Read in Nederlands

Hi!

My name is Wilma Westenberg, I’m 23 years old and the face behind the blog wilmade.com. I was born in the Netherlands and lived on the German border for the last 10 years. In 2018 I’m going to move back to the Netherlands to live together with my fiancé Koen. September 2016 I graduated from the University of Twente where I got my Master of Science in Communication New Media.

Establishing this website

I started this personal blog when I went to high school at the age of 12. I liked making websites and needed a serious topic to write about. As I got the same questions about my illness a few times a day, I decided to make a website on which I could tell my story for once and for all. If people would ask me ‘what’s that on your cheek’, I would say ‘just read my website’.

In 2010, I was 15 at that time, my website was nominated for the Gouden @apenstaart (Golden @), an award for ‘best website for children made by children’, which I won. After winning this prize, a lot has changed in a positive way. I got asked for many projects – like the advisory board of Randstad, Kennisnet and ECP – and in 2010 I was asked to give a TED-talk in Amsterdam.

What I do now

Ok, my life gets a little crazy but so exciting! Christmas 2014 I started learning how to crochet to make little christmas trees. I enjoyed making things so much, that I soon started working on other crochet projects. I spent all my free time on creating things and April 2015 I created an Instagram account to share my work. One year later, January 1st 2016, I started my blog wilmade.com on which I share my own crochet patterns. This crazy hobby soon turned into a real business model. As of January 1st 2018 I quit my jobs to focus fulltime on designing, creating, blogging and being an entrepreneur. To be continued!