I grew up in South America (Brazil, Argentina and Colombia) and this has had a great influence on my development and choices in life. My working career shows my multifacetted talents and skills. With a degree in Sociology I started my career as a consultant and later international project manager Europe at Philips Lighting. Where I acquired hands-on and academic experience in the broad field of marketing and projectmanagement. Even later I received a degree in Business Administration from the University of Bradford and made a switch to academia and education. In 2004 I finished my PhD at the University of Nyenrode in The Netherlands. In the course of the years I have become an expert in innovation and entrepreneurship with both hands-on and academic experience. I have developed several innovative programs for which I received funds from the EU, developed and managed 4-year European projects and carried out longitudinal research in different sectors (ICT, Services, Manufacturing, Construction, Legal Services, Food & Flowers) which has resulted in a large number of publications. Since a couple of years part of my efforts are geared at supporting refugees to find their way in society and materialize their dreams. Furthermore I teach at different universities, develop programs and do research in the field of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Diversity.