Meet our Coach Café coaches
The UM Coach Café is an initiative of the Alumni Office of Maastricht University and UM Career Services. During the Coach Café, which is an evening programme, coaches initiate discussions with recent graduates. These coaches are alumni of Maastricht University. They have work experience, often experience with coaching and are motivated to supervise young graduates. The coaches have received training during the Coach Café. On this page you can meet some of them.
The Coaches
Hannah Wiemer
Hi everyone,
My name is Hannah and I've had the pleasure to be a coach at Coach Cafeé for about 2 years now. I am currently a PhD student focusing on sustainability in family firms but for the Coach Café I am excited to be a coach again and support you as you think about your own path forward.
The reason I coach is simple: I believe the future job market doesn't have to be something that feels scary or overwhelming. Instead, it's a space full of possibilities that you can explore with creativity and curiosity. Thinking about the future can be fun!"
One of my favorite quotes is from Brené Brown: "When we have the courage to walk into our story and own it, we get to write the ending."
Iva Horejsi
As a certified coach and counsellor with over a decade of experience in multicultural and international environments, I am passionate about guiding others through personal growth and professional development. My journey began in 2010 when I graduated from UWC Adriatic, followed by my studies at Maastricht University in European Studies, which deepened my commitment to environmental issues and led me to pursue a Master's in Sustainability Science and Policy.
In August 2014, just days after defending my thesis, I joined UWC Maastricht (UWCM) as Sustainability Coordinator. Over the past ten years, I’ve remained deeply connected to this vibrant community, taking on roles such as Residence Mentor, Engagement Officer, and Project Week Coordinator. These experiences have shaped my approach to leadership, mentorship, and coaching, helping me develop both personally and professionally.
Outside of work, I’m an outdoor enthusiast. Whether hiking the GR20 trail in Corsica, running through the scenic Dutch countryside, or practicing yoga, I find balance in staying active. Daily walks with my dog, Aika, are a cherished part of my routine, keeping me grounded and energised.
Since 2018, I’ve been a dedicated mentor at the Coach Café, where I guide alumni as they navigate the often challenging transition from university to professional life. With my formal training and certification in coaching and counselling, I help individuals build confidence, explore career paths, and reconnect with their purpose. The Coach Café is a fantastic opportunity for alumni to invest in themselves, and I invite everyone to join us for a session. Together, we can explore your next steps and unlock your potential!
Luisa Teuteberg
Luisa is an example of how career paths are not always straightforward and can take unexpected turns. Born and raised in Germany, she kicked off her academic journey by studying Law at the University of Bielefeld. Although fascinated by the complexity of the legal world, she realized that this was not the right path for her and quit after three years without obtaining a degree in this field.
Instead, she decided to pursue a Bachelor's in Sociology, which she successfully completed in 2018. Also in 2018, Luisa moved to Maastricht and began her professional career at Mercedes-Benz as a Technical Service Representative. During this time, Luisa discovered her passion for personal development and coaching. She started educating herself in the areas of NLP, Life Coaching, Psychology, and Health Behaviour. It was the latter that inspired her to apply for the Master’s Programme in Health and Social Psychology at the University of Maastricht, which she pursued alongside her work at Mercedes-Benz.
Luisa successfully graduated in 2021 and was promoted to Deputy Operations Manager, where she is responsible for a multicultural team of 15 employees. In this role, Luisa uses her passion for teamwork, her great organisational skills, and her psychological background to motivate and guide her team as a leader.
Manouk de Hooge
My name is Manouk de Hooge and for some time now I have been a coach at the Maastricht University Coach Café. In 2011 I obtained my master degree and in the same year I started as PhD student at the Rheumatology department of the Leids University Medical Center (LUMC). During my PhD I moved to Milan in Italy and from that moment on I also started working for myself on rheumatology research projects, mainly focussing on imaging. In 2016 I moved to Brussels (Belgium) in that year I also finished my PhD and started working as a Post-Doc research at the University of Ghent. Since 2019 I live in Luxembourg and am still working for my own company on Rheumatology related research projects.
As the above shows my work course is somewhat unconventional. And as one can imagine this professional route was not what I could have foreseen when I was in university. Nevertheless it thought me that you need to look at your past and present to determine your future and that this is an ongoing process. The Coach Café is to my opinion a great tool to do this. In a structured manner you learn to think about what you can, what you want and what is possible while having the experience of peers and professionals at your service. Therefore I would suggest the Coach Café to every master’s students but also bachelor student in their final year and brand-new alumni.
Hope to see you at the next Coach Café and help you build your future!
Martin van de Pas
During our time as students, we face unique challenges and opportunities. We are starting to get a taste of the freedom to shape our lives autonomously. With a blank slate as our future, we are invited to shape our careers in any way we see fit—how exciting!
At the same time, what seems like a great gift of our modern times at first, can quickly turn into a nightmare when presented with limitless options, little self-knowledge and no support.
Personally, I found myself at the end of my studies facing what could be called a ‘quarter-life crisis’. The comforts and safety of the school-life structures were disappearing and I was left alone with no idea of which path I was going to pursue. Luckily, around this time I was introduced to the world of personal growth, where I found an abundance of resources that enabled me to get in touch with deeper layers of myself and clarify the future I wanted to create.
Ten years later, many of my visions have become a reality. As a ‘growth facilitator’, my job is to support individuals in their personal development by developing and facilitating training sessions.
Part of my vision was to support others who were in a similar position to mine. Over the past years, I have done this by facilitating sessions that would have helped my ‘younger self’. In collaboration with over 15 educational institutions, we have been able to impact over 1,000 participants.
The Coach Café is very much aligned with that mission. That is why it is a pleasure for me to join in as a guest coach to enable you to gain clarity about the future you want to create.
See you there!
Mayra Quintero Gomez
> Read the whole interview with Mayra
My name is Mayra Quintero, an Ecuadorian who decided to take a different career path in the Netherlands. After completing my Master Degree in Innovative Hospitality Management (2017) in Barcelona, with five years of growing towards a management role in the hotel, I shifted towards a career counsellor/recruitment position. Those 3 years fulfilled my drive of helping young talent gain the right experience in their early career years. When the pandemic hit, another change in my career arrived and I was lucky to have joined Maastricht University. For two and a half years now, I’ve worked with international students who arrive to the Netherlands with scholarships and Financial Aid as well as pockets full of dreams. It has been wonderful to hear their stories and see where our alumni is now. I really look forward to continue to meet alumni and future graduates this time as a Coach at the Coach Café.
When meeting young (soon to be) professionals, it’s an amazing challenge to help organize their ideas, dreams and goals and assist in creating a short term step plan in getting one step closer to the start of their career. When asked the right questions and tuning into what really drives you, incredible things can come out of one single conversation. It might not always be about knowing right away what you want to be, but how you can acquire the right experience when working your way towards a more long term career path. Just remember, wherever this path takes you, leave a mark. A positive one. This has worked for me so far and I really look forward to getting to know your stories and sharing some advice with you all.
Sophía Thijs
Sophía is one of many examples of how to have a multi-career path while respecting your own boundaries. She is happy to share research results on why it is highly necessary to redefine 'being successful.’ We can all relate to the pressure of graduating, making money, and being busy. In 2022, she shared at a TEDx talk that it’s not only about certificates and achieving goals to feel more successful and happy. It’s more about combining two perspectives: working towards a goal while also finding contentment through other means of satisfaction along the way.
She started working as a psychologist at the age of 23, visiting multi-problem families in their homes. The university fostered the belief that it’s normal to work as hard as possible towards a post-master's degree, but she felt like an outsider because she didn’t want to do this. It took years for her to dare to go against the grain, slowly evolving into having her own practice and guiding (young) adults through both talking and doing.
She now tries to balance her work. She works half-days for her own company, Met Sophía, offering help to (young) adults who need guidance in preventing and coping with anxiety, single-form traumas, and specifically helping with exhaustion through active techniques (IEMT, nutrition, experiential body techniques). She also volunteers at @ease (ease.nl). One day a week, she keeps exclusively free to 'live,' meaning she spends her time singing, playing sports, organising photo shoots, and being around loved ones.
