Last weekend, I visited the Global Woman Summit in London for the first time. I finally got to meet my director from Los Angeles, Micaela Passeri. During, our podcast interview we spoke about finding the right balance to a successful life. I would like to share a short summary of my journey with the readers.
My name is Gilleon Sjauw-Mook and I am 43 years of age. Originally, I am from Surinam and grew up in the Caribbean. For the past 32 years, I have been living in the Netherlands.
Education
Both of my parents were teachers, nowadays they enjoy their retirement in Surinam, South America. My younger brother and I followed in their footsteps. He became a physical education teacher and I was an English teacher for 20 years at different high schools. Our parents, always motivated us to use our talents and develop them. They are a great example of practicing what you preach.
Art
I have always had a passion for writing. I mainly write poetry and articles. I discovered this treasure that was hidden in me during the darkest days of my life. This talent developed into Spoken Word where I hope to inspire the listeners with life lessons. I share these on my Gilleon’S Hope blog and during different stage performances.
Ministry
The Christian faith has always been a firm foundation at home. I truly believe, this is where I developed my passion for charity work, especially youth and children’s homes. For the past, 10 years I was very active as a youth leader for teenagers in several churches and different children’s homes abroad such as Surinam, Indonesia and Africa which filled my heart.
Government
Turning 40, I decided to make a career switch. I took a job as a youth advisor at the municipality of Amsterdam. It was amazing to have impact and influence in the lives of vulnerable young adults. I had the privilege of working with different professionals and loved the multicultural aspect of it, but after 3 years it was time for something new.
Entrepreneurship
For the past 5 years, I discovered a new passion which is entrepreneurship. I have been building my business while doing all the above.
Curious which services I offer? Well, I train young and old students who would like to learn the English language but also who struggle with learning disabilities. I train, artists who would like to learn to write poetry and perform this on stage. Due to the success of the business, I also coach entrepreneurs with their businesses. Event management, is also a talent of mine which I use to promote numerous platforms.
To be able to do all this has taught me to make wiser choices which challenges me to create more time, energy and focus. I continuously seek the right balance to carry all that is entrusted to me in this lifetime.
At this point in life, I am standing at a crossroad but I’m “open to receive, when I believe”. This is one of the many golden nuggets which I heard during this amazing and inspirational weekend from Subconscious Communication Expert, Danielle Serpico
– This article was written for the Business Woman Today Magazine and the pictures were made by @mosarstudio
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