Yvette was born in 1966 in Amsterdam. She came to Norway with her husband and two children in 2005. They settled in Ringebu and opened a shoe shop. In the Netherlands, they had both worked in a shoe shop for many years and had had positive experiences with the business. Good quality and unique design were their main goals. The shoe shop La Pierre soon became an important part of the local business community, and their store is well-known in the whole region. But the shop burned down in 2007 and they lost everything that was there - mainly shoes, but also private mementos. Yvette and her family got support from the local community, and in 2008 they reopened the shop. After several years, they decided to expand their business. In 2015, they opened another shoe shop in Lillehammer.

At first they rented a house in Ringebu, but built their own house for their family soon afterwards. It is important for Yvette that children grow up in a quiet and safe area. She would like to have more visitors in her shop, and also in the shop in Lillehammer. She has no plans to move from Ringebu where she really enjoys life. In this small village, she can live without noise, traffic, stress and pressure.
Yvette misses the Netherlands occasionally, but much less today than two to three years after arriving in Norway. She does not want to move back to the Netherlands. Her home is in Ringebu now.

The migration changed Yvette - she does not feel one hundred percent Dutch any longer, but she is not Norwegian either. She describes herself as a person between two cultures - Norwegian and Dutch. The pace of life is different in Ringebu from what she was used to in the Netherlands. In Norway, she had to learn to be patient and that there is a time for everything. Now she loves the quiet life surrounded by beautiful scenery. She also learned how important and exciting outdoor life is. The only thing she does not like is the winters - they are too long and too cold.