Kaya Ruijs

Project Management Coordinator

I joined Modern Space’s European operation based in the Netherlands in 2021. Previously I worked as a recruiter in healthcare which meant a lot of contact with clients, working to deadlines and a sales focus – all big parts of my role at Modern Space now.

I had no previous experience in the retail display industry but seized an opportunity, Modern Space saw something in me and it’s worked out very well. I’m lucky to be surrounded by very skilled colleagues who have many years of experience which quickly brought my skills and knowledge to a high level. My manager is still always there to support in the background but I also have a lot of independence.

My typically day starts with having a small talk with my colleagues. I believe it is important to have the casual interaction with each other. In the morning I start with reading and prioritize my emails from the night before. This international business does not stop when we close our laptop in the Netherlands at the end of a working day. With clients and colleagues based all over the world we are dealing with different time zones. During the rest of the day, I am busy with logistics; road, sea and air freight, client relationships, orders, invoices, planning and sales. To succeed in this job, you need very versatile working skills!

The past couple of years everyone has faced challenging times with international shipping. We successfully overcome the difficulties by being flexible and thinking ahead. Are there different ways of transportation to get our products from A to B? How much further upfront can we plan? And being totally transparent so our clients always know exactly what’s going on. For a while it was more common for a vessel to be delayed than to dock on time, so we were updating clients daily to give us all the best chance of planning and replanning.

I enjoy that Modern Space is a growing company which really values the opinions and inputs of the employees to improve the business. Being involved in a lot of different processes gives us the opportunity to grow together with the company.