Karolien Vanstraelen

Karolien Vanstraelen is a co-founder of petconnect and is based in Hasselt. Since September 2025 she has worked at Hartvol.eu, accompanying people through loss, change and growth, and in the same month she took up a project management role for the In4Care Living Lab on care innovation, running to April 2026.

She was a talent solutions and CRM consultant at SalesBridge from October 2023 to December 2024, and before that spent from June 2018 to September 2023 at ITZU Talent Solutions as a training advisor and managing partner. She advised on training at FORTIO-bedrijfsopleidingen from 2015 to 2018, and from November 2001 to December 2014 was HR and quality manager at Alva verse vruchten NV. She began at MediaMine, a subsidiary of Ubizen, as a project manager from December 1998 to October 2001.

Vanstraelen holds a bachelor's degree in applied informatics from Hogeschool PXL and a postgraduate qualification in new media and digital culture from KU Leuven - Group T Leuven Campus. She has since completed training in grief and loss, acceptance and commitment therapy, aftercare, coaching for return to work and re-integration, and a masterclass in sustainable HR at Antwerp Management School. Her stated expertise covers learning and development, learning management systems, change management, digital innovation and communication.