BEHINDTHE BRAND

Born in the Netherlands, raised in Portugal and built in London, my journey has never followed a straight line.

From an early age, football was more than a sport to me. It was my identity, my purpose and the future I believed I was working towards.

Then life changed.

An ACL injury forced me to stop playing football.

Imagine something beyond your control taking you away from what you love most. At first, I felt defeated. Still, I tried to remain positive and believed I would return stronger.

But the recovery did not go as planned. Several setbacks made the process longer and far more painful than I expected. The injury began to affect me emotionally, and eventually, I became afraid to return to the game I once loved most.

Sometimes, life forces us to make painful choices. At that moment, I felt I had to choose between my passion for football and my love for myself, my body and my health.

What followed became far more than a physical recovery. It turned into an emotional and psychological battle filled with fear, frustration and uncertainty — and led me to a painful question that many people quietly face:

"What now?"

I reached a crossroads. I could remain trapped in what life had taken from me, or I could begin discovering who I was beyond it.

Through recovery, reflection and rebuilding, I found a quote that stays with me since then:

"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

I found dance.

Dance became more than movement. It became expression, release and freedom. It gave me a new way to understand emotion, creativity, discipline and human connection. Football taught me how to compete and lead. Dance taught me how to feel and express. Life taught me that losing one path does not mean losing your purpose.

Over the years, through my work as a dancer, educator, writer and wellbeing coach, I have connected with people from many different walks of life.

These experiences helped me understand a difficult but important truth:

No one is coming to live your life for you.

People can teach you, guide you, support you and believe in you. But eventually, you must take responsibility for the direction of your own life.

Education gives us knowledge, skills and a foundation for the future. Good teachers also help us develop confidence, discipline, communication and resilience.

But the real tests often begin beyond the classroom.

Life tests us through failure, rejection, loss, uncertainty, responsibility and change. These lessons cannot always be taught in advance. Some can only be fully understood when life places them in front of us.

Challenges and setbacks are not signs that something has gone wrong. They are unavoidable parts of being human.

Yet we live in a society that places enormous expectations on people, while social media creates the illusion that everyone else is succeeding.

We see the results, but rarely the struggle behind them.

Because of this, many people feel ashamed, lost or unprepared when life becomes difficult. They believe they are falling behind when, in truth, they may simply be facing a part of life that nobody openly prepared them for.

There is also far more happening inside people than we can see.

Everyone carries experiences, questions and silent battles that are not always visible. Some lessons are difficult to understand until we experience them ourselves — but we should not have to suffer through every painful situation before we can learn from it.

That is why I created Influenced by Souls.

Influenced by Souls exists to bring life's deeper lessons into the light.

It is here to help people understand themselves, prepare for life's challenges and develop the awareness, wisdom and practical tools needed to move through difficult moments with courage.

Through books, reflections, storytelling, teaching, movement and real human experiences, we explore the parts of life that are often felt but rarely explained.

Because wisdom should not remain hidden inside someone else's pain.

When we share what life has taught us, another person may recognise the warning signs earlier, make a wiser choice or feel less alone.

Understand the past.

See the present clearly.

Choose wisely — for a better future and a better world.

You may not control everything that happens to you, but you can become better prepared for what life brings.

Life can be complex, but living it does not have to be complicated.