Q & A with Gwendoline Van Doosselaere

Account Executive

For the record, state your name: Gwendoline Nathalie William Van Doosselaere. But, my boyfriend calls me Bill.

Others call you a "chocoholic" … Heaven for me is sitting on a terrace, gluttonously sipping a creamy and decadent café mocha. Or, savoring a piece of Belgian chocolate, preferably Côte d'Or. Chocolat au lait et noisettes, to be exact.

Any skeletons in your past? In Belize, my friends and I swam into a cave where the Mayans practiced human sacrifices. We played “Goonies” amidst waterlogged, calcified remains.

Have you ever met Jaws? I held his (much) smaller cousin in my arms on a snorkeling trip. It’s like cozying up to sandpaper.

Strangest surprise? When I was a teenager, a diamondback slithered out of our second-story toilet in Texas. Luckily, going to the bathroom has never again been quite that exciting!

How far south of the border have you ever been? I took a solo trip to rural South Africa to research my master’s thesis. Never before have I been in a place of such striking physical, psychological and social contrasts … Flying over a savannah at sunset; doing non-profit work with PLWA (People Living with AIDS) in a nearby rural community; pausing our car to let a giraffe cross the road; learning the Zulu clicks; witnessing a miracle at a Hindu home … It was definitely a transformative experience.

Best place to see a concert? Red Rocks. The most memorable have been Ryan Adams and Lucinda Williams, CSNY and Big Head Todd. That one was in the summer of 2001. There was a thunderstorm brewing on the plains, and the bolts of lightning were in perfect sync with the music. It was uncanny.

Who inspires your creativity? Gauguin and Kandinsky. I love their interpretations of color, emotion and reality. I’m also drawn to my great-grandfather, René Guiette, and his explorations into abstraction and minimalism.