Dear Eva,
Dream big, €24.95 Eva Jinek
Of course you still know it. You know everything still. That memory of yours is bigger than the Library of Congress, the library in Washington where more than 150 million books are located. You of course knew that from your bare head. I had to look it up.
The first meeting. I was the editor-in-chief of Marie Claire and asked you to present our Prix de la Mode evening. I saw you come in with stacks of research. Not only about the winning designers, the exact pronunciation of their award-winning designs (the 101801 Iconic Coat by Max Mara rolled smoothly off your lips), but also about Marie Claire itself, the history of the women's magazine, all the countries where this title appeared, and since you were on a roll, you even dived into the history of the location, so you knew everything about the Concertgebouw in general and the Spiegelzaal in particular. That evening you gained 250 new fans. From the grande dame of Max Mara to the director of Sanoma Publishers and the chef on duty. After that evening, we stayed in touch. We sometimes had lunch, we connected during events, and felt that we were on the same wavelength in life. Wanting to move forward, doing your best, not letting being a woman or a mother hold you back. That’s why my role model was Rozemarijn de Witte (founder of LINDA., the most stylish woman I know) and yours was Jeroen Pauw.
Later, you came into my life on a daily basis. Your talk show didn’t go as you wished, and you asked my beloved to help you. He didn’t really want to because he wanted something different than daily live, but you persisted, kept asking, and the rest is history.
Sometimes you also came to our office and enchanted our editorial team. In your customized Koekwaus sneakers and knitted sweater, you rummaged through my editor-in-chief's trash can, usually filled with boxes and ribbons. Then one day, for no reason, my trash can had disappeared, and you exclaimed: ‘But this can't be. Your trash can is my shop!’
Life lifted you up. To RTL4, to a real late-night talk show, to Dex, to Pax. I was and am allowed to join occasionally. Then you cook, or you bring Flo the biggest bear imaginable, or you hired a fantastic caterer because you need to prepare for the Televizier Ring. You do everything a thousand percent. While you would say you have quite a tough job, being on TV six months a year every evening with your handsome, smart head (and all the critics and whiners; when you do a late-night talk show, you work about two and a half workdays in one day, so please don’t complain that Eva only works half the year), you also wrote a book.
Not a novel or biography, but a collection of stories of examples. Women who have touched and colored you. From lawyer Carry Knoops (who, as I know from you, was also a midwife and violinist), actress and writer Nhung Dan, but also her manager Kristien van Dillen and as the diamond on the golden ring, her mother Radana Jinek. All while reading the streamer ‘They left with whatever baggage they could carry in their hands and exactly 43 American dollars’ I already had to cry.
Eva, I treat your book like a box of the most delicious and expensive chocolates. I read a story every now and then and enjoy it for a very, very long time and learn as much as possible from it. I hope to take just as long until you finish your next book. Agreed?
All my love and a deep bow,
May
