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Sophie Van Rijswijk
Managing director - founder Cornelis Serveert
Professional Background
Sophie Van Rijswijk is a dynamic and innovative leader in the realm of creative consultancy, known for her exceptional role at Cornelis Serveert, where she serves as the Managing Director. The consultancy specializes in uniting stakeholders from the public domain, specifically within government entities, educational institutions, and interest organizations. Sophie is committed to fostering collaboration around complex issues, using creativity as a driving force to facilitate meaningful dialogues. Under her guidance, Cornelis Serveert has become a beacon for organizations seeking to navigate intricate problems, promoting a participatory approach that values diverse perspectives equally.
Cornelis Serveert organizes conferences and workshops that provide a safe framework for discussions, emphasizing the importance of collective wisdom. Sophie's belief that top-down decision-making is obsolete and that collaborative efforts yield better results is a cornerstone of her philosophy and the consultancy's mission. The firm has successfully assisted entities in determining their strategic direction across various themes, including mobility, spatial planning, international solidarity, social innovation, and sustainable food chains. Her expertise in leading these processes is well-regarded, and many organizations turn to her for her guidance in fostering rich, inclusive dialogues.
Education and Achievements
Sophie’s educational background showcases her deep engagement with the arts, policy, and management. She obtained her Master’s in Arts Policy & Management from the prestigious Universiteit Utrecht, which equipped her with a robust understanding of the interplay between arts and governance. Prior to this, she studied at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in General Cultural Studies, focusing on cultural policy, art sociology, and copyright. Her foundation in the arts was laid at the Academie voor Beeldende Vorming, where she completed a BA in Fine Arts & Education, specializing in audiovisual design, photography, and visual communication. Additionally, she further honed her expertise in art policy and leadership at CultuurCollege.
Sophie has continually enriched her resume with prestigious positions, including serving as an Assessor for the BA in Arts & Education at Fontys Hogescholen, where she contributed her experience to shaping the next generation of art educators. She has also held significant roles, including Programmamaker & Project Developer at DasKulturForum and Process Manager at SETUP, an initiative focused on digital culture and innovation. Sophie’s creative management skills shone through her work with the Brusselse Museumraad, where she was involved in project development that enhanced cultural narratives.
Sophie’s talent in uniting ideas and people is also evident from her past role with SPUI25 at the University of Amsterdam, where she was responsible for programming and hosting insightful events that bridged academia and the public. Her international experience includes serving with UNESCO as part of a think tank and as a mediator at the Saatchi Gallery in London, showcasing her ability to connect diverse audiences through art and culture. Her marketing prowess was employed at Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, from where she drew essential insights into audience engagement strategies.
Adding to her versatility as a professional, Sophie has also contributed academically as a lecturer in Design Thinking & Visual Communication at Tilburg University. This role highlights her commitment to education and her desire to nurture the next wave of innovators in the creative sector.
Notable Achievements
- Transformative Workshops at Cornelis Serveert: Under Sophie's leadership, Cornelis Serveert has conducted numerous successful workshops and conferences that have impacted various sectors, encouraging shared ownership of solutions among stakeholders.
- Leadership in Arts Education: As an Assessor at Fontys Hogescholen, Sophie has played a crucial role in shaping arts education and influencing the curriculum and methodologies employed in training future artists and educators.
- Promoting Cultural Dialogue: Through her various roles, Sophie has actively promoted cultural dialogue and collaboration, helping organizations articulate their vision creatively and collaboratively.
- Strategic Project Development: Sophie's expertise has been instrumental in the strategic development of projects that promote cultural inclusivity and social innovation, emphasizing stakeholder participation from the ground up.
- Fostering International Collaborations: Sophie's work, especially her engagement with UNESCO, exemplifies her ability to create bridges across cultures and promote international solidarity through the arts.
- Guest Speaker and Advocate: Renowned for her insights, Sophie is often invited as a guest speaker to share her expertise in arts policy, creative collaboration, and stakeholder engagement at various events.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
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Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.