Robyn Barclay

I've spent the last 13 years taking care of things. All manner of things. Executives, 17 nieces and nephews, the mess in the kitchen, my perpetually dying herb garden. I love to nourish, feed and grow people's potential (and their bellies with my experimental vegan chefery).

*Seriously, if you're near me, expect a bowl of beetroot hummus or a pep talk*

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Corporate walls took me in at the wee age of 18. By 24, I was a Senior Operations Analyst...and tired. My superiors encouraged me to branch out - to discover, explore (Mark Twain style). To "experience my youth" before it had completely escaped me. At 25, I stood looking up at the Departures board in Toronto with a one-way ticket to the United Kingdom clenched in the palm of my nervous hand.

In the two years that followed, my toes dug into the soil and sand of 20 foreign lands. I learned more about myself, how to roll with the punches, hard work ethic, and valuing relationships than all the 25 years before had taught me. Admiration and appreciation for alternative cultures, foods, entertainment, smells and sounds abounded. I felt my soul explore and take home little fragments of experiences, cherishing them as little trinkets from the universe. I became worldly.

Sunsets have a different meaning now after witnessing them from fortified castle walls in Croatia, with my love in Yorkshire, lakeside camping in Scotland, rooftops in Budapest, a Berber tent in Africa....same, same, but different. This is the world we live in.

After returning to the motherland, our Great White North, I dedicated three years to an environmental software start-up and later retail headquarters for a beautiful Canadian outwear brand. Finding my footing once again on European soil, my home now is in The Netherlands. I'm back in the board room, but this time armed with appreciation for the curves. I relish in coordinating an orchestra of people, managing projects, and keeping one eye on the horizon. I'm here to contribute to my sphere of influence, not simply absorb inward. Inward and outward, forevermore.

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Mission: Active daily pursuit of striking an internal balance between being a realist and a dreamer - if one dares to be both.