Vote for an Expat of the Year

Mrs Angelica Bevilacqua Ariosti

Angelica is an Italian expat, living in Amsterdam since 2004. Angelica feels passionate about changing the image of the city from 'drugs & prostitution' [read more] to 'a perfect city to raise kids in'.  For the past six months, Angelica has been blogging on www.lifeinamsterdam.com/kids about things to do and places to go with children in Amsterdam and surroundings. She strongly believes that Holland is a unique, easy and fun place where to have (many) children! She is currently seeking contact with the Amsterdam municipality and North-Holland marketing agency to highlight the child-friendliness of the region. Together with her husband, she has three children: a 6-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and a 1.5-year-old boy. [less]

Mrs Emmy Coffey McCarthy

Emmy Coffey McCarthy, an Amsterdam resident for the last four years, is actively involved in supporting English-speaking parents in Amsterdam through [read more] her not-for-profit organisation, Stichting Amsterdam Mamas. Originally a closed Facebook group for six friends who wanted to share information and support each other while they were pregnant in Amsterdam, the group has grown to be over 1,200 members solely through word of mouth to become one of the liveliest parenting forums in Amsterdam. Emmy runs the Amsterdam Mamas community as an inclusive, non-judgmental and supportive place for parents to connect with other parents. Emmy strongly believes in encouraging people to really live in the city they are living in and works hard with a volunteer team to help the members feel at home in Amsterdam by connecting them to relevant businesses and services as well as circulating two newsletters, the Weekend Round Up of family-friendly events in Amsterdam and the Weekly Bargain newsletter that highlights discounted child and parent products available in Amsterdam. Both newsletters are distributed to hundreds of families each week. Amsterdam Mamas also hosts at least four events a month, also run by volunteers, so that parents have an opportunity to meet in person. These meet ups have proved so popular that last month Amsterdam Mamas was able to launch the AMbassador Program to connect families living in the same neighbourhoods through a network of local coordinators. To ensure that support and information remains easily accessible to parents, Emmy is currently overseeing the imminent launch of the www.amsterdam-mamas.nl website. [less]

Mr Marius De Vos

Marius de Vos is South African and has been living in the Netherlands for the last ten years. He has set up a school to treat the severely disabled, [read more] children diagnosed as either untreatable or from families unable to handle them without help. His methods, expertise and incredible compassion have achieved amazing results, nowhere more evident than in the progress of his own adopted son who was diagnosed as autistic, blind and unable to walk at three and who now skips along humming to himself. [less]

Mr Kenneth Hardy

Ken is American but, due to current US laws, unable to reside there with his Dutch partner. He made a conscious choice to focus on the positive and turn [read more] something he loves into a small but successful business: Baking. What makes it so special? Ken's commitment to putting his heart and soul into every item he bakes, making each customer feel like a friend (especially other expats) , going the extra step to make an order a little more special, getting a small child's birthday cake just right. Additionally, he and Jur have donated hundreds of euros worth of baked goods for charity fundraisers in the Netherlands. He inspires others to remember the positive in any given situation and not to sweat the small stuff. He has made other expats feel at home with his warm and genuine personality on countless occasions, sharing stories and experiences of adjusting, etc., usually ending with a lot of laughter. [less]

Mr Phil Loughton

Phil has  helped set up a football team within a club which was mainly made up of internationals. In 2001, there were around 28 or 29 players, playing [read more] Saturday football in the Westland. The club found a unique way of mixing personal needs and social interaction, with Dutch club standards and professionalism. This has developped to a current number of 8 or 9 teams (both male and female) with around 150-200 paying members, playing Saturdays and Sundays. The club has seen over 1,000 players come and go or stay throughout this time, with maybe 70+ different nationalities. One of the first points of reference for new arrivals in Den Haag is to find a sport or social club; this club is one and all. The club funtions due to the hours of work and effort put in by Phil Loughton and the other volunteers, as he really motivates many and gets them to take onwership of the various tasks. Phil creates a fantastic environment for young and old. He has stuck to the club and its members through good times and bad. [less]

Miss Liesl Olivier

Liesl Olivier, a British-South African wonderwoman, provides a nexus of all things Anglophone and literary in Amsterdam. She singlehandedly has turned [read more] her cozy, book-filled shop on the corner of the Lauriergracht and the Hazenstraat, into a place where the expat community gathers. Not only does Liesl provide that safe haven where you know you can find that special book but she also furnishes us all with a platform for events; from children's playgroups to writer's round tables to quiz nights. Liesl works tirelessly; you can find her in the English Bookshop most days of the week herself, ready to provide tea and sympathy to the expat community and travelers alike. Liesl is a beacon in the expat community and deserves our vote for all her dedication and inspiration! [less]

Mr Gregory Shapiro

Greg is a comedian with shows aimed at expats. In his own funny way, he shows us the difference between people who come from other countries (expats) [read more] and the people of Holland. He also covers how dificult it is to fit in the Dutch culture at a time that the Dutch are going through an identity crisis. New this year is his show Greg Shapiro Presents, which he does together with a range of international comedians (such as Ava Vidal) he brings to the Netherlands.

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Mrs Deborah Valentine

Deborah Valentine is a Canadian resident of The Hague who has made the Netherlands her home and is helping others feel the same. She helps with endless [read more] questions, generously sharing her time as well as her contacts, ideas and tips. Extending a hand in The Hague is her calling. In the over eight years Deborah has lived there, she contributed greatly to the expat/international community in The Hague. She managed the organisation of the Feel At Home In The Hague Fair, followed by the Connecting Women network (where she held board position), and currently she is on the Board of the WBII. She also launched a get together community platform for the expat residents of her neighbourhood in The Hague and is a self-appointed Honorary Consul for all internationals who move to her neighbourhood. She finds time to write and contribute articles on various aspects of living in the Netherlands for English language publications including the Xpat Journal, the Access Magazine and others. She is an extraordinary connector of people and businesses and is an inspiration to all. She does not sit back, complain and criticise, but gets involved, gets things done, is always positive, and stays connected and involved with the local community as well. She is a great service not only to the expats but also to the city of The Hague. [less]

Mrs Rosalind Van Aalen Grant

Having been an expat and an international all her life, Rosalind knows how important contact and support is in a foreign country. She strives continuously [read more] to help others settle in the Netherlands. She works at Avans School of International Studies in Breda, where she has set up the Avans International Community, a club for international colleagues to meet and discuss the trials and tribulations of living in a foreign country. She runs the Academy's Buddy project for international students encouraging a joining together of cultures and promoting Breda as a student city. She is also a steering committee member of Breda Expats, a new organisation set up to help expats settle in the Netherlands but also for those wishing to get together with other cultures. She manages the website and marketing for the organisation. Rosalind realises how hard it is to make and find friends in a new country and she organises messy play activites, book clubs, and discos for international mums and dads alike and their children. Amongst all this, she writes a blog at Tales from Windmill Fields (hopefully one day to be a book for Women in the Netherlands) relating the stories of living in the Netherlands and bringing up a multilingual cultural family. [less]

Mrs Georgina Zinno

Georgina lived in Barcelona a few years before moving totThe Netherlands in 2003. She is doing an amazing job helping bridge cultural differences between [read more] the Latin, Spanish and Dutch cultures. She has a blog in Spanish, explaining different aspects of the Dutch culture and history. She does the investigation, translation and narration in a very methodical way using books and internet as main sources.
Georgina is also the coordinator at Casa Migrante Amsterdam. Casa Migrante helps Spanish speaking immigrants with all they need to adapt to Dutch life: from legal advice to social work and information about everything people require to live and work in the Netherlands. The organization, a foundation that exists in Amsterdam since the 60's, provides immigrants the opportunity to follow Dutch and English lessons. The volunteers who work in Casa Migrante help immigrants with different tasks such as help with tax declarations, contact with other organziations, translations, etc. Casa Migrante is a volunteer organisation; Georgina has the challenging task of coordinating all volunteers, around 50 in total.
Georgina is also one of the administrators of the Facebook groups Argentinos en Holanda (Argentines in Holland) and Argentinos con Hijos en Holanda (Argentines with kids in Holland), two platforms to help Argentine people living in the Netherlands to network. The groups also organise events; Georgina is in charge of cultural events.
She was also involved in Lelystad's group of immigrant women (Participatieteam Lelystad), a project supported by Gemeente Lelystad, which helps women from different ethnic bakcgrounds to integrate in the Dutch society.

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