Whoever walks into the management office of WTC Schiphol Airport often recognizes her immediately: Simone. A warm nod, a brief greeting, a quick “Can I help you?”. Never flashy, yet always present. Behind that effortless calm lies a life shaped by down‑to‑earth perseverance, loyalty to her team, and staying true to her own rhythm.
From first day to trusted cornerstone
Simone de la Bella Mooij officially joined the team on May 1st of last year, but her connection to WTC Schiphol Airport goes much further back: she has been here since 2008, for many years on secondment through her previous employer. Her very first day is still vivid: January 2nd, 2008. The day before, she had driven past the building to see where she could park. Inside, she met a security guard who didn’t know she was coming, and her colleague was running late. It only amplified the impression: “What a building this is.” Impressive, grand, imposing.
She started as back‑up for sickness and holiday cover, working ten‑hour shifts. The work was intense and wide-ranging. She handled notifications for complaints, requests, information and malfunctions, and helped wherever needed. “Those first weeks I went home with a headache,” she laughs. “So much information, and as the general reserve I covered everything, sixteen buildings easily.” Still, WTC Schiphol Airport became the place where she felt most at home. “If anyone wanted to keep me somewhere permanently: here or at Trigion. Busy, dynamic, every day different.”
Slowly becoming the heart of the back office
Over the years, the management office moved several times, where Iran Air once sat, then Wereldhave, Holland Gateway, and eventually back upstairs. Since 2016, Simone has been in the spot where you find her now. Before that she worked at reception, where she also handled notifications, but the role was different. What never changed: her instinct to make things a little friendlier, to unburden others, and to keep the team running smoothly. “I tend to pull things toward me, maybe that’s my pitfall, but it relieves Claire and Margot. And you learn from everything you do.”
Her role is clear: contract support and back office. She processes notifications (complaints, requests, information, malfunctions), arranges parking exemptions and access cards, and picks up anything else that helps the team move forward. From mailings to passes to a quick tour through the building. People easily stop for a chat, and that’s how your own circle forms. Anja from catering became a close friend. She attends concerts with Claire. These are the threads that weave the fabric of her days.
She looks confident but sometimes she doubts
Anyone watching Simone sees someone who keeps overview and calm. What people don’t see: “Everyone thinks I’m confident, but actually I’m quite insecure. ‘Did I do this right? Did I forget something?’ The first thing I do the next morning is check or fix it. And nine out of ten times it was perfectly fine.” At home, her laptop sometimes helps clear her mind. “After a holiday I’d open it immediately. I don’t want to return to a long to‑do list. And I don’t like rushing so I’d rather arrive at 7:30 with a cup of coffee and start my day calmly.”
Seventeen years of “probation”
Her official contract on May 1st felt like a reward. “I had a seventeen‑year probation period,” she jokes. The acceleration came when Simone, faced with her almost one‑hour commute from Alphen aan de Rijn, applied elsewhere once, simply for practical reasons. “I found it terrifying. I love the familiarity of what I have here, and I don’t need to prove myself all over again.” The team here has been steady for years. “We’re about the same age, no one needs to prove anything. Everyone knows their role, and together we make one whole.”
Staying calm in the commotion
There is always movement. Sometimes tension too. For former tenant Danone, someone without registration tried to drive onto the parking deck. “He completely lost it towards me. I called Danone’s management afterwards and said I did not wish to be spoken to like that.” It turned out the man had already experienced two incidents that morning and she was simply the last straw. Later he returned with flowers and apologies. And once a “prince” from across the hall was shouting where he needed to go. Simone simply looked up and said: “Good afternoon to you too.” It’s typical of her. “Treat everyone the way you want to be treated. I stay calm. Go ahead.”
Amsterdam, Almere and always: home
Simone was born together with her twin sister on 11 December 1966 in the Wilhelmina Gasthuis in Amsterdam. One month in an incubator, then half a year with her grandparents. First the Rivierenbuurt, later Almere (“a sleeping town back then”). Thirteen moves in her life, and still: “If it’s warm and cozy behind the door, that’s home.”She once dreamed of opening a children’s clothing store, interned at Het Schooltje (Overtoom and Gelderlandplein), but deliberately chose work she could leave behind at the end of the day. Her mother carried the family; her father struggled with alcoholism. Rob, her stepfather, walked her down the aisle. “He did a lot for us.”
She met Arie via Relatieplanet, after two long relationships. A first “Hello,” then a month of silence. She was in Turkey, he “on board”. He gave her his number: “Let it depend on you.” When she got sick he came immediately and showed his true colours. “He took care of me for a week. He even cleaned the windows.” The proposal was quintessentially Simone: coming home, a trip to MediaMarkt, dinner, he kept hovering, and suddenly he stood in the doorway with flowers: “Will you marry me?” They married on 10 June 2011 in Alphen, at the town hall by Burgemeester Visserpark. Bigger than she would have chosen, singer(s) included, but nevertheless exactly right.
What drives her
Ask her what motivates her, and she shrugs: “I always give the best of myself, that’s just who I am.” In five years, she hopes to be counting down toward retirement, though ideally she’d keep working a few days a week. Or do volunteer work, a hostess role in a theatre sounds wonderful to her.
Until then, she’s here. And if she could sit on the roof, she’d be gone for hours. “Put me up there and I’ll stay all day.” Plane spotting. And tomorrow? Back inside at 7:30, just like always.
Her credo? “Treat everyone the way you want to be treated. And make things a little cheerful along the way.”
