Suyin Aerts

Ann Suyin (Suyin) Aerts (Belgium, c.1974.) is a Belgian entrepreneur. After a career as a dancer, she went on to work as an actress and reporter and presenter respectively in the media and television world. Since 2008, she has been a director and partner of X-treme Creations. Due to the diversity of jobs throughout her zigzag career, Aerts has also been called a slasher and is considered a role model for female entrepreneurs who are also mothers.
==Career & personal life==
Aerts did her studies at the Hoger Instituut voor Dans en Danspedagogie in Lier (this course later became part of the Koninklijk Conservatorium Antwerpen). During this period, she formed the duo Amour Obscur with Elise de Vliegher. en In the early 1990s, she was active as a professional ballet dancer with Compagnie Aimé de Lignière, where she performed as a dancer in the corps de ballet of the performances Carmen (1992-1993) and They shoot people (1993-1994).
She was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism at 23, forcing her to leave dancing behind. The embolism was due to protein S deficiency, a rare clotting disorder she is said to have inherited from her mother.
In the mid-1990s, Aerts picked up where she left off and focused on acting. For instance, she had three years of work on a leading role of the character Kim Vissers in the VT4 TV series Vennebos (1997-1998). She also got a supporting role in the film Dief! (1998). In the TV series Samson & Gert (2000), Aerts played the role of Miss Lenigem in the episode Haar voor Octaaf.
During that period, she also worked in the fashion industry as Sales Manager of fashion brand Marithé & François Girbaud. In the early 2000s, she did a Postgraduate Diploma in Industrial Entrepreneurship in Brussels, where she studied industrial entrepreneurship.
Around 2008, Aerts became a partner in X-treme Creations, a visual marketing company founded in 1994 by her boyfriend at the time, Dan Vandevoorde, who later became her husband.
In 2014, she suffered a cerebral embolism and was reportedly advised to be cautious, but above all to live. The scientific uncertainty as to whether the cerebral embolism was linked to the protein S deficiency discovered earlier prompted Aerts to follow the doctor's advice. That's why, in addition to her work at X-treme Creations, she chaired the women's network Artemis Brussels from 2015 to 2019, and also began working as a journalist and presenter for Canal Z.
She is immersing herself in the combination of digital and human forces with a Take The Lead, Digital Disruption course at Vlerick Business School. She completed this course in 2020
Since 2018, Aerts has been writing a blog on her website #Suyin under the title My Friday Thoughts. She was also editor of B19 mag, a magazine of the networking organisation B19, for a while. Together with Murielle Marie Ungricht, Aerts wrote the book Tijd voor de creatieve generalist, a plea for rebel entrepreneurship. This book was published in 2022 by Uitgeverij Lannoo.
==Personal==
Aerts was given a Chinese first name at birth, Suyin, following a book by Han Suyin that her mother read during pregnancy.
Anno 2023, Aerts lives in Zaventem, is married to Dan Vandevoorde, also her business partner in X-Treme Creations, and has two teenage daughters.
==Oeuvre==
===Dance===
Aerts was a dancer in the following performances by the Compagnie Aimé de Lignière:
* 1992-1993: Carmen
* 1993-1994: They shoot people
===Acting===
* 1997-1998: Vennebos, a TV series in which Aerts starred as the character Kim Vissers.
* 1998: Dief!, in which Aerts had a supporting role
* 2000: Samson & Gert, where Aerts had the role of Miss Lenigem in the episode Haar voor Octaaf.
===Published===
* 2022: In collaboration with Murielle Marie Ungricht, Tijd voor de creatieve generalist!, Uitgeverij Lannoo,.
==Awards==
Throughout her career, Suyin has been recognised several times for her efforts and achievements. For example, she received:
* 1997: The Press Award of the Miss Belgium pageant.
* 2012: The Dutch VMC Talent Award for Women in Marketing & Communications.
* 2016: The Networker of the Year award from Voka, Chamber of Commerce in Belgium.
* 2019: The Wintrade Award in the Women in Media category, London, which was justified by the jury with "As an international and multilingual media figure, Suyin is an example of an inspiring and ambitious woman who effortlessly combines several jobs alongside a family."
Category:1974 births
Category:Belgian people
Category:Entrepreneurs