About me

Yoast 

Hi! My name is Marieke van de Rakt, and I am the founder of the Empowerwoment Project. Until 2021, I was the CEO and co-founder of Yoast, a Tech startup from the Netherlands. Yoast is most famous for the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress, which helps your site rank higher in Google. In 2021, we sold Yoast to Newfold Digital.

Nowadays, I am partner at and co-owner of Emilia Capital. Emilia Capital is an investment company. We invest in startups in the tech world and are particularly enthusiastic about investing in female-led startups.

And Joost!

I am happily married to Joost de Valk, the founder of Yoast, and we have four amazing children together. Joost and I started Emilia Capital in 2021 and have invested in several (tech) startups, many of which are in the WordPress ecosystem.

Teaching and Academy

Before working at Yoast, I was a teacher and a researcher. I was educated as a sociologist, obtained a Ph.D. in social sciences, and did a lot of teaching and development of educational material. At Yoast, I founded Yoast Academy, the online courses platform that teaches thousands of students all about SEO. 

Gender equality

I have been a true feminist since my daughter was born in 2009. Within Yoast, I have done my very best to put the matter of gender equality on the agenda. When I became CEO in 2019, I started The Empowerwoment project at Yoast. Next to that, I did several internal talks and external ones (WordCamp Nijmegen and WordCamp Torino) about gender inequality and how to solve it.

In my free time

Next to an entrepreneur, an investor, and a feminist, I am a mother. I spend most of my free time with my husband, three wonderful sons, and a kick-ass daughter. I enjoy reading, running, dancing, and watching many television series.