About Us

The team at Cultural Insights consists of experienced experts who provide tailor-made solutions and match the needs of you and your organisation. Good listening is paramount to us. We work proactively with you and your colleagues so that you can translate strategies into practical and tangible results. We have a keen ability to understand both numbers and emotions, as we specialise in often unconscious cultural patterns.

Cultural Insights is a cooperative of a mix of entrepreneurs, trainers, analysts, authors, storytellers and coaches. Members have known each other for much longer in a larger, global context. The cooperative was founded in 2021, out of a shared need to do more together within the Netherlands. Together, we have a wealth of experience, gained from various cultural backgrounds and in different sectors in numerous countries. So we have expertise in the many aspects of organisational cultures and in virtually every continent of the world.

Direct contact

Find the members of our team here

Alette Vonk
Saskia Maarse
Brigitte Opel

Alette Vonk

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Alette Vonk is an Intercultural trainer and coach for Africa and Europe. She is a Dutch Development Sociologist, who has lived shortly in Spain and Greece, and the US. Above all, she has lived in West Africa (Cameroon, Benin, Ghana) for 10 years, working in the development business. Back in the Netherlands, Alette worked in with migrant communities in The Hague.

Since 2010 she started her own company in culture. Her clients range from multinational companies to development agencies (mostly in Europe and Africa); and from a migrant NGO destined to suppress Islamic radicalization, to medical workers with patients from various backgrounds. Since 2017 she also lectures Intercultural Management at the University of Leiden.

She holds certificates in OD, NLP, Intercultural Management, Organisational Culture, Culture at the Workplace and a University BKO. She’s one of the Friends of Hofstede.

“Alette brings a unique perspective-approach to her training that is rare. Combining empirical facts, case studies with theories in flexible coaching sessions the undercurrent realities of work-place cultural misunderstanding and tensions are creatively unveiled and addressed in a manner that leave participants going back to their jobs with healed hearts; cleared misconceptions; abandoned egos – and above all, the need to mutually respect imbedded hard core cultural values that make-or-break corporate peace and harmony.”
Isaac Agyapong, Technical advisor, GIZ Ghana

Saskia Maarse

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Saskia Maarse is a Dutch intercultural speaker, trainer and author. For six years, she researched how Dutch culture is experienced by people from other cultures. She did so through in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs and managers from 30 different countries. She wrote two books on the subject: Tutti frutti – Success in a colourful and entreprising Netherlands and Onder de zeespiegel – collaborating and living together with the Dutch.

Saskia’s fascination for cultural differences started at a young age. She worked in tourism for over ten years, including several years in France, Spain, Italy and Austria. Her work experience abroad and her subsequent trip around the world broadened her view of the world and its inhabitants. Her research provided Saskia with much: more cultural awareness and extensive knowledge about Dutch culture in relation to other cultures.

Saskia’s mission is to provide as many people and organisations as possible with cultural insights and awareness in an accessible and inspiring way, so that more understanding of different cultures is created.

“During our team building day in Openluchtmuseum Arnhem we have had the pleasure to enjoy a very interesting cultural awareness workshop focussing on the Dutch culture in comparison with other cultures, how other cultures see us Dutch and what we can learn with the 6 principles of intercultural working from Saskia Maarse. The diverse group that we were with 25 people, 6 nationalities and even more cultures (including Frisian and Limburg) were really enthusiastic and even more understood the importance of good communication (verbal and visual) in international business.”
Marko van der Smitte, Sales Director Alfa Laval

Brigitte Opel

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Brigitte Opel is a certified consultant for intercultural management since 2013. She has lived and worked in Germany, Netherlands, Japan, USA, Australia and Russia and visited many more. After her studies at Thunderbird School of International Management and a career as international project manager at IBM, she decided to use her experiences in combination with the Hofstede model on National Cultures to consult multinational teams on cultural awareness to improve their communication and their results. Her ambition is to let the audience understand the perspective of the Other. The change in perspective helps multinational teams improve internal and external collaboration, makes negotiations with foreign business partners more efficient and strengthens their Diversity & Inclusion efforts.

“Thank you very much for the interesting and enjoyable intercultural session today, also for a lot of positive energy you have shared. What you do is very meaningful and helpful, and I look forward to the next session already.”
Clare Samer