“Zaandam was undoubtedly the ugliest city I had ever known when I first moved here 20 years ago. Thankfully, the city went through a metamorphosis; it’s become incredibly beautiful! I enjoy the beautiful people around me and the nature next door. It makes me happy and happiness is very important to me.

In fact, I’ve turned it into my work. I teach laugh-yoga, I coach businesses to allow more happiness and I wrote a book about this subject. By the way, for me everything comes together in the color yellow. Just look at my clothes, I always wear something yellow! To me it means energy, relaxation, playing and happiness. That’s why I wish a lot of yellow for Zaanstad!”

Italian Rosaria lives in Koog aan de Zaan and is the mother of Raul and Mauro. She is the admin of the Facebook group ‘Zaanstad Mamas’ for expats in Zaanstad and the author of ‘Yellow Factor: Happiness in Business.’