About Annette Herfkens

Annette Herfkens is the sole survivor of a 1992 airplane disaster in Vietnam. Sudden turbulence and the subsequent crash took the life of her fiancé, Willem van der Pas. He was her best friend, college sweetheart, and soul mate.
She spent eight days alone in the jungle amidst the dead with only rainwater to sustain her.

Annette was born in Venezuela from Dutch parents. She was raised in The Netherlands, where she studied at Leiden University. After completing an internship in Santiago de Chile, she became an executive trainee for ING Bank which stationed her in New York and London. She then moved to Banco Santander in Madrid. She was promoted to Managing Director and seven years later sent to New York, where she currently lives with her family.

In Turbulence, Annette finally tells her story to the world after years of resisting media attention. As one of the few female international bankers of her time Annette broke down professional barriers; by writing this book she overcomes her personal barriers as well. As a banker she was known for composing the shortest memos possible; yet in Turbulence she writes poetically, with both depth and humor, about love, survival and acceptance of what cannot be changed.