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Speaker & Transformation Expert

Sandra Poelman

Sandra Poelman is an urban developer, social entrepreneur and author. For more than 25 years, she has created movement in complex situations that seem stuck. After sustaining a brain injury, Sandra faced a very different kind of transformation: rebuilding her own life. This combination gives her a unique perspective on transformation, resilience and personal leadership. On stage, she is energetic, personal and full of humor. She challenges audiences to rethink their assumptions and discover where their own influence begins: what is possible?

  • Rate indication: € 2,500 to € 3,499
  • Available for booking as: Speaker Panelist
  • Languages: Dutch English
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About Sandra Poelman

Sandra Poelman is an urban developer, social entrepreneur, author and speaker on transformation, ownership and creating movement. With more than 25 years of experience in complex urban development, she knows what it takes to get situations that have stalled moving again. That expertise gained an extra layer after a serious accident left her with brain injury and forced her to rediscover what is possible. From that experience, Sandra connects professional change with personal transformation. Her style is energetic, down-to-earth and personal, with plenty of room for interaction and practical tools.

Professional transformation in practice

After completing her engineering degree at Eindhoven University of Technology, Sandra built a career in urban transformation. She played a leading role in major area transformations from vacancy and decline to a new perspective, including Strijp-S and DOMUSDELA in Eindhoven and the Stationskwartier in Helmond. This experience taught her that successful transformation is not only about plans, buildings and systems. The human side is what ultimately determines whether change gets off the ground.

After twenty years in government, Sandra founded Glowingplaces in 2018. Through her company, she and her team work on people-centered area development, placemaking and complex transformation challenges.

From urban development to personal recovery

After a serious accident in 2009, Sandra sustained acquired brain injury. Her possibilities suddenly became drastically limited, and she was expected to learn to live with that reality. Yet Sandra continued to look for what was possible and gradually found her way towards recovery.

During her years of recovery, Sandra discovered something she had never expected: her experience as an urban developer proved surprisingly relevant to her own recovery. This unexpected connection forms the basis of her vision on active recovery and led to UnPatient, her startup focused on the art of active recovery.

Author of three books

In her three books, Sandra challenges existing ways of thinking. Van Hopeloos naar Hotspot shows why the often underestimated human side is crucial to successful area development and revitalization, and how to create places that truly come alive together with people and organizations.

Blik vol Hoop introduces a fundamentally different perspective on recovery, in which the patient is no longer on the sidelines but becomes the project leader of their own recovery.

Therapieën Kompas breaks down the barriers between conventional and alternative approaches and brings together a broad spectrum of recovery options.

As a guest speaker, Sandra connects these different perspectives. Depending on the client's needs, she speaks about:

  • complex change and transformation
  • personal leadership and ownership
  • resilience and recovery
  • dealing with situations that have stalled
  • collaboration and connection
  • the question “what is possible?”
Over Sandra Poelman

Themes

Sessions

What enables people, teams and places to thrive again after setbacks? Drawing on lessons from urban development, entrepreneurship and personal recovery, Sandra explores how resilience can drive renewal, growth and lasting energy. Expect an energetic, personal and interactive keynote filled with unexpected parallels, humor and practical insights that encourage audiences to look differently at setbacks and their own possibilities.

When recovery is complex, it is easy to become focused on being a patient: waiting for test results, treatments, advice and the next appointment. Yet much of recovery happens in between those appointments. Drawing on her own years-long journey, Sandra offers a fundamentally different perspective in which hope and mental resilience are essential and the patient takes an active role. From waiting to exploring, from dependence to taking ownership, from patient to project leader of your own recovery. A personal and thought-provoking keynote that invites patients and professionals to rethink recovery and the role they can play in it.

How do you create places that truly work for people? Drawing on more than 25 years of experience in urban development, Sandra shares insights on policy, participation, placemaking and ownership. She shows how to create vibrant, inclusive places together, where energy and connection can grow. Using concrete examples from practice, Sandra demonstrates why the human side is often what determines whether a good plan becomes a place that truly comes to life.

How do you build a strong ecosystem that goes beyond good intentions and loose collaborations? Sandra shares lessons and practical examples from her own projects. She shows how to create lasting connections between people, organizations and places and how to generate momentum together. No abstract story about ecosystems, but a look at the reality of working across organizational, professional and stakeholder boundaries.

Ten essential principles for anyone looking to develop an area, concept or project with character and make it successful. From vision to execution, Sandra shares inspiring examples, common pitfalls and practical tools. A hands-on and inspiring session that enables participants to immediately sharpen and strengthen their own concepts.

Video's

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