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Like most kids growing up, I had a very wide interest. I was interested in everything. I tried to take advantage of everything, from the sciences to music to writing to literature.

I remember that already as a child I was often intensely interested in things, obsessed by ideas and projects in many areas, and in these topics I learned much on my own, reading books.

There wasn't much as a kid that inspired me in what I did as an adult, but I was always very interested in what motivates people, and in telling stories and building things.

I've always had a passion for technology, photography, startups, and connecting people. Bringing those aspects together made me successful.

In my late teenage years, I developed a real passion for it, and wrote a lot of poetry.

When we were studying at the Royal Antwerp Academy, we were taught to seek inspiration from everyone, everything and everywhere. My parents and grandparents were also a great inspiration for me a very young age.

I grew up in a household that had its roots in church and community and culture and poetry and song and in the arts. Those aspects certainly shaped what I do.

I discovered philosophy in my youth when I read 'wildly,' and thus I was exposed to the world of ideas.

I think I started to have thoughts to really want to be serious about my work when I was about twenty-five, and I just kind of started to look into that direction and moved into it.

I found that dance, music, and literature is how I made sense of the world... it pushed me to think of things bigger than life's daily routines... to think beyond what is immediate or convenient.