5 mins with… Jolanda de Vries

Jolanda de Vries is an Account Manager for the 3M Consumer Business Group Europe.

0

What’s your life philosophy? 

Be curious and positive. 

What do you do in your spare time? 

Cooking, sports, and spending as much time as I can with family and friends. 

Optimist or pessimist? 

Definitively optimist. For me the glass is always half full. 

Favourite author? 

There are a few authors in different genres I like, but Gabriel García Márquez and his Love in the Time of Cholera is probably top of the list.

If you could trade places with someone – dead or alive – for a day, who would it be and why?

Pablo Picasso or Leonardo da Vinci. Both extraordinary people and I would love to experience and breathe their air of creativity, inspiration and genius. 

What’s your favourite place to be in Germany and why?

I moved to West Berlin in 1984. I was fortunate to be in the city when the wall came down. Experiencing first-hand how this city has changed over the years and found its place in the world has been, and still is, extremely exciting. 

Early bird or night owl?

Early bird.

If you could have the answer to any question, what would you ask?

What’s next?

What’s your most prized possession? 

A handwritten cookbook from my mum. She is a great cook and wrote all her favourite recipes down for me.

Career

Describe your current job. 

Account Manager of the 3M Consumer Business Group Europe. With a team, I manage the European Office Accounts.

What personal or practical items do you have on your desk?

A Karim Rashid-designed Post-it Z-Note and Scotch Magic Tape Dispenser.

If you weren’t doing your present job, what would you like to be doing? 

As a child, I wanted to design gardens. I think it’s still something I would love to do.  

What do you like best about the OP industry? 

With all the major changes this industry is currently going through, it somehow manages to reinvent itself. Change challenges us to leave behind old habits and forces us to think differently. It requires us to leave our comfort zone. Think outside the box. Explore new opportunities. It’s exhilarating.

The industry figures you most admire? 

Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver for inventing a product nobody thought they needed until they did. And now for over 35 years, the Post-it brand has helped people be more productive, communicate better and express themselves in a number of creative ways.