After obtaining my BA in Journalism (2004-2007) and an MA in International Politics (2007-2009), I began my career as a journalist in 2010, working for a year as an editor at De Ware Tijd, one of Suriname’s most highly regarded newspapers. I had already done an internship of three months at the paper earlier on.

After finishing my stint at De Ware Tijd, I opted to stay in Suriname and continued as a freelance correspondent. Initially, I mostly wrote for Het Parool and Algemeen Dagblad, two major Dutch dailies. In 2011 I became the correspondent in Suriname for Trouw, another Dutch national daily.

As a correspondent for Trouw, I mostly wrote features and other major productions, while I filed news photos for ANP, a Dutch wire. I made stories in English for Associated Press.

In 2013, I started writing stories for Dutch weekly De Groene Amsterdammer. I was also a regular in various news show broadcasted by Belgium’s VRT national public radio and the Dutch public broadcasting system NPO.

Living and working in Suriname provided me with the opportunity to also work for Parbode, a Surinamese/Dutch monthly magazine.

I was, of course, also available for less regular jobs. I have been a production assistant for television shows filmed in Suriname and have filed stories for the Leeuwarder Courant (Dutch regional daily), Belgian glossies Ché and P Magazine and Belgian newspapers De Standaard and De Morgen. I also did a two-year stint at Radio Netherlands Worldwide, and write on Surinamese and Caribbean topics for special interest publications.

As one of the most intense and gratifying jobs of my career, I authored a book – together with my good friend and colleague Ivo Evers – on Desi Bouterse’s election as president of Suriname in 2010. The book, titled ‘Bouterse aan de Macht’ (‘Bouterse in Power’), was published in 2012 by Amsterdam-based publisher De Bezige Bij.

After having lived and worked in Suriname for almost eight years, I decided to take on a new challenge. I moved to Brussels in December 2017, where I now work for the Belgian daily De Standaard.