(Originally posted on OneWorld.)

I always wanted to be in advertising because you could create media that many people would see. I saw it as a sport. I thought it would be cool to say I was the person behind those commercials. Advertising was a status thing for me.

“Thirty seconds for Supradyn,” right, those vitamin pills. I was 23 and doing an internship when our homemade commercial aired on all the major Dutch channels. But when I saw the commercial live, along with hundreds of thousands of Dutch people, I felt confusion instead of satisfaction. “Do those pills even work?” I wondered. “Who am I helping here?” I didn’t want to sell new toothpaste flavors and shampoo scents. The world can do just fine without all that.

Bargains versus food waste

That doubt remained, and suddenly I saw the advertising world very differently. One week I was working to promote a supermarket’s kilo bargains, the next I was devising a campaign against food waste. Even before the end of my internship, I started wondering what I thought about the stark differences between the campaigns I was working on. Did I even have an opinion about this? Or did I simply want to make fun videos?

I entered my graduation project feeling rather disillusioned. I wanted to take the world by storm and change it, make an impression, and make my parents and myself proud. Not to sell new toothpaste flavors and shampoo scents. The world can do just fine without all that.

Creating media with meaning

Then I came across Republiq, a startup I joined as a copywriter. After a month, Republiq was renamed Vandebron, and two years later, it’s a serious contender in the energy market. I’ve been creating media here all this time, but now with meaning, something I fully support. It’s precisely those questions that initially made me hesitate, that will now ensure I’ll be at the DJ100 awards ceremony, instead of just another self-serving promotional event.

I hope this is the story of many young talents who can do something. Who can work for multinationals and pay their mortgage that way. Or they ask themselves what they truly want in their professional lives and beyond, and then pour all their talent and energy into something that contributes to that.

What do you find important?

Triodos Bank is an example for ambitious young bankers, Rogier Cox for lawyers, Daan Roosegaarde for artists, Boyan Slat for anyone with impossible ideas. I believe that’s what the DJ100 is for. To show that we, the new generation, are using our talent for a better world. Because the world we envision could really use all that talent. But it all starts with asking yourself: what do you truly find important?