I grew up in the pool. I started swimming at three and a half, and for twelve years I swam at national level, training up to twelve times a week. In 2021 I became Belgian champion in the 50 m backstroke in my age category.
At 19, a very different opportunity came along. My brother Ruben was interviewing people for his bachelor thesis, and one of them, the owner of a swimming store, asked him whether he would like to take over her business. Three days later we were working on it together. In August 2022 we became the new owners of Zwemshop Geel.
For the next years, my weeks were split between lectures and the store: Fridays and Saturdays behind the counter, many weekends at events, and an hour and a half on the bus each way. Something had to give, and at 21 it was swimming. I came back once, at 22, to swim the last leg of a relay in Barcelona.
Running a business showed me how much depends on the numbers behind it. In the last months of my bachelor I interned at Deloitte. Today I am in Madrid, studying for a Master in Applied Economics and advising on a live M&A transaction.