Annelies was born near New York City of European parents and grew up around the globe throughout her travels from work and pleasure. Her father was born of Italian immigrants and her mother is from the Netherlands. Her family history is steeped in creativity, talent and leadership. Her great grand father was a famous chemist; another great grand father was an established oil painter who painted for the Czar of Russia, whose famous work currently still hangs in galleries throughout Europe today, and two famous opera singers on both sides of the family. Her parents followed similar leads in their own successes, both being entrepreneurs and visionaries. In his earlier years, her father was also a cosmetologist, well known for his award winning competitions and styling for the stars like ZaZa Gabor and Barbara Streisand. Annelies’ mother is a self-proclaimed social scientist and is also a cosmetologist, working successfully in her own business using every client as a research experiment.
 
The same studious creative talent that built Annelies’ past also molded who she is today. At 34, she has managed to fit several life times in her earlier careers having worked in various artistic mediums. Today, as an intuitive creator and change agent, she has delicately and successfully combined her skills and tools of working with photography, sculpture, painting, hair, make-up, healing, writing, leadership and education.

In 1992, Annelies began her career with passion and devotion. Knowing that education was the key to her success, she placed herself on the forefront of her craft and took every opportunity to learn. At 19, the youngest ever hired in all three hair care companies; she began as an educational consultant for Zotos International, Matrix International and Paul Brown International. She traveled from Barcelona, Spain to across the Southeast as an educator, inspiring others in her field until she was 24. Simultaneously, she tapped into the theater world, designing hair, make-up and wigs for theatrical characters. By 24, she’d designed several seasons of shows and began with North Carolina Theater in 1996.

While designing and working free-lance as an artist for television, film, print and theater, Annelies continued on her path towards Broadway. Her first National Broadway Company tour was with the ‘King and I’, which then lead to working with stars like Petula Clark on ‘Sunset Blvd’ and Bernadette Peters with ‘Annie Get Your Gun’. Here she designed several off-Broadway productions including ‘Amhal and the Night Visitors’ at Lincoln Center in NYC and ‘Imperfect Chemistry’ at the Minetta Lane Theater.

After seeing all of the United States several times over, she left NYC and decided to return to the calm life in the land of tall pines, pin oaks of Raleigh, NC. She rekindled her creativity by taking up metalsmithing in the NC mountains and began exploring her ability to sculpt with mediums other than hair which then resulted in several successful art shows including at the Feaerington Village Sculpture Show and the Visual Art Exchange.

In 2001 she worked on the production, ‘The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood’ with Sandra Bullock and Ashley Judd, followed by countless other films such as HBO’s ‘Iron Jawed Angles’ with Hillary Swank.

 In Sept of 2001, 9-11 took place and rocked the reality of the world and we all began to look at things differently in our lives. Annelies re-assed her life and after a few major unexpected life changes, she moved to Dubai, located in the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East. The experience was a journey and transformed Annelies’ path, direction and passion. She vowed to make a difference in the world in a more fundamental and meaningful manner. After almost a year in Dubai, she returned to the states, unexpectedly due to health issues with both of her parents. She made light of the transition by building an educational photographic documentary on the Middle East, Dubai and her experience there. A beautiful 15 minute dvd (watch Dubai dvd) set to mid-east music of her photography was the foundation to her teaching cultural tolerance classes for local schools and for public lectures throughout the Triangle.

Today, Annelies continues to work  as an intuitive creator and change agent offering her creative skills, talents and vision through her various mediums, on a free-lance basis. Her venues range from television, film, print, theater, schools and groups or individuals on a personal level.  Annelies is also currently completing a contract bachelor’s degree in Creativity Studies and Change Leadership at Meredith College.

Annelies’ vision is to ignite intrinsic creative energy and talents in others by encouraging personal greatness through education, creativity and community thus defining their natural beauty and inherent abilities. Annelies believes that our purpose is to develop our gifts of intentionality and learn to how to be effective creators. She creates a space of potential for one to explore and discover one’s gift of true beauty, true soul and true self.