Karlijn Visser (31) founded health platform Holistik. With articles on health, nutrition, relationships and spirituality, she wants to inspire readers to get the best out of themselves. "A healthy lifestyle means more than exercising and throwing chia seeds over your yogurt."
Your website Holistik is about nutrition and exercise, but also about a healthy mind. Why
that combination?
'I've always been interested in heavier subjects. As a child I used to ask my parents about death and God. I sometimes found life elusive, but I couldn't share that with anyone. That made me feel lonely at times. Later in my work I couldn't lose my interest in life questions:I wrote for lifestyle and women's magazines and in 2007 I started the company Goodiebag Girl with my best friend Evelyn, for which we provided goodiebags for events. I found entrepreneurship fun and exciting, but deep down I never felt satisfied. The company grew, turned into an influencer marketing company called Friends of the Brands, and more and more events were added. But the fun wore off. Often I was just texting influencers and Dutch celebrities 'Coming too?' I wanted more. After seven years I decided to stop.'
Did you already have the idea to start Holistik?
'No, because I didn't know exactly what I wanted. I decided to first use the weekends and evenings, which were always taken up with work, to do things that give me energy. I went out into nature more often, cooked more, visited my parents more often and started doing yoga and Pilates. At the spa where I did that, I met my current boyfriend, who is a personal trainer. When a friend told me that an online publishing company was looking for someone to start a health platform, everything came together. Here I could write about health, but also about what I call 'living from a clear mind'.'
WHO IS KARLIJN?
Karlijn Visser (31) studied Media &Culture at the University of Amsterdam and worked as a freelance lifestyle journalist for Grazia, Cosmopolitan, Ellegirl and Good2Be, among others. In 2007, together with her best friend Evelyn van Hasselt, she started the company Goodiebag Girl, which they exchanged in 2015 for Holistik, a website about exercise, sports and a healthy mind. Karlijn lives in Amsterdam and has a relationship with yoga teacher and personal trainer Mikoti Lodewijks.
Read the entire interview with Karlijn in the March issue of Santé.
Text:Kim van der Meulen | Photography; Bart Honingh | Styling:Linda Huiberts
