CIO at Notpla

Karlijn grew up in the Netherlands, where some of her most treasured memories are of sailing on lakes and rivers with her family. That love for the natural world stayed with her, alongside a relentless curiosity for material systems and a deep belief that nature holds the answers to our biggest challenges.

With a background spanning design, science, and engineering, she’s always been drawn to overlooked natural materials, from growing architectural structures from salt to batteries from mining waste. Today, as CIO at Notpla, she leads a multidisciplinary team developing the next generation of natural packaging from seaweed and plants that disappear as quickly as a fruit peel. It’s work that is both urgent and hopeful, demonstrating that the sea itself might hold the answer to one of its greatest threats. Since winning the Earthshot Prize, Notpla has replaced over 30 million pieces of single-use plastic.

But fighting plastic from a lab and understanding what it actually does in the world are two different things. Karlijn is joining the eXXpedition because she wants to understand the problem more deeply – how the plastics end up in different places in the ocean, how it moves through ecosystems, and what it means for marine life, human health and the climate. She hopes the experience will sharpen the solutions she develops at Notpla and beyond, and fuel the advocacy and storytelling needed to inspire real change, alongside a community of inspiring women bringing their own expertise and passion to one of the most pressing challenges of our time.

For her, the expedition is where so many things that matter come together: her deep interest for scientific research, her love for the ocean and sailing, and her work at Notpla fighting single-use plastics every day.

Head of Yacht Management Operations

Having grown up by the coast of North Holland, Stephanie’s passion for the ocean started at a young age. She has almost 10 years of experience in the yachting industry, of which she spent 2 years at sea as a crew member on a busy 50m charter yacht. She has crossed the Atlantic Ocean several times and sailed the seas in the Mediterranean and Caribbean.

With a backpack full of experience, she now keeps both feet well and truly on dry land in the South of France and manages the internal operations for the Yacht Management department at Y.CO. Stephanie’s goal is to inspire everyone to make a positive impact on the health of our ocean as individuals and as a team. From this trip she hopes to have a better understanding of the issues that we are facing, to then spread awareness about what each of us can do to make a change.

CAROLINE is a bon vivant, privateer, creative person, adventurer and sailor. She is 42 years old and trying to give her life a different turn to go. She wants as much as possible doing sailing voyages, preferably combined to a good cause. That is why she now is going with eXXpedition to see if she wants to go there more in the future and to draw attention to the great project in Netherlands.

Caroline last year crossed the Pacific from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas Islands, Tuamotu archipel and Tahiti. She has been on Svalbard (Spitsbergen) also and the Barentszsea crossed over to Norway.

As a photographer and film maker (short videos for social media) she comes in worlds where they otherwise would not come. In addition, she has a company in wood and leather processing. Especially with recycled materials she designs beautiful products. A number of days in week she is a teacher. If she can follow her dreams fully one day, she will.

Check out her website and Facebook to see her work!

Entrepreneur and Environmental Activist

Juliet is passionate about sustainability and the circular economy, an entrepreneur at heart, and a changemaker keen on reducing our plastic dependencies.

She has successfully managed to decrease Aruba’s plastic footprint for the past six years, and is also working with Sint Maarten to fuel their plastic-free movement. To this end, she established a foundation, namely Impact Blue Foundation, together with private sector partners, to collaboratively research and devise inclusive solutions to puzzle and phase out our plastic reliance.