Jasmijn van der Berg

Why this persona fits the audience

She is a sustainability consultant at a boutique advisory with 4 people total. She pieces together supplier questionnaires, ESG reports, audit evidence, and regulatory guidance into client memos, usually with a mix of Acrobat search, spreadsheets, and shared folders.

• Age: 30
• Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Occupation: ESG consultant
• Income: €64,000
• Education: Master's degree in environmental management
• Company size: 4
• Years in role: 4

“Data without context is just noise; my job is to turn that noise into a signal that actually moves the needle for our clients.”

Jasmijn van der Berg is a thirty-year-old ESG consultant embedded in the heart of Amsterdam's growing sustainability ecosystem. Graduating with distinction from a Master's program in Environmental Management, she quickly realized that the gap between high-level corporate pledges and actual operational reality was filled with messy, unstructured data. This realization drew her to a boutique advisory firm in Amsterdam, where the intimate size of four employees forces a level of versatility rarely seen in larger corporations. Over the past four years, she has evolved from a junior analyst crunching numbers to a trusted advisor capable of guiding clients through the labyrinth of the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Her work life is defined by a paradoxical blend of high-stakes strategy and low-level tedium. On one hand, she facilitates transformative workshops where she helps CEOs understand the existential risks of their supply chains. On the other, she spends hours digging through PDF archives, using basic tools like Adobe Acrobat's search function and nested Excel sheets to piece together fragmented evidence. She recently made the decision to reject a popular, expensive enterprise platform that promised automation but lacked the necessary customization for her specific niche of small-to-mid-sized European manufacturers. Instead, she continues to rely on a hybrid workflow of manual verification and simple digital organization, driven by a belief that trust in data must be earned through rigorous, human-led scrutiny. Financially, Jasmijn earns a solid €64,000 annually, which allows her to live comfortably in Amsterdam-Noord while saving aggressively for a future mortgage. She views money not as a status symbol but as a tool for security and freedom to pursue meaningful work. Her personality reflects a high degree of conscientiousness; she keeps her digital and physical spaces meticulously organized, finding solace in order amidst the chaos of global regulation. While she is optimistic about the future of sustainability, she remains grounded in the present, acknowledging that the path to net-zero is paved with difficult, unglamorous details. Whether cycling to a site visit or analyzing a supplier's carbon footprint, Jasmijn approaches every task with the conviction that structured evidence is the only currency that truly matters in the modern business world.

Background & daily life

A day in their life

Monday starts with a 7:15 AM train ride to Amsterdam Central, reading the latest CSRD updates on her tablet while sipping oat milk coffee. By 9:00 AM, she is in a hybrid meeting with a textile client, navigating a heated discussion about Scope 3 emissions data accuracy. Post-meeting, she retreats to her desk to manually verify three pages of supplier audit logs in PDF format, highlighting inconsistencies and drafting notes for her spreadsheet tracker. Lunch is a quick sandwich eaten while skimming a Substack article on circular economy taxonomies. Afternoon involves a collaborative workshop via Zoom with an Indian supplier team, translating technical jargon into actionable steps. The evening concludes with a final review of the day's memo drafts, ensuring every citation is accurate, before heading home for dinner and a walk along the canals to decompress.

Lifestyle

Jasmijn lives in a renovated warehouse loft in Amsterdam-Noord, a neighborhood known for its creative energy and cycling culture. Her mornings begin early with a 45-minute bike ride along the IJ river, followed by a protein-rich breakfast while reviewing overnight email alerts. She is health-conscious, cooking most meals at home to control ingredients and reduce waste, often using surplus vegetables from local box schemes. Financially, she is prudent; she maxes out her pension contributions and avoids unnecessary debt, preferring to invest in durable goods rather than fast fashion. Socially, she balances her busy work life with small gatherings at home or coffee meetups with close friends, valuing deep conversation over large parties. She actively participates in a community garden collective on weekends, reinforcing her connection to sustainable living practices outside the office.

Work life

As one of only four consultants at a boutique firm, Jasmijn wears many hats, balancing high-level strategy with grunt work. Her day is a relentless cycle of pulling data from disparate sources: supplier questionnaires sent via email, PDFs from third-party auditors, and internal Excel trackers. The core friction lies in manually cross-referencing these documents to ensure compliance with new CSRD regulations. She spends hours in Adobe Acrobat searching for specific clauses and copy-pasting findings into client memos. Despite the tedious nature of data aggregation, she thrives on the intellectual challenge of synthesizing complex regulatory guidance into clear, actionable advice. Collaboration is key; she frequently hosts virtual workshops where she guides clients through their own data gaps, requiring her to switch rapidly between analytical focus and facilitative communication.

Relationships

Jasmijn is deeply connected to her family, particularly her mother, who runs a local organic bakery and often serves as a sounding board for ethical business dilemmas. Her social circle consists mostly of colleagues from the sustainability sector and university friends who share similar values regarding climate action. She relies heavily on her partner for emotional support during tight deadlines, though they both maintain separate professional networks. In her professional life, she looks up to the founding partners of her boutique firm for strategic direction but maintains a peer-to-peer relationship with her few teammates, fostering a culture of mutual backup and honest feedback.

How they decide

Jasmijn approaches decisions with a methodical, research-heavy mindset. She rarely acts on impulse, preferring to gather all available evidence, consult trusted peers, and analyze potential long-term implications before committing. While she is open to innovation, she requires concrete proof of efficacy and ROI, especially regarding financial investments. She values peer recommendations and case studies over marketing hype, often seeking out detailed user experiences from professionals in her immediate network before considering a change in workflow or tooling.

How they sound

Jasmijn speaks with a calm, articulate cadence, blending professional Dutch English with occasional localized terms like 'overleg' or 'kwaliteitsbewaking'. She avoids hyperbolic language, preferring precise qualifiers like 'based on current data' or 'subject to verification.' She tends to pause thoughtfully before answering complex questions, signaling a habit of checking facts internally. Her tone is consistently polite and collaborative, even when pushing back on unrealistic timelines. She rarely uses slang, favoring clarity and structure in her speech patterns.