We are very happy to welcome Rianne Moes to the Course and Conference Office marketing team! Rianne, her husband and her son just arrived to Heidelberg from Utrecht, in the Netherlands, a couple of months ago. New job, new house, new house again, taking care of a baby boy, all of this in the middle of a pandemic — you go girl!

At her previous job, she was a Communications Officer at the public library in Utrecht, with the responsibility to promote about 150 cultural events a month at the 13 library buildings scattered around the city.

You just arrived in Heidelberg and settling down is certainly hectic. Do you already have a favourite place in Heidelberg where you go to relax?
I live near the Rohrbach area right now, and I really like the Rathausstrasse. It’s like a little village, with the town hall and some nice restaurants, bars and a bakery. It is nice to sit down on the Rorbach terrace with a drink or grab an ice cream at Illegally Tasty (they have great pasta too!).

What are the challenges of starting a new job in times of a pandemic?
First of all, I had my job interview virtually and I had never been to Heidelberg before. So, I didn’t really know what to expect. But I like a bit of an adventure!

And now, working mostly from home, it is a different vibe. Especially in the first weeks, you have so many questions that you just want to quickly ask your colleagues, instead of sending them emails or putting meetings in their calendar. But luckily, I get to go to the office quite a lot and have now also met most of my colleagues!

If you weren’t a Marketing Officer, what would you be?
A teacher probably. Maybe I will become a teacher one day, who knows! It has some similarities to marketing, because you really need to be able to place yourself into someone else’s shoes (or head, actually) and see their view on things. Also, I believe in simple, straightforward and appealing content, and explaining things to students should also be simple, straightforward and appealing.

If you were a superhero what power would you like to have?
The ability to read minds. I would love to know what everyone is thinking.

What’s your favourite:
Recipe: Melanzane alla parmigiana, that’s an Italian dish with fried eggplant, tomatoes and lots of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Wouldn’t mind eating this every day.

Book: I actually worked in a library (as a marketing officer though), so I should be able to answer this. Maybe I should promote the first Dutch writer that (just) won the Booker prize: Marieke Lucas Rijneveld (1991) with their (Marieke identifies as both male and female) book the Discomfort of Evening.

TV Series: The Wire. I think everyone should watch this. And really, keep watching, it took me a few episodes to get into the slang and the story, but this is really the best series I have ever watched.