keynote address – “The Sum of Your Parts: The Importance of Online Identity” – at the Society for Technical Communication France annual conference. Originally from California, where she got her Master’s degree in French Translation (Monterey Institute of International Studies), she now lives in Paris. She is the founder of Francophilia.com, a social startup for francophiles, and spends considerable time involved with the startup scene in Paris.

Ciara Byrne

Ciara Byrne is a software engineer and aspiring CEO based in Amsterdam. She has worked on all aspects of digital media software including defining worldwide technical standards for mobile TV, contributing to digital media strategy, defining and creating new software products and helping to sell them. She is also an organiser of the GBDN business networking events in Amsterdam.

Victoria Lennox

A graduate from Oxford University, Victoria engages the UK’s most enterprising students and most promising start-ups as 2008-09 President of Oxford Entrepreneurs and as the Founder and CEO of the National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs. She has a multi-sectoral background in entrepreneurship, governance and policy in the UK, Canada, China and Ghana; has founded and mentored several ventures and enterprise organisations; sits on several enterprise and business advisory boards; and, is the 2009 recipient of the SFEDI Builder of Entrepreneur Support Networks Award and the Overall Enterprise Support Champion Award. Click here for more information on Victoria Lennox.

Tessa Sterkenburg

Tessa Sterkenburg knows who’s who in the Dutch new media world. Tessa worked in publishing and was involved in the organisation of TheNextWeb Conference before the launch of her speaker bureau TheNextSpeaker.

Marianne van Leeuwen

Marianne van Leeuwen is co-founder of Sisteract, a digital agency focusing on marketing to women. Marianne founded webshop www.welikefashion.com and price comparison website www.miepkniep.nl. She blogs about marketing to women at www.marketingtowomen.eu

Sarah Blow

Sarah Blow is a software engineer for a medical device manufacturer but is perhaps better known as the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners. She has been working in the IT industry, specializing in mobile and device technologies. Sarah has an active interest in web 2.0 and is a great advocate of using the right technologies to create the right solution to problems.

Josje van der Meer

Josje van der Meer is founder of Kodyo, a healthcare communications agency based in the Netherlands, dedicated to direct patient communication. Josje has been working in healthcare communication for over ten years. In 2008 she enrolled for the part time MBA program at Nyenrode business school. Her application was awarded with the Nyenrode Effective Leadership Scholarship.

Marianne Spier

Marianne Spier works as a manager at the Institute of Interactive Media in Amsterdam. She is a lecturer in cross media and responsible for developing international programs and partnerships with universities and companies abroad. Before that she worked for an advertising agency and as a communication consultant at the Ministry of Transport and KPN Mobile. Her interests are strong creative leadership and innovation of ALL media.

Katryn Harris

Katryn Harris is the CEO and co-founder of Open Box Integration, a company that helps franchises improve communications through the development of online communities, social media, online marketing, websites, intranets and custom software development.  Her blog, Growfromhere.com focuses on business and technology tips for franchisors.  Her passion in communication and her background includes business development, technology, non-profit management, translation and creative writing.

Justine Takx

Justine Takx is an Independent Legal Services Professional with over 15 years of experience in law. Her expertise is in matters concerning intellectual property, IT contracts and e-commerce. After 10 years at Baker McKenzie, Justine now freelances in the legal departments of major companies. She is currently working for Adidas.

Janneke Boer

Janneke Boer is the founder of Buro Wullenhoven, a marketing public relations agency that works exclusively for female entrepreneurs. The agency’s goal is to achieve more media prominence for female entrepreneurs, especially for their enterprise(s), products and services.

Janetti Chon

Janetti Chon is Community and Content Manager at Web 2.0 Expo, a global annual gathering of technical, design, marketing and business professionals who are building the next generation web. 

Michelle Pace

Someone forgot to tell Michelle Pace to find one thing and focus on it. Her primary aim in life is to have a lot of stories to tell to someone’s grandchildren and she is well on her way of succeeding. Her love is visualisation, explaining rocket science the way it should be explained; simply. Technology to her is not a means to an end but rather a way of getting there. As long as she has her freedom, fun (and mac) – and ownes true to the fact that men are great to work with, to her life is one big adventure.

Tanya Alvarez

Tanya Alvarez is the founder of BlinkAds, an online performance based advertising agency and co-founder of Connectingmoms.com, an online social community for mothers. Some of Tanya’s side projects include providing advisory services to investors in the online marketing industry and start up companies. She is a contributing writer to DM Confidential. Tanya also has a seat on the board of directors for Audacitymagazine.com and the board of Herfuture.com. Tanya has been invited to speak on numerous panels regarding women and online media.

Emma Persky

Emma Persky is a software engineer at Trampoline Systems building enterprise scale expertise search systems based on email processing and Organisational Network Analysis. She studied computing at Imperial College London where she completed her dissertation in Computer Vision Based Gesture Recognition Systems. In her spare time she loves attending barcamps and takes an active role in the London geek community.

Petra Kroon

Petra Kroon is a social entrepreneur. In 2006 she founded GoedfGeefs, an organisation that helps social entrepreneurs achieve social change.  As a journalist for over 20 years, she will be writing about social entrepreneurs all over the world at TheNextWomen. Petra Kroon is also member of the board of CSR Chicks, a network of women who are closely interested in or closely in Corporate Social Responsibility.

Marjolijn Kamphuis

Marjolijn Kamphuis is as Internet savvy as a girl can be, and has thus far worked as a Digital Media specialist at Universal Music, Orange and MTV. Her special interests include crossmedia, branding, innovative entrepreneurship and trendspotting, and she recently founded the first Dutch Marketing, Tech & Gadget blog by women: Dutchcowgirls.nl

Anna Colclough

Anna is co-founder with her husband of Tourdust – a website dedicated to promoting authentic tours and accommodation. She writes on The NextWomen abut travle companies and trends.

Meryl Cubley

Meryl is freelance journalist, writing on topics including business, women’s issues and news, lifestyle and leisure and travel. Meryl’s work comprises both print and online throughout national and regional media, and even an erotic novel (under a pen name!) which has so far been very successful. She has also appeared on television discussing women’s sexuality in modern Britain.

We want to have eyes (almost) everywhere, thanks to our Next Women Contributors all over the world. They tip us about female internet heroes and what’s happening in their country. Check the map on this page to see where theyíre based. Would you like to join the team? Drop us a line!