Béatrice de Mahieu

• Rebel with a cause - entrepreneur & social innovation catalyst, loving to remove friction to make place for system innovation. Deeply engaged in digital inclusion.
• 20+ years of experience in strategy, digital transformation, e(i)ntrepreneurial scaling-up and mentoring startups and scaleup entrepreneurs.
• Profound believer in (self)leadership and taking 4 dimensions into account for leadership: the head, the heart, the gut, and the connection with the world!
• Highly driven and energetic, acting as a conductor for collaboration among stakeholders for a better future.

Unique Béatrice

• What do you do in your spare time?

Intensive yoga practitioner but also a food and wine lover! I also opened a wine cellar in Tervuren in 2020.

• What motivates you?

I firmly believe that people are good. But the system in which we function should sometimes be improved. I’m a system thinker. I love seeing the whole, the bigger picture, and how we can all contribute to a good/better societal functioning.

• Who is your hero?

My hero is a mix of people I highly respect and admire: Deepak Chopra, Mother Teresa, Debbie Ford, Mathieu Ricard, Caroline Pauwels, Pierre Rabhi, Rosa Parks (and Clodette Colvin), etc.

• What is your motto?

"You can choose to live a life of curiosity or a life of fear. I choose curiosity and creativity,” inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert.

• What advice would you give young Béatrice?

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde.

• Why do you want to mentor?

Throughout my career, I had the opportunity to be supported by mentors too. Some came to me, and others I asked to be my mentor. At every level in someone’s career, mentoring will help to get some questions answered and challenged, to have an outside-in view, and a different perspective. To get questions out of my head, I discussed them with a mentor, who offered me different point-of-views, and then I took action.

• What makes you a good mentor?

My honesty and caring mindset. Not by nodding yes to everything people say, but by asking good questions, listening actively, and advising in the best way that is maybe not always what people just would like to hear. A mentor told me once “Il faut dire la première vérité en premier.” Be honest, say what you feel or think, and do it respectfully.

"Change for the better is always possible. At every level. By everyone."