Dutch-American Social Impact

Happy Dutch American Friendship Day!

As a proud dual citizen of the US and the Netherlands, my Dutch heritage has had a big influence on my social impact journey:

1) Language learning as a burnout recovery

I'd always wanted to learn Dutch, but (at least when I was growing up) there weren't that many materials available to learn from. (I signed up for Duolingo the day they launched their Dutch course and a 3079 day streak later, I'm still going strong)

I'd heard about an intensive Dutch course in the Netherlands, but I knew I'd never have enough vacation time to go. Then, in June 2019, I left my last job and decided to go for it. I was burned out and looking for a shift.

Two weeks at language school changed everything – I felt energized by the challenge of learning something new, got great ideas while riding my bike around the countryside, and came back ready to dive all-in on coaching social impact leaders.

2) A window into the Dutch Social Impact Scene

My interest in all things Dutch has led me to pay close attention to the Dutch social impact scene – there's so much going on with circularity, sustainability, and innovation of all kinds. I see updates from so many of these organizations online and have been connected with quite a few Netherlands-based social impact leaders (such as the incredible Jessica Marati Radparvar of Reconsidered, Amarins Schuilenburg, Blanche Voorneman, and Lynn Zebeda) It's so exciting to see such density of initiatives and projects in this space!


3) An awesome last name

My last name is Ouwerkerk ("Old Church"). At first glance, it's a lot of letters and a bit confusing to pronounce (is it oh-er-kerk?) For years, my mom has suggested "Think 'Happy-Hour-kerk'" to folks.

When I was thinking of ways to build community and connect my awesome network with each other, the Happy Hour(kerk) was born. Now I host monthly-ish facilitated networking events to connect social impact leaders around the world with each other to generate powerful connections. We've had 300+ participants from 25+ countries, and counting, plus live events in Chicago and NYC (soon!). Could the Netherlands be next? 😉

I host Happy Hour(kerk)s about once a month – check out upcoming events here!

Celebrating a day late, but always grateful for my Dutch-American heritage!