Our Team

Wouter Metz
Career & Leadership Coach, Founder
Wouter is the founder and driving force of Powerful People. He believes that the world is at its best when we flourish from our natural power. Empowering professionals to flourish gives him pure joy and fulfillment as it is fully aligned with his power, passion ánd purpose. As former corporate lawyer and headhunter, he knows what it’s like to switch jobs and create a powerful career. His work does not go unnoticed, because Wouter won the title of Dutch Coach Talent of the Year in 2020. His motto: “Celebrate Life Sustainably!”

Irma van Buren
Career Coach Young Professionals
Irma is an NLP Master Coach at Powerful People. As a life and career coach, she loves to help young professionals let go of the expectations of others and return to their true essence. She knows better than anyone how challenging – and valuable – that is. She decided to deviate from the ‘logical’ career path, followed her heart and threw herself into her great passion: personal development. She now gets to do what she loves most every day. Her favorite quote? “You have to do it yourself, but not alone.”

Maia Wouters
Career Coach & Burn-out Expert
Maia is a stress and burnout coach at Powerful People with a background in reintegration and personal leadership. She guides people who have drifted off their path to find it again. With her passion for nature and body-centered approach, she enjoys going outside with her coachees to reengage all the senses, breathe in life and regain meaning. Your body knows everything, you just have to be willing to listen to it. As a young mother, Maia also knows from personal experience what she is talking about.

Linde Crijns
Career & Team Coach
Linde is a (team) coach at Powerful People. With her scientific background, experience in business and interest in yoga & breathwork, she works in her coaching with both the ratio (‘who am I?’) and the heart (‘what do I feel?’). And that this combination is successful, she has experienced firsthand. She quit her well-paying job in the corporate world to start living in line with her mission: ”to put the heart back into the workplace”. She likes to work with individuals and teams, because it is in the dynamics with others that you can learn a lot about yourself.

Madelief Nijhof
Career & Leadership Coach
Madelief is a collaborative partner from her company House for Leaders. She loves to guide professionals personal, career and leadership development, and when you have a personal issue or choice to make. Her view on coaching is that everything starts and ends with you. That means that the real work is getting to know yourself and what drives you. The more you develop yourself personally, the more your career will take off. Having coached many (top)women and men she learned that: If you know yourself, know what drives you and are very aware of your talents & pitfalls, you can handle any low and achieve anything that makes you happy and fulfilled.

Rudi Hartmans
Career & Systemic Coach
Rudi is a collaborative partner, he has his own coaching business ‘Bewegende Delen’. He is a systemic coach with more than 25 years experience in guiding and coaching organizations, teams and individuals. He has a Master in Change Management and Systemic Work, which makes his coaching style methodical, analytical ánd highly intuitive. By applying all his business and life experiences, he guides people back to the foundation of life: we are all human beings searching for a purpose. He receives his inspiration from a lifetime love of music and from walking in his backyard ‘The Schoorlse Duinen’.
In all that we do, we strongly adhere to our core values:
Freedom
We believe that true success begins with freedom. The freedom to choose, to feel, to create, and to live life on your own terms. Internally and externally. Freedom isn’t about escaping responsibility; it’s about aligning your work with your truth and being free from your own automatic responses.
Love
At the heart of every meaningful change is love. For yourself, your values, your work, and the people you impact. We meet our clients with deep presence and compassion, and we guide them to connect with what matters. Our coaching is rooted in respect, connection, and unconditional love.
Sustainability
Sustainability means more than being good for the planet. It means being good for you. We help build careers that you can grow with, not grow out of. Ones that energize rather than exhaust, that evolve with your life, and that support the world around you. A sustainable world starts with you.
Development
Growth is natural when you feel safe, seen, and supported. We believe in lifelong learning – but not the hustle kind. Development with us is about expansion, curiosity, and conscious evolution. Together, we uncover your potential and translate it into real, tangible steps.
Celebration
We believe joy is not just a reward at the finish line – it’s fuel for the journey. At Powerful People, we celebrate small wins, big shifts, new insights, and courageous steps. We make space for gratitude, play, and the magic of simply being human.