ARINDA.

creative business accelerator in brand & product management

Unleashing the power of brands, products and people, one ambitious step at a time.

I'm Arinda Huber - a freelance leader (CEO/COO/MD), brand & product builder. A relentless innovator who thrives on challenging the status quo. With a firm belief in the combined magic of people and a healthy bottom line, I create captivating narratives that ignite emotions, inspire teams & businesses, and build lasting customers.

From collaborating with corporate giants like Nike, Triumph, and Swarovski to nurturing over 50 global start/scale-ups into scalable successes, I am dedicated to building sustainable businesses that leave a mark. Join me on this exhilarating journey of rethinking possibilities and shaping the future. Let's make waves together!

FOUNDER:

Founder of the online skill enhancer for designers, makers and creative service providers. Rethinking the industry standards to allow creative business owners to thrive within their own strength.

FREELANCE CEO:

In charge of the day-to-day strategic efforts & giving direction to the team, product, sales and campaign objectives.

CO- FOUNDER & BRAND BUILDER/CREATOR:

In charge of the brand and creative directions of the on-/offline customer needs.

The dog with the bone.

Born and raised in Holland I grew up expressing my way through life. We had an open table policy - everything was allowed to be discussed or shared. This opened a way for me to literally discuss everything, 'yes - everything!' at school as well. The most annoying kid in the class, for both students and teachers. The one who always questions, the one who never lets a topic go, the dog with the bone!

This resulted to me fighting against 'the norm' from a very early age. Why couldn't I simply accept how it is? I realized in a rather harsh way that there was no place for someone like myself - I was the weird one. My brain simply didn't stop, it had to be fed - so if school wasn't feeding it - I went elsewhere.

I always had side projects to keep the wondering mind happy - and they were to be funded - so I started working at the age of 13.

#1 - Twisting English Ivy into hearts, balls, everything the flower season needed.
#2 - Cook & Service at camping restaurant (Amsterdam Forrest)
#3 - Clerk local clothing store
#4 - Service at local restaurant / bar
#5 - why not working at another restaurant at the same time?
#6 - add a retail clerk job to it
#7 - more restaurant workIn short - I worked, all-the-time.

When the going gets weird, the weird turns pro.

After a 'to be forgotten' school period, I started my studies at AMFI (Amsterdam Fashion Institute). In my believe the perfect place to feed my creativity and satisfy my lust for analytics. It was a ride! I accidentally signed up for the international side of it all - so all courses in English. Could up to that point order a beer in English - so that was interesting. Then got kicked out of multiple project groups as being too pushy, too everything and too nothing. I saw it as having a vision, but somehow couldn't get others on board. They would state - I was just weird.

I landed my first internship at FHVBBDO / SKYBOX - where a team of male creatives took me on board to teach me all branding / CI,CD had to offer. Bluffed my way in. Never touched any Adobe product before except Acrobat reader. And here I was, becoming a graphic designer. Here I got freedom to create, to think wild, to not be judged by thinking 'weird'. I was praised for it. I fell in love with '(re-)branding'. Creating emotional value through visual communication tools. Giving product & brand a pulse.

I realized through these workings that I was thriving to get something broken working. I could rethink the scene rapidly and reset it. Make it work again. And this is how I ended up at Nike.

Again bluffed my way in, as had seriously no clue what a fleece or polywarp was - but I later learned that they didn't hire me for that knowledge. They hired me for my attitude. I was there to shake things up! And so I did. Almost got me fired on multiple occasions, but here my weirdness grew into my personal super power. I asked the questions that were needed to be asked and we created new potential and grew the business. After my biggest trick - launching Nike Global Sportswear - at the age of 22, I was part of the Nike layoffs. Funny enough, Nike Global Sportswear was the way towards empowering these layoffs - the joke's on me.

Losing my ability to think and walk.

Together with 1'500 other self-proclaimed experts we went out jobhunting in Holland - interesting. I worked in different fashion firms here, and rather rapidly ran into a burn-out. I had simply worked on one end straight since I was 13! Sitting on a chair for 5 consecutive days not being able to move, getting angry with yourself for not getting up. When I then got up, I miss stepped - cracked my back. Resulting into a long recovery process and emergency surgery of a double spinal disc herniation. Now next to resetting my mind I had to also learn how to walk again.

The worst and best thing that happened to me.

After running around like a headless chicken for a few years, it was very clear. I should (re-)build product and brands again. This brought me to Switzerland at Triumph. Resetting their positioning in some of the declining product categories. When these were up and running I moved to the crystal palace - Swarovski. Same thing - largest business unit is loosing, hard. Resetting this was fun and challenging - but check, done.  What now?

Hungry for more.

My husband stated that I always grew trees for others at our kitchen table, but never charged for the seeds. So I decided to stop the corporate rat race, and seek how I can help more people win, who are loosing now. And this is how Koai Lab was born. I was there for everyone who wanted me, but no one needed me. The irony of that. I could build every-ones business to stardom, just not my own. It was a massive slap in the face, I had to go butt naked and take the self punishment.

I started to notice a commonality in all my customers needs and that was 'need for clarity'. Is there no system out there for start-up creatives that can help me get clarity in my business? There was, for large corporations, but not tailored to start-up budgets. So I decided to build it. I connected via Bexio with ZEMP - and we took off. And we faied. After a mere 4 years of building the best team, a solid product, asking the right questions, we weren't able to financially keep heads above water. We had to lay off 21 professionals before Xmas, the worst time of my life - I rather do 'the learning to walk' thing again.

Belief.

I decided to not take any of the offers. I decided to follow the path I set, before I started building other peoples dreams. It's 2023 - time to build my own. Elevating my 'weird' super powers of accelerating everything I touch. I launched Arinda & SKILL almost overnight - and it took off.

Sometimes all you need is 2 sec of insane courage led by belief in yourself - to deliver courage and confidence to many others.

I help business units and owners (leadership teams) to refocus on the things that really make a difference. Getting the machine going (again) and get everyone behind the common goal.

- product portfolio management
- brand (re-)positioning
- product (re-)design to win
- people management to inspire
- marketing (re-)strategizing

by

- freelance leadership to get the ship moving
- consulting in strategy and implementation
- coaching / mentoring on specific needs

I'm available on a project-to-project base.

If you feel you are ready to take the bull by the horns, please reach out.

Please contact me below, I'll get back to you before you can regret it.

Thank you!

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