About Marieke van der Poel

Marieke van der Poel is the creative mastermind and founder of Proef & Company (www.getproef.com), based in San Francisco.

She is highly regarded for her capability to connect high-level long term trends to time targeted, emotionally relevant translations.

Her proprietary approach allows Proef & Company to predict taste, bridge silos, bring together departments,
build strategies, craft concepts, and create make-able
directions, without jeopardizing equity. 

In this way, her teams have  supported Vivint in developing an IOT brand (brand strategy, IT  direction, GTM, and design DNA development), which recently sold for 2.8 billion dollars, inspired the strategy of the city of Rotterdam, created the color coded vibe of a best-selling water bottle brand, and influenced the brand- and design direction of multiple sports-active and heritage labels she cannot tell you about. 

Clients include: Google, Converse,  Polaroid, Sorel, Samsung, IDEO, Maybelline. 

Marieke has a background in editing, working as a consultant for Italian, English and Dutch Fashion- and Design- brands and magazines. She advised Peclers Paris
as a trend consultant and worked with the International
conglomerate of trend agencies collected under ESP Trendlab as a strategic partner, building these companies in the USA, before founding Proef in the Bay Area at the age of 31.
It has been Marieke’s honor to serve on several advisory boards and function as an advisor to the Dutch innovation attaché in San Francisco.
Marieke holds Master degrees in both Humanities -Ancient Greek  and Latin languages and Cultures with a specialization in Ancient Philosophy- (Bologna,
Italy/Leiden, Netherlands) and Fashion editing ( Milan, Italy).