Our Team

  • Becky Nascimento

    Becky Nascimento

    ICF ACC and Level 2 Trained Coach. Level 7 ILM Executive Coaching & Mentoring
    Marketing & Commercial Director Founder of Spark My Future

    Becky has a passion for supporting women as they build clarity, direction, and confidence during uncertain times. She has a gift for helping people find their footing and move forward with calm, clarity and purpose.


    A former corporate leader with international experience in bluechips, scale ups and now as an entrepeneur, Becky combines 4 years of coaching experience and a breadth of knowledge and network to help young people understand their potential and move forward with excitment. She specialises in helping students manage transitions and grow during periods of transition. With deep knowledge of career change, relocation, and cross-cultural dynamics, she brings both strategy and heart to the conversation.

    Language: English

  • Harriet van Utenhove

    Harriet van Utenhove

    Entrepreneur
    ICF Level 2 Trained Coach
    Co-founder of Spark My Future

    Harriet helps students slow down and reconnect with who they are, beyond external expectations. Her coaching supports young women in finding confidence, purpose, and direction as they leave university and begin shaping their futures. She brings lightness and groundedness to a stage of life often filled with uncertainty.

    From corporate marketing to hospitality and creative entrepreneurship, Harriet brings life experience and grounded wisdom. Her intuitive, open style creates a safe space to reflect, dream, and start from exactly where you are. She has reinvented herself more than once, and now helps others to find their own authentic path forward. One that feels not perfect, but true.

    Languages: Dutch & English

  • Karima Hazzouti

    Karima Hazzouti

    Consultant
    ICF Level 2 Trained Coach

    Karima supports young women, especially those from bicultural backgrounds, who are ready to step into their full potential as they transition from university into the next phase of life. Her coaching is warm and empathetic, creating a safe space for honest conversations and clarity. She helps students slow down, reflect on who they are, and take ownership of the choices in front of them.

    Karima helps students understand what’s holding them back, tap into their unique strengths, and make aligned choices that reflect who they truly are. With a focus on mindset and self-worth, her coaching provides practical tools and a sense of encouragement. Karima is especially skilled at helping young women who may feel torn between cultures or expectations find their voice and confidence.

    Languages: Dutch, Arabic & English

  • Mirte Litjens

    Mirte Litjens

    Marketing Director
    ICF Level 2 Trained Coach

    Mirte supports smart, ambitious students who are starting their careers but might struggle with self-doubt. She brings empathy, warmth, and practical guidance to help young women grow into confident professionals. Her sessions are honest and encouraging, a space where students can show up as they are.

    With 15+ years of leadership experience in marketing, she understands how difficult it can be to make decisions early in your career. Her coaching is grounded in real-life experience and a deep belief in personal growth through vulnerability. Mirte helps students develop clarity, ask for support, and trust their own path, even when it feels unfamiliar.

    Languages: Dutch & English

  • Baharak Bakhtiari

    Baharak Bakhtiari

    Business Manager, Rabobank
    ICF Level  2 Trained Coach

    Baharak empowers students entering financial and business sectors. She guides young women to find their confidence, sharpen their clarity, and bridge the gap between academic knowledge and real-world business environments.

    As a Business Manager at Rabobank, Baharak brings market insights and strategic thinking into her coaching. She helps students craft compelling narratives, build readiness for interviews, and effectively communicate their strengths to employers. Her coaching is a blend of industry-informed guidance and personal growth: she supports clients in navigating the complexities of corporate entry points while staying true to their core values. Baharak understands the uncertainties of stepping into big organisations. She draws on her own experience navigating internal networks and stakeholder relationships, offering authenticity and practical support. Students working with her benefit from her hands-on approach and thoughtful encouragement.

    Languages: English & Farsi

  • Heike Dekker

    Heike Dekker

    Deloitte University Dean
    ICF Level 2 Trained Coach

    Heike supports ambitious students preparing to enter dynamic, high-impact environments. Her coaching helps young people develop human-centred leadership, resilience, and curiosity traits essential for thriving during and beyond their university journey.

    As Dean of Deloitte University EMEA, Heike leads a renowned leadership development campus in Paris. She designs and delivers programmes that combine business insight with deep personal growth. Her focus is on helping future leaders grow not just horizontally through new skills, but vertically evolving how they think, feel, and show up. Heike also coaches students and professionals through key transitions, with a focus on wellbeing, purpose, and creating space for growth. Her approach is energising and reflective, encouraging students to learn from experience and trust their inner compass. Heike lives in Nord Holland with her husband and 2 daughters (21 and 23).

    Languages: German, Dutch & English

  • Barbara van der Meer

    Barbara van der Meer

    Leadership Trainer
    ICF Level 2 Trained Coach

    Barbara empowers young people to stay grounded and connected as they step into high-pressure environments. Her coaching helps students explore their values, energy, and goals, so they can build a sustainable and inspired life post-graduation. She supports students in listening to their intuition, even when external pressures are loud.

    After experiencing burnout early in her own career, Barbara shifted from strategy consulting to guiding others in their personal and professional growth. Her coaching combines intellectual depth with body awareness and practical insight helping students learn to trust themselves, even in uncertain transitions. Her experience in leading mountain expeditions and meditation groups enriches her ability to guide through challenge with both clarity and compassion.

    Languages: Dutch & English

  • Renske van  Geel

    Renske van Geel

    Consultant
    ICF Level 2 Trained Coach

    Renske brings energy, and perspective to students facing big choices. She helps young women explore who they are and what matters to them drawing on her own experience in elite sports and complex societal work. Her coaching supports those who are ambitious but want to lead from a place of self-knowledge, not pressure.

    A former national field hockey player and professional government strategist, Renske supports students in building both resilience and reflection. She’s a strong believer in learning through action and creating space for both softness and strength. Her coaching blends performance with presence, and she brings a powerful balance of drive and sensitivity to every session.

    Languages: Dutch & English

  • Chris Moser

    Chris Moser

    Facilitator & Trainer
    ICF Level 2 Trained Coach

    Chris supports students preparing to step into team-driven and fast-paced environments. She helps them recognise their strengths, build collaborative confidence, and develop leadership rooted in purpose and connection so they can thrive as new graduates.

    With extensive experience in team, leadership, and organisational transformation through her work at Changekitchen and ForChiefs, Chris creates environments where individuals feel safe to show up fully and engage in meaningful dialogue. She coaches students on making sense of complexity, navigating ambiguity, and aligning their actions with personal values. Chris blends structured facilitation with warm empathy to create powerful learning experiences.

    Languages: Dutch & English

  • Hanne van Heloma Lugt

    Hanne van Heloma Lugt

    Managing Partner
    ICF Level 2 Trained Coach
    Advisory Board Member

    Hanne supports students and professionals who are navigating their career choices. Her coaching brings in moments of transition the clarity, confidence, and courage to choose boldly. With warmth and wisdom, she creates space for women to ask: What do I truly want? and What might be possible if I believed it was?

    With international HR experience and a strong entrepreneurial spirit, Hanne offers grounded support and big-picture forward thinking. She believes every challenge holds the seed of possibility and every choice is an opportunity to grow into your potential.

    Her coaching sessions are energising, perspective-shifting, and deeply personal. She guides students to uncover their intrinsic motivation and develop a career direction that feels exciting and true.

    Languages: Dutch & English

  • Isabel Fonseca

    Career Development & Leadership Coach | ICF Level 2 Trained Coach

    Isabel helps women in corporate environments rise into leadership without compromising who they are. Her coaching supports students and early-career professionals who identify as kind, open, introverted, or simply “different” from traditional leadership moulds, offering them a new way to lead, grounded in authenticity.

    With over 13 years of experience in Finance and Risk Management at global companies like PwC, Allianz, and NN Group across Uruguay, Ireland, and the Netherlands, Isabel understands the pressures of navigating corporate systems. Through her coaching practice, Nextfem Leaders, she now empowers women to challenge limiting beliefs, develop their inner confidence, and step into roles of influence. Isabel blends structured guidance with heart-led leadership, making space for transformation from the inside out.

  • Biegel Plaat

    Biegel Plaat

    Executive Headhunter - Career Mentor

    Biegel is passionate about guiding young women in the early stages of their careers. Her coaching offers clarity, perspective, and reassurance during one of life’s most exciting and uncertain transitions. She helps students explore questions of identity, direction, and practical next steps.

    With over 14 years in recruitment and talent development, Biegel understands what employers are really looking for and helps students build confidence from the inside out. She supports young women to make intentional choices aligned with their values. Her own career path, filled with pivots and international experiences, helps her connect with those still figuring it all out. She brings a calm, empowering energy that encourages self-trust.

    Languages: Dutch & English

  • Shelby Mccabe

    Photographer

    Shelby captures people in their most genuine light. She supports students and professionals alike in seeing themselves with clarity and confidence creating visual stories that reflect who they are at their best.

    With a talent for creating ease in front of the camera, Shelby helps individuals feel safe and seen. Her work goes beyond taking pictures, it’s about creating space for authenticity, pride, and visibility. Through thoughtful conversation and intuitive connection, she brings out the spark in everyone she photographs.

  • Ilinca Manolache

    Ilinca Manolache

    University Teacher- Advisory Board Member

    Ilinca brings a unique perspective to the Spark My Future Advisory Board as a university lecturer deeply engaged with student life and academic development. She plays a key role in helping shape programmes that reflect what students truly need ensuring they are grounded, relevant, and future-ready.

    As a Psychology teacher and trainer at the University of Amsterdam and with training in psychology and education, she contributes grounded insight into how young adults learn, evolve, and find their voice. Ilinca uses her academic lens to advise on curriculum structure, program design, and inclusive content that resonates across diverse student backgrounds. Her work helps Spark My Future continuously adapt to the realities of student life today; creating programming that feels not only aspirational but genuinely supportive.

    Ilinca brings a multicultural perspective, with her Romanian heritage and experience of living in the UK and The Netherlands.

  • Ashley Monteiro

    Ashley Monteiro

    Student - Advisory Board Member

    Ashley empowers fellow students through advocacy, inclusive community-building, and academic excellence. Currently completing a dual bachelor’s degree in European & International Law and Technology Law, Ashley brings sharp analytical thinking and ethical awareness into every initiative she leads at the University of Groningen. As the former President of Black Ladies of Groningen (BLOG), she has created safe spaces for Black female students, launching support events, stress-management sessions, and community-building circles

    Through her work with the Well-being, Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Ashley collaborates with university staff to shape policy and programming that reflect student needs and promote equity.

    A proud global citizen of Cape Verdean heritage and Luxembourgish-Dutch upbringing, she inspires others through her calm advocacy, resilient spirit, and belief that meaningful change begins at the grassroots level.