FINDING HER PASSION

Wiko’s Whitney Helbers talks us through her journey from a little girl transfixed by Rotterdam’s industrial lights to selling industrial services to tank companies WHITNEY HELBERS is the first to admit that her interests as a child were not necessarily what might be expected. ‘I was always fascinated by industry. When my parents asked me what I wanted to do, I didn’t choose petting animals at the petting zoo, but going for a drive through the industrial area of Rotterdam when it was dark and the lights and flames were clearly visible. I also loved playing with cars and tools instead of dolls,’ she says. With her late teens came a driving licence and her first car, but why just drive it? Helbers loved to tinker with it. Amongst other things, she ripped open the doors to wire in a brand new sound system and once dismantled and rebuilt the engine completely. This love of the technical almost inspired her education, but not quite. ‘At a certain age in the Netherlands you have to choose the direction of your education. I was thinking I should do something technical like car repairs, but my parents said it might be better to do something else rather than work in a garage...