Simone van Yperen - Hagedoorn, marketing and communications consultant at Croonwolter&dros

The construction and infrastructure industry is a man's world. But if you look carefully, you will come across women. On this page we offer them a stage. To read what moves them, how they do their work and especially what it is like to work as a woman in a predominantly male world. In this edition, we give the floor to Simone van Yperen - Hagedoorn, who has been working as a marketing and communications consultant at Croonwolter&dros for over 4.5 years.

After havo and then meao with thirty gossiping girls in a class, it was crystal clear to Simone: "I don't want this anymore." That may have been one of the reasons for starting at an ICT company. "This is where I enjoyed starting my career, initially in inside sales and later a combined position of salesperson and secretary. To develop myself further, I took an evening course to become a management assistant. Here I first came into contact with the facets of marketing and communication, and that appealed to me." Eager to learn, she then went on to earn NIMA A and B as well. "Eventually I had reached the level I wanted."

For love, Simone moved from Amersfoort to Delft. As a result, after being active in ICT for over twenty years, she ended up at UNETO-VNI, now Techniek Nederland. "This laid the foundation for my current career, because the construction and infrastructure sector did appeal to me. At some point it started itching again. I wanted to get back into the business world. Around the same time, there was a vacancy for a marketing and communications consultant at Croonwolter&dros. I responded and the rest is history. In this organization both installation technology and ICT come together again. By now I have been working at this beautiful company for over 4.5 years and I have been given the necessary tasks, including our high-end (cyber)security solutions."

The infrastructure sector is really special, Simone believes. "Since I started working at Croonwolter&dros, I drive so differently on a road or through a tunnel. I never realized before that there was so much technology involved. For example, when I drive through the Maas Tunnel, which we as Croonwolter&dros, together with two other TBI companies (Mobilis and Nico de Bont) have completely renovated and restored, I do feel a bit of pride. Our colleagues did a great job! That is also the great thing about my job, I get to show and tell about all the projects we are working on. We are working on beautiful things, both new construction and nowadays more and more replacement and maintenance."

Although men are in the minority in our marketing and communications team, the vast majority of our organization is dominated by men, Simone continues. "And that suits me just fine. I'm also used to it from my past in ICT. Men are generally much more direct and say what's what. That just works very well, although I must say that my female colleagues are also blessed with that same mentality. I really feel at home here and am having a great time. It's nice to work with my colleagues to propagate the core values of our organization and to create progress together towards a future-proof infrastructure."