Sometimes a collaboration begins in the most unexpected place

By Marlous Vlasblom-Molendijk
Founder of Marvelous Media & Communications

I believe that every business has a story. Not the story featured on a website, but the story that unfolds behind the scenes. That is where the moments that stay with you are created. Encounters that grow into special collaborations, conversations that make you think, and experiences that show why you started in the first place.

In this series, I take you into those stories. Not to explain how marketing works, but to show what communication can mean when you truly connect.

Six years ago, I walked into a hospice.

Not as an entrepreneur. Not as a marketer. Simply as a friend. A close friend of mine was staying there during the final stage of his life and, to be honest, I was nervous about going inside. When you think of a hospice, you quickly think of sadness, silence and farewell.

But once inside, I discovered something very different.

Of course, there is sadness. Of course, there are difficult moments. That is inevitable in a place where people receive palliative care. But what struck me most was the warmth. The calm. The way volunteers, nurses and staff interact with residents and their loved ones. There was laughter, memories were shared and, above all, there was attention for the person.

After my friend passed away, we organised a small gathering to celebrate his life. That is where I met Rianne van Gestel, director of Hospice Arco Cavent. We were introduced by a volunteer, who said something I have never forgotten.

“You need to get to know each other. You are both working to break taboos.”

At that time, I was still organising Curaçao Pride and was about to embark on my adventure with Marvelous Media & Communications. Death may well be one of the biggest taboos there is. Suddenly, I saw how communication could make a difference there too.

Rianne and I made plans to meet.

What was meant to be an introductory meeting turned into a five-hour conversation.

We talked about communication. About visibility. About how important it is for people to know what a hospice truly is. Not just a place to say goodbye, but above all a place where quality of life is central, until the very last moment.

From that moment on, Marvelous Media & Communications was able to help build the communications of Hospice Arco Cavent. A collaboration we are still proud of six years later.

Marketing and a hospice. On paper, perhaps an unusual combination. To me, it felt completely logical from our very first conversation. After all, good marketing is not about selling. It is about telling stories that need to be told.

And that is exactly what Hospice Arco Cavent does.

When the annual Walk4Light could not take place during the COVID period, a new idea emerged. Together, we developed Week4Light: a campaign that kept people involved in a different way while also raising funds for the hospice. By now, Week4Light has grown into an annual event. At the end of this year, we will organise the seventh edition, while Hospice Arco Cavent’s fundraising campaign celebrates its tenth year.

This week, I sat down with Rianne again. We discussed plans for the anniversary edition. There was laughter, brainstorming and, of course, another list full of action items emerged.

As I walked outside, I thought back to that first time I stepped into the hospice.

I could never have imagined then that that one encounter would become so intertwined with the story of Marvelous Media & Communications.

As an entrepreneur, I am sometimes asked which assignment or client is the most special.

For me, that is never really the right question.

The most meaningful collaborations do not come from a proposal or a pitch.

They arise when you share the same conviction.

Communication is so much more than a beautiful website or a good social media post. Sometimes communication helps break a taboo. Sometimes it moves people to take action. Sometimes it ensures that an organisation can continue to exist.

The most meaningful collaborations do not always begin around a meeting table. Sometimes they start in a place you never expected to enter.

Six years later, I am still grateful every day that I walked through that door.