Meet our Coach Café coaches
The Alumni 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
Mayra Quintero Gomez
> Read the whole interview with Mayra
My name is Mayra Quintero, a 33 year old 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.
Iva Horesji
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 energized.
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!
Malu Limpens
I’m Malu Limpens and since 2022 I am one of the coaches at the Coach Café.
Quite some time ago (2003-2007) I studied International Business at the UM and graduated in Strategic Marketing. After that I spent a year abroad in Australia and worked in several marketing roles across a multitude of industries. Currently, I am a marketing manager for VTech which is a well-known brand in children’s toys.
Looking back at the time after I just graduated I would have loved to have joined an event like the Coach Café to share ideas on future (career) plans and network. The past events appeared to be quite valuable for many participants as they met one or more people who could help them in their first steps towards their future plans. Or maybe even shape these plans in the first place. Overall, the Coach Café is a great way to broaden your network and clarify your near future.
Will we see you at the next event?
Cheers, Malu
Luisa Teuteberg
Luisa is one of the examples that career paths are not always straightforward and can take unexpected turns. Born and raised in Germany, she kickoff her academic journey studying Law at University of Bielefeld. Although fascinated by the complexity of the Law world, she realized that this was not the right path for her and she quit after 3 years without obtaining a degree in this field. Alternatively, she decided to pursue a Bachelor in Sociology, which she successfully completed in 2018. Also in 2018, Luisa moved to Maastricht and started her professional career at Mercedes Benz as a Technical Service Representative. In the meantime, Luisa discovered her passion for personal development and coaching. She started to educate herself in the areas of NLP, Life Coaching, Psychology and Health Behavior. It was the latter, that inspired her to apply for the Master Program Health and Social Psychology at University of Maastricht, which she pursued next to her work at Mercedes Benz. Luisa successfully graduated 2021 and was promoted to Deputy Operations Manager being responsible for a multicultural team of 15 employees. In this current role as a Deputy Operations Manager, Luisa uses her passion for team work, her great organizational skills and her psychological background to motivate and steer her Team as a Leader.
Sophía Thijs
Sophía is one of the many examples on how to have a multi-career path and yet respecting your own boundaries. She is happy to share research results on why it is highly necessary that we need a new definition of 'being successful’. We can all relate to the pressure of graduating, making money and being busy. In 2022 she shared in a TedX it’s not only about certificates and achieving goals to feel more successful and happy. It’s more about combining two perspectives at the same time: working towards a goal as well as being content through other ways of satisfaction while working towards that goal.
She started working as a psychologist at the age of 23 by visiting multi-problem families at their homes. The university nourished the sole dogma that it's normal to work as hard as possible towards a post-master's degree, but she felt like a weirdo because she didn’t want to do this. It took years to dare to go against the grain, slowly evolving now into having her own practice, and guiding (young) adults both through talking and doing. She now tries to balance her work between. She works half days for her own company Met Sophía, offering help for (young) adults who need guidance in preventing and coping with anxieties, single-form traumas, and more specifically helping exhaustion through active techniques (IEMT, nutrition, experiential body techniques). She also volunteers at @ease (ease.nl). One day in the week she keeps exclusively free to 'live', meaning she spends her time singing, playing sports, organising photo shoots and being around closed ones.
Martin van de Pas
During our time as a student we are faced with unique challenges and opportunities. We are starting to get a taste of the freedom to create our live’s autonomously. With a blank slate as our future we are invited to shape our career’s 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-crises’. The comforts and safety of the school-life structures were disappearing and I was left alone with no idea 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 which 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 now to enable individuals in their personal development by developing and facilitating trainings.
Part of that vision was to support others that were in a similar position to me. Over the past years, I have done that by facilitating sessions that would have helped my ‘younger self’. In collaboration with over 15 educational institutions we have been able to impact over 1000 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!
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!
