You're not stuck on strategy. You're stuck on you.

Ellen began her entrepreneurial journey by building Mannaert Fabrics into one of Europe’s largest textile sales networks before successfully selling the business. She went on to found LéMert, a sustainable fashion brand that gained international attention and was worn by international celebrity talent, including exposure through The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Her entrepreneurial portfolio has also included Best of Places, hospitality ventures in Punta Cana and extensive real-estate investments and developments across the Netherlands, Belgium, the Caribbean and Dubai. Her experience includes building and exiting a 60-unit real-estate portfolio in the Netherlands, as well as investments in Cap Cana and Dubai.

What sets Ellen apart is that she has lived the journey she now teaches.

She understands what it takes to start from an idea, build a business, navigate uncertainty, create wealth, make difficult decisions, start again and keep moving forward.

Today, Ellen is the Founder of Era Of You, an invitation-only community for women founders, created to bring ambitious women together around meaningful connection, knowledge, access, opportunity and growth.

She is also the Creator of The Architecture of Who You Are, her signature 90-day transformation programme, which explores the deeper architecture behind success; identity, beliefs, patterns, leadership, ambition and the choices that shape the life and business we build.

For Ellen, success is no longer simply about what you achieve for yourself. It is about what you create, what you know, what you share and who rises because you were willing to open a door.

This philosophy is at the heart of Era Of You and her work with women around the world.

Ellen believes that wealth is bigger than money. Wealth is knowledge. Wealth is ownership. Wealth is opportunity. Wealth is having the courage to build something of your own; and then using what you have learned to help another woman go further.

Through Era Of You, Ellen creates spaces where women can have real conversations about business, money, investment, equity, leadership, personal growth and the realities of building something meaningful.

Her recent Wealth Room in Dubai brought together women founders from different countries and generations to openly discuss wealth, ownership, investment and financial knowledge; while creating the kind of connections that continue long after the room closes.

Her work and voice have taken her onto international stages, including Davos, where she participated as a speaker, panelist and moderator during WEF Week, and the Nelson Mandela Lecture Theatre at the University of Oxford, where she shared The Architecture of Who You Are with students, professors, founders and CEOs.

She has also spoken internationally on entrepreneurship, leadership, transformation, wealth creation, authenticity and the power of women supporting women.

In 2026, Ellen participated in a New York convening alongside UNGA81, focused on diaspora giving, investment and collective action, discussing the intersection of capital, investment and philanthropy.

Her speaking journey has also included international business and leadership platforms across Europe and the Middle East, including Cambridge, Westminster and major women’s leadership platforms in Dubai.

Ellen has been recognised for her leadership and contribution through international awards and honours, including the Women in Leadership Lifetime Achievement Award, the Outstanding Keynote Award presented in Oxford, and the Red Cross Gold Medal of Humanism during Davos Week. She has also received the title of Dame at an Investiture of the Order of Saint James.

But behind the businesses, investments, stages and recognition is a simple philosophy: You don’t build a meaningful life by becoming someone else. You build it by understanding who you are, deciding what matters to you and having the courage to build from there.

Ellen is passionate about helping people; particularly women ; move from potential to possibility. Her work is about building businesses, creating wealth, becoming more intentional about who you are, and creating opportunities for others along the way.

Because ultimately, the greatest measure of success is not only how high you rise; but how many people can rise because you did.