@JoelECarlson – Round 2 of today’s Twitterviews is going to begin. Everyone please welcome @maikelvdm to the program! Lets get started.
@maikelvdm – Hey @joelecarlson Thanks for having me
Q – #1 So @maikelvdm, where did you grow up, where have you lived and what kind of schooling/training have you received?
A: Grew up in Asten, The Netherlands (1.5 hrs South East of Amsterdam, 4 hrs North of Paris). Lived in both Holland and the US
School, Design Academy in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Studied design, art direction and marketing.
Q – #2 Interesting. So what kind of work have you done in the past, and what got you into eco/green-marketing now?
A: Managed many jobs, graphic designer, art & creative director. Strategic director and marketing director.
Having spend almost 20 years in marketing I felt us marketers needed to take greater responsibility on how we market products
Since I have mainly worked in the consumer goods category, it’s easy to see where many great improvements can be made
Both @BjorgvinS and I were on the same page regarding all things green, which related to our European up bringing
And @Element_Six was born.
Q – #3 Awesome! Can you give some examples (pics or links) to some of your work?
A: Here are a few links of work samples http://ht.ly/37C8a & http://ht.ly/37C8S
As I’m sure you can imagine, this is not even the tip of the iceberg. So am showing my age here
Q – #4 No worries! So is your client base primarily in MN, the US or is it broader than that even?
A: We currently enjoy a very diverse client base, from Istanbul, Turkey, to LA, NYC, & Eden Prairie. What’s not to love
That said, Mpls provides us with a perfect geo location serving both coasts and direct flights back to Europe.
Q – #5 Congrats! Now for some of your FAVS: Favorite – Restaurant, store, comfort food, eco/green product and tech-gadget.
A: Restaurant – Lurcat & Namaste in Uptown. Store, Diesel, Replay, GStar and Hugo Boss store, all in Holland.
Comfort food: Dutch pancakes and anything indonesian, such a big part of the Dutch culture
Tech gadget: Anything Apple, although I wish it wasn’t so. Unfortunately, they do rock their gadgets.
Favorite green & eco product: Any type of bicycle. Peddling a bicycle is the ultimate green & health experience.
Q – #6 Cool! Now what kind of physical training are you doing now, and how long have you been involved with it?
A: Triathlons seem to be my thing. Will starting training for my second Ironman race, June 2011 in France.
Been biking and running most of my life, started tri’s roughly 4 years ago. Not a big swimmer, but am improving on this
Q – #7 You have quite a full life, in addition to your involvement with the #jmu612 group. Does it get overwhelming some times?
A: Sure seems like I have a full life, not mentioning another active wear business @ThreeActive I’m involved with.
Thing is, when you work with talented people like; @BjorgvinS @ericamayer @JoelECarlson & many others all will be good
Plus, sleep is waaay overrated, I think. Right?
Q – #8 Haha! So to end today, what life advice or mantra can you share today?
A: I don’t think I am in a position to share any life mantra or advice. I am who I am, take it or leave it. It’s all good.
@JoelECarlson – Fair enough. Thanks @maikelvdm for sharing some of your thoughts today. Have a great afternoon! #jectv
@maikelvdm – Thanks for having me, Joel. Continue fighting the good fight, sire. #jectv is a great asset to our twitter community. Cheers!
I think that’s the best life mantra I’ve ever heard!