How Buffi Duberman creates space with English
Happyplaces Stories
‘I carry my happy place inside of me, and carry it with me where ever I go. And if you don’t want to be happy, don’t call me. If you don’t want to laugh, don’t call me. If you want to work hard and have fun, call me.That’s what happiness is. Doing what you love, and realising it. Realising that not everyone can. ’
Earlier this week Buffi wrote on Facebook:
Today it’s my half birthday. 47.5. In 2.5 years I’ll be 50. The older I get the more I get life. What matters. Who matters. And the WHY behind it all. So happy with my age. Celebrate life! It’s a gift.
That is Buffi to the fullest. She is a native New Yorker, living in the Netherlands, who has spent more than half her life coaching non-native English speakers in the use of their English. Over the last 15 years, she has become a household name as the Personal English Coach (a business that she created) to the hottest artists, CEO’s and entrepreneurs. She worked for TV Shows, wrote several books on the matter, online courses and more.
Buffi committed to innovation in education and coaching people one on one. Because she believes that there are different ways to learn. This is why she founded the English department at the internationally recognized Rockacademie (Europe’s first official Bachelor Degree Program in Pop and Rock Music), is the English consultant to the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven and teaches over 500 students a week. Buffi does (corporate) workshops, personal English coaching sessions and master classes in the Netherlands and abroad. It is clear her passion for English and her determination to help people gain confidence will never cease. On top of that, she lives life in full colour, without filters. There is no one else I know who has such a radiant personality and such a contagious energy. I don’t know how she manages it all, being in all those places, while being a mother, and even have time to bake cakes.
Life is short, and I’m fully aware of that. I want to squeeze the life out of every single day. Until I get to the next day. And then I do it again and again. I sometimes see people complaining on Facebook or Twitter that their life is boring, and I just think: how can you say your life is boring, you must not have one.’
In March 2012 I visited her, when she was teaching in Rhoon, near Rotterdam. We found a dark corner somewhere in the canteen, on a stage. Not the best place to record with my, still limited, video skills but Buffi just makes anything work. Even a crappy recorded video :)
