Meet the Team: Silvina van Dam

Introducing Silvina van Dam, Lead Marketer at Rinkel’s first international office in Barcelona!

Joining Rinkel in May 2022, Silvina has been actively working on the expansion of Rinkel into Spain from a marketing perspective. Doing market research, getting in touch with agencies, and translating our website to English and Spanish.

Silvina just loves mixing things together. Whether it’s the two offices or ingredients in the kitchen. Speaking of, Silvina herself is a mix of all herbs and spices; being born in Costa Rica, raised in Argentina by and Argentinean mother and a Dutch father, and having lived in many other countries like Australia, Mexico and now Spain. She’s basically the UN of Rinkel!

But who is Silvina and what makes her tick? Keep reading to get the answers.

What’s the first thing people think of when they hear your name?
Well, my name is somewhat common in Argentina, which is where my mother is from and where I grew up. For the rest of the world the name Silvina is quite uncommon.

A lot of people call me Silvia or Silvana, which is apparently what people read when they see my name. I also once had a boss that called me Silvani for about 3 months. I got so tired of correcting her, I just started introducing myself as Silvani to people at work. 

Do you have a nickname in the office?
Not yet! I’m curious to know what the colleagues will come up with!

What is it exactly you do at Rinkel?
I am the Marketing lead for Rinkel Spain. I was hired to launch our amazing product in the land of flamenco and jamon. Which is very exciting! I also help the Marketing team in the international expansion of Rinkel.

But my main task is in to introduce the Rinkel brand to the Spanish market. So, I have been busy overseeing the translation of the Rinkel website. First from Dutch to English and then to Spanish. I also research the Spanish market, making sure the expansion is a smooth process.

What problem or frustration of customers are you eager to solve?
Since my job is to launch the product in the Spanish market, I suppose my first concern will be to explain what Rinkel can do for entrepreneurs and teams, and how we can make their lives easier and their work more efficient.

Once we get our first clients, we will work hard to give the excellent customer service our current customers in the Netherlands and Belgium are used to, and help them take their companies to their fullest potential!

What do you like most about working at Rinkel?
The autonomy and trust I get from my colleagues, the flexibility, and the excellent work environment. It feels like being an entrepreneur working with peers rather than an employee in a hierarchical organization.

What is it you like most about Team Marketing?
My colleagues at the Marketing Team are fun, patient, and supportive. At the same time, they are super knowledgeable, organized, and efficient without making anyone feel stressed, which I really appreciate. 

Do you have a ‘golden standard’ on how to stay focused? Whether at home or in the office.
We have a beautiful office space near the beach in Barcelona and I think our team keeps a very good balance between talking and sharing as well as being quiet and respectful of the others so we can each focus on our work. 

At home I am lucky enough to have my own office space. I designed the office myself at the start of the year, so I have a peaceful room where I can work with no distractions. 
My best trick to stay focused is to have the right breaks at the right time so I have energy and don´t get burned. Again, having a flexible work environment makes that possible!

Who inspires you?
Anyone who is trying to learn something new, steps out of their comfort zone or admits that they don´t know it all. Also, people who are still amazed at the wonders of life or stunned by the simplest of things.

Nowadays I rarely see myself surprised or amazed by things I see or experience. People who keep that curiosity and bewilderment (like that of children) inspire me a lot.

What is your favorite quote?

I try to be empathetic with people who are different from me, but I’ve come to a point in my life where I try to avoid negative people and surround myself with people with a positive energy. People who, as the quote says, inspire me to be the best version of myself.

What is your favorite office saying?
More than the office sayings I love the use of emojis on Slack, our internal communication platform. Everyone has their own emoji (some people more than one), and it never fails to make me laugh seeing them being used at unexpected moments and places. Even when we are working remotely, it makes me feel like we are all working and laughing together.

If you could be someone else for one day, who would it be and why?
Hmm...I never thought about this before. I wouldn´t mind being a rock star for a day. Someone who’s talented and makes everyone around them excited. Someone who gets to go from place to place and have everything arranged for them. Being a working mom, I wouldn´t mind having someone else organize everything for me for one day. Getting whatever I want just by asking for it. Sounds good!

What’s your archetype?
As usual, we gauge our team member’s identity with the archetype test. Turns out, Silvina -or Silvani - is primarily an intellectual with equal parts explorer and advocate.

Which means she’s someone who always has something interesting to say or add and is not afraid to do so, even if she’s in the minority.

But everyone who’s worked with Silvina agrees that she shares some traits with the Caretaker archetypes. When she’s not taking care of her kids, she’s taking care of her colleagues. Bringing in baked cakes like a true office mom. (Don’t tell Rinkel Rotterdam!)

What’s your favorite holiday destination?
Oof, so hard to choose! I am very lucky to have been able to travel a lot in my life.

I mostly love green and tropical destinations like Thailand, Costa Rica, and Australia. These are all places I visited more than once and would certainly visit again.

I also really like road trips. I would really love to do one long road trip in the North of Spain (the greener part of the country) and maybe across the U.S. once day.

What’s your favorite drink?
That depends on the time-of-day! Unlike my colleague Janine, I love Aperol Spritz so that would be my choice for the evening.

For a cocktail I’d have to go for a Moscow mule. My go-to for any night out would be a gin tonic.

I only name alcoholic drinks because I don´t really drink any kind of soda, so my go-to during the day is just water. I’m not a big coffee drinker either. I hate tea, and only drink it when I´m sick.

What do you like to do in your free time? (Hobbies, home renovation, etc.)
I´m a big fan of all things food related. I cook a lot, I bake, I try new recipes all the time and I love eating at restaurants. The crazier and more out of the norm, the better. I love fine dining. If I had the money I would go to Michelin star restaurants every weekend, it´s like art to me.

I also spend a lot of time hosting guests at home and visiting friends. Spending time with friends is very important to me.

Having a sense of community and social causes have always been important to me. I have always volunteered or worked for a good cause without pay. Right now, I am very involved in my kids´ school which is public and needs a lot of love and ideas from the families.

I love reading but don´t have enough energy/time to read as much as I used to.

I really wish I could say I love doing sports, but I really don´t enjoy it. I have tried many different sports; this is really the way I get out of my comfort zone. I played field hockey all my childhood until I was 18, I played softball, I do yoga, I´ve tried skiing and surfing. But the only thing I truly enjoy is beach volleyball because I am competitive, and I like team sports.

Do you want to share anything else? (Like a funny fact, or something funny about yourself) .
I can say “I don´t speak this language” in 10 languages, which as you can probably tell, is super useful (NOT). In fact, I’m juggling so many different languages, at home and the office, that I sometimes find myself using the wrong language at the wrong time. That’s the flip side of being a blend of everywhere, I guess.

Also, I can´t close Ziploc bags.